Audiobooks worth making time for
Not everything I review ends up here. These are the audiobooks I’d genuinely recommend—sometimes for the writing, sometimes for an exceptional narrator, and occasionally because everything comes together beautifully.
And, naturally, there’s a special place for anything that manages not to waffle.
Bertie’s Picks
The audiobooks I’d recommend without too much hesitation.
The best combinations of book and performance: audiobooks that stayed with me, surprised me, or simply reminded me why I prefer having someone read to me.
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Audrey Niffenegger · Narrated by Fred Berman and Phoebe Strole
Some books fade fairly quickly after you finish them; The Time Traveler’s Wife has never done that for me. Beneath the cleverness of its time-shifting structure is a moving story about a relationship lived in anything but the right order. It’s one of those books I still find myself thinking about years later.
Why I recommend it
Inventive, emotional and memorable — a love story that has stayed with me.
Catch 22
Joseph Heller · Narrated by Trevor White
Absurd, infuriating, very funny and unlike almost anything else. Catch-22 is one of those books whose ideas and language have escaped the novel and become part of how we describe the world. Trevor White somehow keeps its sprawling cast, circular conversations and escalating madness under control — no small achievement over sixteen hours.
Why I recommend it
Very few novels manage to be this funny, this bleak and this memorable at the same time.
For the Narration
Sometimes a good book becomes a great audiobook because of the person behind the microphone.
Outstanding performances, memorable voices and those rare occasions when it becomes difficult to imagine the book being read by anyone else.
The Road
Cormac McCarthy · Narrated by Tom Stechschulte
Some narrators read a book; others become inseparable from it. Tom Stechschulte’s performance of The Road has stayed with me for years. Bleak, restrained and completely absorbing, it’s one of those rare audiobooks where I can no longer imagine the novel having any other voice.
Why I recommend it
An unforgettable novel, made even more powerful by an extraordinary performance.
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel · Narrated by Simon Slater
Historical fiction doesn’t get much better than this. Mantel makes the Tudor court feel immediate, dangerous and completely alive, while Simon Slater gives its enormous cast distinct and memorable voices. His Thomas Cromwell became my Cromwell — which may explain why I was so put out when the narrator changed.
Why I recommend it
Magnificent writing paired with a performance that became inseparable from the characters for me.
Short & Unwaffly
Proof that an audiobook doesn’t have to last seventeen hours to be worthwhile.
Shorter listens that get on with it — carefully chosen for anyone who likes their literary fiction with very little waffle.
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan · Narrated by Aidan Kelly
At a little over two hours, Small Things Like These proves how much can be achieved in remarkably little time. Quiet, precise and deeply affecting, there isn’t a wasted word — and certainly no room for waffle.
Why I recommend it
Beautifully economical storytelling that stays with you long after much longer books have been forgotten.