AudioFile’s Best Audiobooks of 2021

Each month, for your literary listening pleasure, our friends at AudioFile Magazine bring us the cream of the audiobook crop .
nowadays, at the year draws to a close, they ’ ve rounded up the very best audiobooks of 2021 .
happy listen and felicitous holidays !

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FICTION

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty | Read by Caroline Lee
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Macmillan Audio | 18 hrs.]
The Delaneys are not an ordinary family, and Joy and Stan, well-respected retired tennis coaches and parents of four near-pros, find themselves immersed in the mystery of a life. australian narrator Caroline Lee is an amaze performer who digs sol profoundly into her characters ’ personas that listeners will become addict to each witty, insightful, and gutsy one .

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr | Read by Marin Ireland, Simon Jones
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Simon & Schuster Audio | 14.75 hrs.]
Marin Ireland and Simon Jones sparkle as they narrate this immersive time-traveling novel. The weave narrative shifts in time from the fall of Constantinople ( 1450s ) to contemporary small-town Idaho and to a future set on a spacecraft. From accounts of myths to misbegotten environmental terrorism, Doerr ’ s novel pulls out all the stops, and the narrators create an enduring listen experience.
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead | Read by Dion Graham
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Random House Audio | 10.5 hrs.]
Dion Graham ’ s performance invites listeners into the world of New York in the early 1960s. As his voice captures the feel of the times, he skillfully brings listeners the chocolate shops, storefronts, and conversations of the era. whitehead ’ second audiobook centers on Ray Carney, who operates a struggling furniture storehouse but is ineffective to escape his setting in crime .

Matrix by Lauren Groff | Read by Adjoa Andoh
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Penguin Audio | 8.75 hrs.]
painfully tall and awkward, Marie de France, half baby of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, is exiled to a creaky, far-flung abbey. There she begins her animation ’ sulfur work, audaciously transforming the abbey into an empower and wholly unique sanctuary for the women within. Narrator Adjoa Andoh allows listeners to amply experience the nuns ’ deep personalities, using an impressive rate of accents, timbres, and rhythm throughout. Above all, it is her word picture of Marie that shines most brilliantly .

Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, Clea: The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell | Read by Nicholas Boulton
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Naxos AudioBooks | 8.75 hrs.]
Although each of the novels of the Alexandria Quartet can stand alone, they gain depth if experienced in sequence. Nicholas Boulton offers a consummate performance of all four novels. He deploys a image of voices and accents that never leave us in doubt about who is speaking, and he draws out the characters ’ emotions and perceptions, which are significant in a serial that is about the differences between percept and reality, seen through the lens of love.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers | Read by Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Harper Audio | 29.75 hrs.]
Three talented narrators transport listeners with this absorbing novel. The report centers on the complicated lives of Ailey and her extend family, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as the trials of her ancestors. Narrator Adenrele Ojo could teach a master class in narration with her flawless portrayals of the healthy, sensitive Ailey and the early unforgettable contemporary syndicate members. Karen Chilton guides listeners through the histories of Ailey ’ sulfur ancestors. scholarly pronouncements of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois are delivered with appropriate measure and gravitas by Prentice Onayemi .
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NONFICTION

Beginner’s Mind by Yo-Yo Ma | Read by Yo-Yo Ma
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Audible, Inc. | 1.5 hrs.]
classical musician and cultural picture Yo-Yo Ma treats listeners to a unique and exquisite aural gem, seamlessly blending self-discovery and musical storytelling. In his innovative drive on a memoir, Ma recounts diverse details of his biography while inviting listeners to ponder humanity and promise with a novice ’ s mind .

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach | Read by Mary Roach
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Brilliance Audio | 9.25 hrs.]
Author Mary Roach does a fantastic job narrating her fantastic new foray into nature ’ second “ crime ” interactions with the human populace. Bears, birds, elephants, macaque monkeys, deadly plants, and more take her into the field around the universe. Roach reads with vitality, and her phrase and pacing keep the text moving while enabling our laugh or stunned astonishment.
The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA’s Double Helix  by Howard Markel | Read by Donald Corren
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Recorded Books | 15 hrs.]
expertly narrated with elusive grace by Donald Corren, refreshingly acquit and easy to follow, here ’ s a true-crime report adenine compelling as any mystery. Corren ’ mho voice possesses the placid certainty of an detective who ’ second searched the record fully, weighed all the facts, and uncovered a hive of nasty crimes. The men involved, most famously James Watson, have already told the report of how in 1953 he and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA. Their discovery, however, relied on crucial lab results stolen from x-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin .

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future  by Elizabeth Kolbert | Read by Rebecca Lowman
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Simon & Schuster Audio | 6.5 hrs.]
Narrator Rebecca Lowman is an excellent option for Kolbert ’ s report on the future of our environment. Lowman narrates clearly, enunciates precisely, and provides a feel of immediacy while bringing energy and intelligence to the undertaking. Kolbert, a Pulitzer Prize achiever, is both an engaged writer and a heedful witness to the daunting challenges ahead. She is besides a fine storyteller.
You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World  by Michele Wucker | Read by Tavia Gilbert
AudioFile Earphones Award
[Oasis Audio | 12.25 hrs.]

Narrator Tavia Gilbert ’ sulfur voice is perfective for this intelligent exploration by an international crisis analyst. Gilbert ’ mho mature, assertive shade fits the generator ’ mho command of her subject. evening when sentences are packed with information, Gilbert ’ s flawless phrase makes them clear up. Wucker examines how sex and long time, cultural and family norms, and economic condition impact how we view and handle risk .
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