Best Audiobooks of the Year : 2009

The Doctor and Donna, as played by David Tennant and Catherine Tate in the hit TV series, find themselves in the thick of trouble on a distant planet, where soldiers transform into monstrous beetles, and everyone falls under the threat of a huge, mechanical exterminator… in this thrilling, exclusive audio story, read by David Tennant.

The sophisticated 30s are vividly evoked in Anthony Head’s masterly reading of this classic
novel, Paul Temple and the Front Page Men. Who is the mysterious author of the smash hit novel The Front Page Men? And what link does she or he have to the high-profile kidnappings that are happening with increasingly regularity? Suave novelist Paul Temple and his glamourous wife Steve are soon helping Scotland Yard through the twists and turns of this intriguing period piece, brilliantly recalled by this new recording.

Julian Fellowes’ wonderfully modulated tones are perfect for describing the world he writes of, that of debutants, coming out balls and weekend house parties. Damien Baxter is not of this world, but he had a profound effect on those he met there – and, forty years later, he is back with a secret that he needs his sworn enemy to help him uncover.
A story of old loves lost and found and lost again, Past Imperfect is funny and touching and even shocking: an intriguing comedy of manners that vividly evokes a lost world.

One of the most affecting and impactful books of the past few years, The Road is a vision of a nightmarish future after an unexplained global disaster. At its heart, though, is a beautiful story of the love between a father and his son. Redemption depends on the boy’s ability to sustain his own instincts for compassion and empathy in opposition to his father’s insistence upon their mutual self-interest and survival at all physical and moral costs. Perfectly read by Rupert Degas.Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Literature.

Anton Lesser again demonstrates his ability to
inhabit a character completely, with his sympathetic and engrossing portrayal of Matthew Shardlake, the hunchbacked lawyer who finds himself embroiled once more in the dangerous politics of his age. In a narrative that ranges from life at the court of the ailing Henry VIII to the miseries of the Bedlam
hospital for the insane, Shardlake finds himself pitted against a serial killer driven by religious mania. This is the fourth of Sansom’s Shardlake novels, a series that grows stronger with every instalment, and the historical detail is as vivid and engrossing as ever.

A how-to book on making your dreams come true, by someone who managed this trick for themselves, this could easily have been smug and irritating, but isn’t. Instead, it’s down-to-earth, well structured, and offers useful advice to anyone in need of change. Drawing on his own experience, Bannatyne encourages the listener to eliminate the negatives from their lives, and draw on their strengths they might not be aware they have to achieve the success they’ve always wanted. Topped off with tips on how to make a business pitch that will actually work, this is both practical and inspiring.

Dreams from my Father was written when he was 33, when no one would have predicted that, 14 years later, he would be elected President of the USA. Obama has a splendid reading voice and with an astonishing honesty he explores his roots, aware that his white grandfather’s acceptance of his Nigerian father owed most to his desire to be seen to be non-racist. He remembers his much-questioned life in Indonesia with his stepfather with affection,
acknowledging that his much-loved mother was the single constant in his life. He writes and reads with both clarity and feeling –cynical as I am about politicians, I was impressed.

A second volume of two specially compiled, extended-length shows from the archives, features all the favourite games plus out-takes, banter, ad-libs and audience interaction.
Taken from the 1995 and 1996 so fans can hear againWillie Rushton and, of course, the muchmissed Chairman of the proceedings,
Humphrey Lyttleton.

Paddington– is back in this fantastically funny, brand new novel from master storyteller Michael Bond.
Paddington Bear always manages to find himself in tricky situations, sometimes extraordinary situations. Like the time he had a difficult encounter with a policeman or when he found himself in deep water with a newspaper reporter. But since arriving from his native Peru after an earthquake, Paddington has always felt at home with the Brown family who found him on Paddington station. Until one day, a surprise visitor arrives at thirty-two Windsor Gardens. Is it time for Paddington to decide where ‘home’ really is?

Dennis is a boy who is different – he likes girls clothes. In fact, he likes wearing them! But David Walliams’ The Boy In The Dress isn’t quite what it seems initially. Dennis’s mum has gone off, and his dad has said no cuddles and no kisses, so no wonder Dennis is acting a bit strangely. All about the perceptions we have – and how wrong they can be – and about accepting that you might not be marching to the same drumbeat as everyone else and, therefore, being accepted. All set into an exciting story that has you rooting for Dennis!