The Assembled Parties

Richard Greenberg, performed by a full cast. L.A. Theatre Works.

ISBN 978-1-68266-039-3

Recorded in front of a live audience, Greenberg’s play follows a family at Christmas dinner on New York’s Upper West Side in 1980 and again in 2000, as they reckon with the legacy of their family discord.

Beartown

Fredrik Backman, read by Marin Ireland. S&S Audio.

ISBN 978-1-5082-3097-7

Actor Ireland portrays the small-town machismo of Backman’s novel about a hockey town paralyzed by scandal with sensitivity, eschewing caricature and low-hanging fruit to reveal the vulnerable underside of the teenage players of Beartown’s youth hockey league.

Welcome to Night Vale Vinyl Edition

Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor, read by a full cast. HarperAudio.

ISBN 978-0-06-268148-5

This new edition of the Welcome to Night Vale audiobook proves to be just as special as the town it’s set in. Follow two Night Vale residents who seek to discover what a mysterious man in a tan jacket has to do with the phrase “King City,” and in the process, realize a connection between themselves.

Hunger: A Memoir

Roxanne Gay, read by the author. HarperAudio.

ISBN 978-0-06-247025-6

Gay studied theater in college, and it shows in her intimate reading of this memoir about life as an overweight woman. Her voice is soft and controlled and her sentences read like lines of poetry.

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, read by Constantine Gregory. Naxos Audiobooks.

ISBN 978-1-78198-040-8

Voice actor Gregory skillfully renders Dostoyevsky’s classic 1869 novel into the audio format. It’s the perfect gift for Russian literature enthusiasts looking for audiobooks.

Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders, read by a full cast. Random House Audio.

ISBN 978-0-553-39759-8

A tour through a Washington, D.C., cemetery teeming with spirits, the audio edition of Saunders’s historical novel set in 1862 employs the voices of 166 narrators, including Hollywood A-listers Don Cheadle, Julianne Moore, Nick Offerman, and Susan Sarandon.

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story

Douglas Preston, read by Bill Mumy. Hachette Audio.

ISBN 978-1-4789-6452-0

Mumy’s low-key narration gives him ample scope to intensify the many magical, fearful, exciting, painful, intriguing, and panicky moments in this hair-raising adventure tale about Preston’s recent expedition to locate an ancient city in the mountains of Honduras.

Magpie Murders

Anthony Horowitz, read by Samantha Bond and Alan Corduner. HarperAudio.

ISBN 978-0-06-267764-8

Together, voice actors Bond and Corduner enhance the audio edition of Horowitz’s latest, which both honors and pokes fun at golden age detective novels.

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier

Mark Frost, read by a full cast. Macmillan Audio.

ISBN 978-1-4272-9290-2

For the Twin Peaks fan still reveling in the series relaunch earlier this year, here’s an audiobook featuring the voices of cast members of the show that tells listeners what happened to key characters in the 25 years in between the events of the first series and the second.

You Can’t Spell America Without Me: The Really Tremendous Inside Story of My Fantastic First Year as President Donald J. Trump (A So-Called Parody)

Alec Baldwin and Kurt Andersen, read by Alec Baldwin. Penguin Audio.

ISBN 978-0-525-52671-1

Actor Baldwin narrates the audio edition of the political satire he coauthored with novelist Andersen. The book takes the form of a pseudomemoir of the 45th president, providing listeners with an opportunity to hear more of Baldwin’s popular Trump impersonation.