2022 Audiobooks of the Year

For my second blog about my top books of the year I have chosen seven audiobooks which I listened to in 2022 and which I highly recommend. They were not all released in 2020 but books listened to by me during the year – this makes my list personal to me and is what I usually do.

This list is a mixture of both fiction and non-fiction.

Here’s a list that I published in 2019 which was the last time I posted a dedicated list to audiobooks. At that time, because of commuting, I listened to significantly more audiobooks than I do now.

I have posted reviews of most of the books in this list and you can find those by clicking on the title where appropriate. A review of the one I haven’t got to yet will be forthcoming soon.

Here we go – in no particular order again….

• The Spy who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre read by Michael Jayston. Beautifully written spy story showing how individuals are used by the system. Chilling and tragic.

• Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera read by Homer Todiwala. An examination of how our society and culture is built on the history of empire and how it affects everything, even today. Eye-opening.

• Persuasion by Jane Austen read by Juliet Nicholson. An old favourite which felt completely fresh to me when I heard this audio version. Possibly the greatest novel ever written, so far (in my opinion)

• When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope read by the author. The author’s stories of disaster planning and how we have learned to manage the aftermath. Fascinating and very moving in places.

• The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene read by Andrew Sachs. A brilliant book about a priest who has failed in every way and is hunted through the towns and country by those who want to execute him. I found the narration really added to the enjoyment for me but I have since heard criticisms that the narrator is parodying the characters by his use of accent – something to think about

• Mutiny on the Bounty by Peter Fitzsimons read by Michael Carman. I’ve not reviewed this yet but it was a fascinating look at the history of this event but told in an unusual style which made it feel very real. The narrator was excellent although it seemed strange to have this history which is very much about the British class system read in an Australian accent (the author is Australian).

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad read by Kenneth Branagh. Short but so powerful. A book about the evil men do and how they can come to do it and how others enable and allow it.

Keep reading….