Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine
Find your next great audiobook on our podcast, Behind The Mic with AudioFile Magazine. Every Tuesday, AudioFile Editors and host Jo Reed recommend the very best audiobooks and narrators. It’s the perfect way to keep up with new releases and hear about audiobooks you may have missed. Want more? Listen to our bonus episodes featuring in-depth conversations with the most talented voices in audiobooks today.
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1601
AudioFile Favorites: BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noa...
Trevor Noah, the host of “The Daily Show,” injects his candor and uses his wry humor with his innate storytelling and mimicry to leaven his memoir of his South African childhood. This author-read memoir is an AudioFile Favorite.
5 min
1602
AudioFile Favorites: BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jess Wa...
Listeners start in a coastal Italian town in the 1960s with a young innkeeper and move through present-day Hollywood with dozens of unforgettable characters. Lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers are warmly and vividly portrayed by Edoardo Ballerini.
4 min
1603
AudioFile Favorites: THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil...
Fans of AMERICAN GODS or GOOD OMENS may not know about Neil Gaiman’s children’s audiobooks. Host Jo Reed and Robin Whitten chat about why THE GRAVEYARD BOOK has garnered multiple awards and is an AudioFile Favorite.
4 min
1604
AudioFile Favorites: THE GOLDEN COMPASS by Phil...
The audiobook we’ve recommended for 20 years—THE GOLDEN COMPASS—gets a new shout-out for the exceptional full-cast performance. Listen or re-listen before the BBC/HBO series “His Dark Materials” debuts later this fall.
5 min
1605
THE VAGABONDS by Jeff Guinn, read by Josh Hamilton
Discover a truly remarkable chapter of American history. Josh Hamilton narrates the story of Ford, Edison, John Burroughs, and their ten years of summer road trips across the U.S. in the early 1900s—adventures that changed the way we travel.
6 min
1606
SEMICOLON by Cecelia Watson, read by Pam Ward
An unlikely yet lively audiobook. Narrator Pam Ward’s expressive narration delights as she recounts a tale of grammar’s most misunderstood punctuation mark, the semicolon. It’s a listen that’s brisk, witty, and provocative; a genuine pleasure for the ear.
5 min
1607
NEVER HAVE I EVER by Joshilyn Jackson, read by ...
When a newcomer to Amy’s neighborhood starts blackmailing her, she finds herself in a battle to conceal her deepest, darkest secret. Author Joshilyn Jackson breathes life into her characters, setting the scene in the Florida Panhandle.
5 min
1608
DEEP RIVER by Karl Marlantes, read by Bronson P...
An engrossing and commanding historical epic about one immigrant family’s shifting fortunes in Washington state. Bronson Pinchot’s extraordinary ear for language and his nuanced delivery enliven the prose and capture the heart of the listener.
4 min
1609
BEIJING PAYBACK by Daniel Nieh, read by Ewan Chung
An audiobook for anyone who likes a great crime novel performed by a truly talented narrator. Ewan Chung smoothly narrates as Victor, a Chinese-American college student whose father was murdered. Journey to Beijing in a fast-paced revenge thriller.
4 min
1610
MAGIC FOR LIARS by Sarah Gailey, read by Xe Sands
Ivy Gamble, P.I., has her first big case. A teacher’s body was found at Osthorne Academy for Young Mages, and Ivy gets caught up in the lives of and magic of teachers and students as she seeks the murderer. Sands’s gritty narration adds to the intrigue.
4 min
1611
DESIRE LINES by Elizabeth Kingston, read by Nic...
Gryff is a Welsh prince in hiding when he’s captured by violent men. He is astounded when a small, deadly woman slays his captors, and the two form an alliance. Nicholas Boulton’s smooth, rich voice will delight listeners looking for a medieval romance.
5 min
1612
DON'T DATE ROSA SANTOS by Nina Moreno, read by ...
Everyone knows that Rosa Santos is cursed. The sea claimed the lives of her father and grandfather, and anyone who dates her risks the same fate. Almarie Guerra narrates with a sweetness that makes Rosa’s personality shine, and her community come to life.
4 min
1613
THE HERO NEXT DOOR by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perko...
What does it take to be a hero? Hear 14 stellar narrators read short stories from the best in children's literature. Heroes big and small show the importance of kindness, and how much courage we need to stand up for what’s right. Perfect family listening.
5 min
1614
SPEAKING OF SUMMER by Kalisha Buckhanon, read b...
Topical, timely, and beautifully written. Autumn Spencer’s twin sister, Summer, is missing, and Autumn seems to be the only one who cares. Karen Chilton’s outstanding narration lends an intensity to Autumn’s experiences as her mental health deteriorates.
4 min
1615
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ALISTAIR AINSWORTH by Leon...
For fans of Sherlock Holmes, the next generation arrives—Sherlock’s daughter Joanna and Watson’s son John are now a crime-solving team. Dr. Watson, Sr., is still tagging along, and the next generation—Holmes’s precocious grandson Johnny—appears as well.
4 min
1616
DEVIL'S FJORD by David Hewson, read by Saul Rei...
A dark Scandi noir mystery set in the remote Faroe Islands. The dark reality of the hard life of fishing village and mysterious disappearances are set against the rugged sea cliffs. The opening whale hunt is not for the squeamish listener.
5 min
1617
MR. SAMMLER'S PLANET by Saul Bellow, read by Ge...
Bellow’s classic novel takes place over two days in New York in 1969. Arthur Sammler, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor living in New York. We experience this cultural moment through his eyes. Exquisitely performed by George Guidall.
6 min
1618
BUT BEAUTIFUL by Geoff Dyer, read by Dion Graham
The world of jazz in mid-century America is evoked in a series of portraits of the musicians. With Dion Graham at the helm, we enter the lives of jazz greats like Charles Mingus or Thelonius Monk, all in a stream of consciousness that is like a jazz riff.
5 min
1619
THE TURN OF THE KEY by Ruth Ware, read by Imoge...
Ruth Ware’s latest gives us a classic Gothic set-up. Rowan accepts a job as a nanny at a gorgeous house in the Scottish Highlands, but from her arrival, everything goes slowly, irrevocably wrong. When we meet Rowan, she is writing from prison.
4 min
1620
TRAVEL LIGHT MOVE FAST by Alexandra Fuller, rea...
Acclaimed memoirist Alexandra Fuller contemplates the life of her boisterous, adventurous father Tim, whose motto was "travel light, move fast," as she wrestles with the grief of his passing.
4 min
1621
THE GONE DEAD by Chanelle Benz, read by Bahni T...
A debut novel about grant writer Billie James, whose father died under mysterious circumstances when she was just 4. There is a mystery surrounding her disappearance on that same day that she explores when she returns to the Mississippi Delta as an adult.
4 min
1622
THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN by Mary Austin, read by...
A collection of 14 poetic essays by Mary Austin about the flowers, creatures, people, and landscape of the American Southwest—first published in 1903. The narrator’s tone perfectly matches the author’s own reverence for her subjects.
5 min
1623
HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi, read...
National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi creates a stirring, personal look at the concept of antiracism, which requires people to change their thinking as individuals within society and to take action.
4 min
1624
CHANCES ARE... by Richard Russo, read by Fred S...
Pulitzer Prize-Winner Richard Russo’s novel of three men who met in college and are now in their sixties. They have come together on Martha’s Vineyard, where in 1971 a woman whom they all loved disappeared.
4 min
1625
THE TRUFFLE UNDERGROUND by Ryan Jacobs, read by...
How does the humble (or not so humble) truffle inspire this “Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus”? The listener enters a demimonde of intense competition and extraordinary profit.
5 min