The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

 Reader: Neil Gaiman

 Short Review: Neil Gaiman reads his Newbery Medal winning book beautifully. His nod to Kipling’s The Jungle Book is just scary enough, intriguing, inventive, well-written, enchanting . . . it’s downright wonderful. I loved Bod, Silas, Scarlett, Liza, Miss Lupescu, and the rest of the graveyard’s denizens and rooted for them throughout the story. I miss them. I’ll return to this book again and recommend it to adults and kids.

The Likeness by Tana French

The Likeness Available from Audible.com Author: Tana French Reader: Heather O’Neill Short Review: Tana French’s strong second novel read beautifully by Heather O’Neill. In this sequel to In the Woods, we follow Cassie Maddox in a strange undercover murder investigation. Cassie gets back on her feet and then gets knocked right back off balance imitating […]

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

Reader: Stephen Briggs

Short Review: Another very entertaining Discworld novel read wonderfully by Stephen Briggs. This story follows forcible-reformed former con-artist Moist von Lipwig (a.k.a. Albert Spangler) as he attempts to reform the Ankh-Morpork post office at the behest of Lord Vetinari. The story teems with great characters, intrigue, technomancy, bureaucracy, golems, ponzi schemes, small gods, mail, stamps, secret societies, and a pirate.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

Reader: Peter Riegert

Extra features: The audiobook includes an interview with Michael Chabon about his inspiration for the book, his favorite books and genres, and his writing process.

Short Review: Chabon’s Hugo and Nebula award-winning alternate history of a world without Israel but with a temporary Jewish homeland in Sitka, Alaska. Hard-boiled detective Meyer Landsman investigates the murder of a junkie chess-player with his partner and cousin Berko Shemets, a half-Tlingit, half-Jewish cop who is a good father, a good Jew, and a good partner trying to save Landsman from himself. As the case progresses, more and more connections to organized crime, shady US government machinations, separatist Orthodox communities, and zealotry reveal themselves. Riegert is an ideal reader, comfortable with accents, Yiddish, noir, and sadness.

Thud! by Terry Pratchett

Reader: Stephen Briggs

Short Review: This fun, funny, and often thoughtful story follows Sam Vimes as he investigates the murder of dwarven leader Grag Hamcrusher. Vimes is a father and husband, an unwilling member of the nobility, Commander of the watch, and a good old copper. He is pressured into hiring the first Vampire on the watch and has to manage religious and racial tensions between humans, vampires, werewolves, igors, dwarfs, and trolls while simultaneously solving a murder and preventing the outbreak of a troll v. dwarf war. The book is read by the wonderful Stephen Briggs, a regular reader for Pratchett’s books and one of my absolute favorite audiobook narrators.

Storm Front (Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher

Reader: James Marsters

Short Review: Down on his luck detective Harry Dresden also happens to be a real, live wizard. This introduction to Harry’s world includes magic, potions, a talking skull named Bob, werewolves – and of course a murder mystery. James Marsters is brilliant.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

The Shipping News Author: Annie Proulx Reader: Paul Hecht Short Review: Proulx’s amazing, National Book Award- and Pulitzer-winning novel about loss, reclamation, love, and Newfoundland read well but slightly too stiffly by Paul Hecht. Long Review: I love this novel, well and truly. It’s one of the finest books I’ve read on paper in years, […]

In the Woods by Tana French

 In the Woods  Author: Tana French  Reader: Steven Crossley Short Review: This Edgar Award winning novel traces a murder in Ireland, following the detectives investigating the case and flashing back to an earlier, similar unsolved case. It is a good novel beautifully read by Crossley, but the novel itself annoys me in a few spots […]

The Young Wan by Brendan O’Carroll

 The Young Wan  Author: Brendan O’Carroll  Reader: Donada Peters  Short Review: A sweet, funny prequel to O’Carroll’s earlier trilogy about Agnes Brown, read with great energy, humor, and personality by the incomparable Donada Peters.  Long Review: The Young Wan tells the story of Agnes Browne’s early life and her parents’ romance and marriage. Set in […]

Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney

 Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney  Translator: Seamus Heaney  Reader: George Guidall  Short Review: Heaney’s excellent translation read well, though not perfectly, by Guidall.  Long Review: You know already whether or not you want to listed to Beowulf as an audiobook. There are those of us who perk right up at the thought of listening to […]

Four Souls by Louise Erdrich

 Four Souls  Author: Louise Erdrich  Reader: Anna Fields  Short Review: Four Souls is a belated sequel to Tracks, and thus the continuation of the story of Fleur Pillager—one of the recurrent characters in Erdrich’s series of novels that follow an Ojibwe tribe. Read starkly and beautifully by Anna Fields, the plot is intricate and engrossing, […]

Fragile Things: Stories Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman

Read by: Neil Gaiman

Short Review: A solid book of short stories read beautifully by the author.