I read and listened to a lot more books in 2013 than I wrote reviews for. I think 2013 was even worse for that than 2012. But I did try to keep a list of top favorites as I went along, so at least the list itself was pretty much compiled when I finally got around to writing this post. Links will go to my review if I wrote one, either here on the blog or on LibraryThing (baystateRA).
The books on this list weren’t all published in 2013; they’re just the ones that really wowed me this year. This list of favorite audiobooks (in the order I listened to them) will be followed tomorrow by my list of favorite books read in 2013.
Hounded by Kevin Hearne (Brilliance Audio, 2011)
I heard about Luke Daniels’ wonderful audiobook narration of the first book in the Iron Druid Chronicles from Bob at The Guilded Earlobe, and purchased it for myself this year on his recommendation. I see on the author’s Web site, that the series is up to six already! If you’re looking for a smart and funny urban fantasy series, try this one.
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian (Random House Audio, 2012)
This psychological horror story bombed as a library book club selection this past October, but could that be because the members of the group didn’t listen to the amazing audiobook narration by Alison Fraser and Mark Bramhall?
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How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (Blackstone Audio, 2013)
I’m just one of many who have fallen in love with the sequence of novels (of which this is the ninth) about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, his team, his family, and his friends in Three Pines, but you don’t have to like mysteries to fall under the spell of Ralph Cosham’s narration.
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Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2013)
Narrated to perfection by Will Patton, the audiobook edition of Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining is a marathon listen (at 18 and a half hours long) but an intensely satisfying follow-up about the life of little Danny Torrance, all grown up. For fans of psychological fiction with a heavy dose of horror.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (Harper Audio, 2013)
Narrated by Kate Mulgrew, the audiobook edition of this creepy story about Christmasland, the fantasy world where the vampiric Charlie Manx brings children he steals, is amazing, despite my quibble about her pronunciation of “Haverhill,” a town in Massachusetts. Joe Hill is more literary than his father, Stephen King, I think, but also stays true to his roots in the horror genre by not hesitating to show readers the very worst of human nature.