Looking back on the year in audiobooks finds outstanding productions in every category. There was such a wealth of enjoyable and informative audios in 2005 that we found it impossible to limit some of our category winners to the usual five or two titles. Even with this indulgence, we've had to cut lots of favorites, including Tilly Bagshawe's Adored (Time Warner Audio), Maureen Dowd's Are Men Necessary? (Penguin Audio), Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin (BTC Audio Books) and the Bruce Springsteen—inspired anthology Meeting Across the River (Blackstone).
Fiction
Rococo by Adriana Trigiani, read by Mario Cantone (Random House Audio)
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, read by Aasif Mandvi (Recorded Books)
The March by E.L. Doctorow, read by Joe Morton (Random House Audio)
On Beauty by Zadie Smith, read by Peter Francis James (Penguin Audio)
The Understudy by David Nichols, read by Tristan Layton (HighBridge Audio)
Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch by Dai Sijie, read by B.D. Wong (Random House Audio)
Q&A by Vikas Swarup, read by Kerry Shale (Audio Partners)
Nonfiction
1776 by David McCullough, read by the author (S&S Audio).
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, read by Dubner (Harper Audio)
Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman, read by the author (Penguin Audio)
Dark Shadows Memories by Kathryn Leigh Scott, read by the author (Pomegranate Press)
The Great Hurricane 1938 by Cherie Burns, read by Anna Fields (Blackstone Audio)
Mystery/Thriller
Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, read by Nick Landrum (Recorded Books)
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly, read by Adam Grupper (TimeWarner Audio)
Panic by Jeff Abbott, read by L.J. Ganser (Penguin Audio)
Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosley, read by Michael Boatman (Time Warner)
Rage by Jonathan Kellerman, read by John Rubinstein (Random House Audio)
Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt, read by Grover Gardner (Listen & Live Audio)
Strange Affair by Peter Robinson, read by Simon Prebble (Harper Audio)
Fever by Sean Rowe, read by William Dufris (Tantor Media)
Science Fiction/Fantasy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase by Douglas Adams, read by Adams, Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Susan Sheridan and a full cast (Audio Partners)
Mercury by Ben Bova, read by Stefan Rudnicki, Arte Johnson and Moira Quirk (Audio Renaissance)
Thud! by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs (HarperAudio)
Biography/Memoir
My Life So Far by Jane Fonda, read by author (Random House)
Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers, read by the author (S&S Audio)
Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood by Teri Garr, read by the author (Penguin Audio)
Classics
Dubliners by James Joyce, read by Frank and Malachy McCourt, Fionnula Flanagan, Stephen Rea and a full cast (Caedmon Audio)
The Big Four by Agatha Christie, read by Hugh Fraser (Audio Partners)
Humor
The Truth (with jokes) by Al Franken, read by the author (Brilliance)
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, read by Vowell, Stephen King, Jon Stewart and others (S&S Audio)Children's Spoken Word
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale (Listening Library)
The Big Blueberry Barf-Off!; The Great Smelling Bee by R.L. Stine, read by Michael McKean (HarperChildren's Audio)
Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams, read by Mandy Siegfried (Harper Children's Audio)
Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip, read by Patrick G. Lawlor (Brilliance Audio)
Poetry Speaks to Children edited by Elise Paschen, read by Langston Hughes, Robert Frost and others (Sourcebooks)
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, read by Taylor Mali (Audio Bookshelf)
Children's Music
Scat Like That: A Musical Word Odyssey by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer (Rounder Records)
Pegleg Tango by Captain Bogo & Salty (Scabbydisc Music)
A T.Rex Named Sue by Mike Himelstein and various artists (Music for Little People)
Dog Train by Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford, performed by various artists (Workman)
Some Assembly Required by Tom Chapin (Razor & Tie Records)
