As demand for audiobooks continued to grow in 2014, publishers produced a record number of titles. They also explored using multiple narrators, musical interludes, and sound bites of all kinds to improve the listening experience. The titles below are the best of the best that PW reviewed in 2014.

Fiction

*The Farm by Tom Rob Smith, read by James Langton and Suzanne Toren (Hachette Audio)

PW said: “The conversation continues for much of the novel, with Toren contributing an unnerving, emotionally charged performance, and Langton reacting with questions that seemingly suggest an open mind on the part of Daniel, but that carry more than a hint of disbelief. Together, they transform Smith’s brilliant prose into a mesmerizing two-character theatrical.”

The Forgers by Bradford Morrow, read by R.C. Bray (HighBridge Audio)

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, read by Christopher Ragland (Simon & Schuster Audio)

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes, read by multiple narrators

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore, read by Evan Morton (HarperAudio)

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay, read by Robin Miles (Brilliance Audio)

Nonfiction

*A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre, read by John Lee. (Random House Audio)

PW said: “Philby’s career makes for an engrossing narrative, with accounts of double-crosses and triple-crosses, and Lee’s performance brings out the human element in the action-packed plot. His rendering of eccentric CIA counterintelligence leader James Jesus Angleton—an American with strong British ties and sensibilities—is especially memorable. Building to the climactic confrontation between Philby and his best friend and colleague, Nicholas Elliott, Lee’s delivery of the spy vs. spy banter evokes the essence of Cold War tension.”

Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind by Scott Stossel, read by Michael Goldstrom (Random House Audio)

James Madison: A Life Reconsidered by Lynne Cheney, read by Eliza Foss (Penguin Audio)

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar, read by Henry Leyva (Macmillan Audio)

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1, by Edward Gibbon, read by David Timson (Naxos AudioBooks)

Read by the Author

*A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren (Macmillan Audio)

PW said: “Warren possesses a graceful ease in the recording booth. Her narration conveys the poise of an accomplished attorney and Harvard professor and the humble frankness of her working-class roots. Warren’s colloquialisms—e.g., ‘hurrican’ ’—seem to flow naturally, without any hint of affectation. She doesn’t shy away from a tone of righteous anger, particularly when it comes to lobbying by the banking industry. Nor is Warren afraid to raise her voice as she names the leaders with whom she has butted heads. But she also makes a point to temper that emotion with touches of humility and humor.”

41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush (Random House Audio)

Love Life by Rob Lowe (Simon & Schuster Audio)

What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey (Macmillan Audio)

Yes Please by Amy Poehler (HarperAudio)

Children’s/YA

*Revolution by Deborah Wiles, read by Stacey Aswad, Francois Battiste, J.D. Jackson, and Robin Miles (Listening Library)

PW said: “The story makes for a superb audiobook. Chapters are interwoven with re-created sound bites of reports, speeches, and radio announcements made to sound like authentic primary sources. Asward narrates Sunny’s chapters with a friendly Southern twang and youthful energy that captures the character perfectly. Battiste provides an equally engaging, and at times solemn and reflective, Raymond. Listeners will be enthralled.”

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, read by David Tennant (Hachette Audio)

A Dark Inheritance by Chris d’Lacey, read by Raphael Corkhill (Scholastic Audio)

Rumble by Ellen Hopkins, read by Kirby Heyborne (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, read by Daniel Weyman (Hachette Audio)

Classics

*The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright, read by a full cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

PW said: “Of all Doyle’s stories about the redoubtable Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend and chronicler Dr. John Watson, arguably the best known is their investigation into what appears to be a homicidal ‘gigantic hound’ pursuing the Baskerville clan. There have been numerous film, radio, and television adaptations, but rarely has one been as flat-out entertaining as this radio-like full-cast performance, directed by Alexis Jacknow and recorded before a live audience.”

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote, read by Michael C. Hall (Brilliance Audio)

The Odyssey by Homer, trans. by Robert Fitzgerald, read by Dan Stevens (Macmillan Audio)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, read by Susie Berneis (Dreamscape Media)

Audiobook Narrator of the Year

Robin Miles for An Untamed State by Roxane Gay (Brilliance Audio) and Revolution by Deborah Wiles (Listening Library)

PW said: “Reader Miles’s portrayal... is nothing short of phenomenal.... Her breathtaking performance is not to be missed.”

R.C. Bray for The Forgers by Bradford Morrow (HighBridge Audio)

Kirby Heyborne for Rumble by Ellen Hopkins (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Xe Sands for The Vanishing by Wendy Webb (Tantor Audio) and The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland (HighBridge Audio)

Evan Morton for The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore (HarperAudio)