Big audio dynamite: The books you need to hear this summer

Whether you’re out walking the dog, sitting in a hospital waiting room or crammed like a hot sardine on your first flight in years, audiobooks are the perfect way to keep your mind occupied. Below are some of the best summer listens available, from timeless classics to gruesome new thrillers.

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

(Narrated by Dion Graham; 10hrs 35mins)

Compared to Colson Whitehead’s two previous emotionally devastating (but brilliant) novels, Harlem Shuffle feels positively pleasant. Something close to a caper, it brings 1960s Harlem to vivid life in a tale as old as time — the classic fallout from a heist gone wrong. It’s hard to imagine a better time in the company of such crooks, schemers, conmen and stinkin’ lowlifes.

Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel

(Narrated by Arthur Morey, Dylan Moore, John Lee, Kirsten Potter; 5hrs 46mins)

With an extraordinary economy of language, Emily St John Mandel weaves an expertly crafted time-travel tale spanning centuries that feels epic despite the brief run time. Heavily coloured by her previous work, with shades of Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys, it is a supremely satisfying and moving story about our primal need for human connection. Apologise to your friends and family in advance — you won’t be able to shut up about this book.

Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern by Mary Beard

(Narrated by author; 10hrs 11mins)

We’re generally familiar with many of ancient Rome’s emperors; ambitious caesar, stately Augustus, mad Caligula. In Twelve Caesars, Mary Beard upends many of our assumptions by looking at how these rulers have been represented in art, from antiquity to the modern-day. It’s a clever and entertaining exercise in helping us reframe how we think about the distant past. The audiobook comes with a handy PDF containing images discussed within.

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

(Narrated by David Pittu; 24hrs 22mins)

His best novel since The Corrections, Franzen’s latest has all the wit and scalpel-sharp insight we’ve come to expect with the added and surprising warmth of an Anne Tyler book. Scenes of excruciating embarrassment will have you howling; others will break your heart. Narration is excellent bar a stunningly irritating voice given to one of the characters, but it’s easy enough to forgive when everything else is so good.

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal

(Narrated by Sean Runnette; 10hrs 35mins)

Don’t let the clunky title put you off — this is an enlightening and erudite examination not just of animal intelligence, but how humans have historically failed to measure and understand that intelligence. One of the world’s leading primatologists, de Waal is also an excellent writer — barely a minute goes by where you don’t marvel at the wonder of the natural world or learn some fascinating nugget of animal behaviour.

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

(Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney; 7hrs 52mins)

It’s hard to sum up A Ghost in the Throat in a sentence. Doireann Ní Ghríofa writes beautifully and honestly about her own life and that of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill, the 18th-century poet and composer of Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire. Although separated by centuries, the lives of these two writers now feel intimately and inextricably intertwined. Even if you’ve already read the book, the audio version is still worth listening to — it almost feels as if, like the lament of heartbreak and rage itself, this was always meant to be read aloud.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

(Narrated by Danielle Vitalis; 8hrs 41mins)

The story of three marriages on the deceptively beautiful island of Barbados, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House can at times be a distressing listen, filled as it is with domestic abuse, rape, murder and violence. A counterpoint to all this misery, and what makes it ultimately bearable, is the beautiful narration. With a lilting accent, Danielle Vitalis speaks in little more than a whisper, lending an air of kindness and gentle intimacy that becomes greatly appreciated as the story goes on.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

(Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham; 16hrs 39mins)

In 1950s Nebraska two young brothers must fend for themselves when their father dies and the bank forecloses on the family farm. In that very American tradition, they decide to make a new life out west but fate leads them in the opposite direction, towards New York City. A natural storyteller, Towels keeps the plot ticking over nicely in a solid holiday listen destined for the big screen.

French Braid by Anne Tyler

(Narrated by Kimberly Farr; 9hrs and 4mins)

Another Anne Tyler novel, another gentle Baltimore-set family drama. You might think things would be getting repetitive by now, but the opposite proves to be true. It is becoming increasingly clear we are living in the darkest timeline, so each new Anne Tyler book feels more necessary than the last. They are the comfort blankets we need in a world ashamed to admit the need for comfort blankets. Here we follow the Garret family, from a holiday in 1959 to the present day, and it is as wonderfully observed as ever.

Matrix by Lauren Groff

(Narrated by Adjoa Andoh; 8hrs and 52mins)

When Marie de France is cast from Eleanor of Aquitaine’s royal court, she is sent to a run-down English abbey. The place is riddled with disease and deprivation, but Marie resolves to turn the abbey’s fortunes around and create a sort-of female utopia. A beautiful and beguiling novel that transports the listener utterly and completely to another world.

Gas Man by Colin Black

(Narrated by author; 9hrs 30mins)

Bloody surgeons. Why do they get all the credit? Ask any anesthesiologist and they’ll tell you who the real heroes of the operating theatre are. In Gas Man, a highly entertaining and eye-opening account of what goes on when you’re out cold on the gurney, Colin Black takes us from accidental med student to consultant paediatric anaesthetist at Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

(Narrated by Shaun Taylor-Corbett; 8hrs 37mins)

Four young men go hunting elk on a forbidden part of their tribe’s land. Ten years later what they did that day comes back to haunt them, metaphorically and very literally. Both a sombre meditation on native American guilt and a satisfyingly gruesome horror tale, The Only Good Indians is best enjoyed at night with the lights off. Sit around a campfire, if possible.

Sundial by Catriona Ward

(Narrated by Katherine Fenton; 12hrs 58mins)

Who doesn’t love a good psychological gothic horror about a particularly disturbing and toxic mother-daughter relationship? Sundial is one of those books you’ll get the most out of going in blind — it’s filled with plenty of twists, turns, mystery and paranoia. Part of the fun is guessing where it’ll go next, and hoo-boy does it go to some pretty dark places. Not one for the family road trip to Clara Lara, then. Do people still go to Clara Lara?

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

(Narrated by Thandiwe Newton; 60hrs 14mins)

An oft-ignored benefit to listening to audiobooks is how they can enrich your life in the most unexpected ways. You could be lying on your couch, too hungover to even get dressed, dying from acute dehydration and eating cold pizza you don’t even want. But stick on a bit of War and Peace and bingo bango — you’re actually accomplishing something!

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

(Narrated by Kirby Heyborne; 10hrs 43mins)

Sometimes you’re not in the mood for War and Peace, and that’s fine. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a no-fuss three-star thriller to pass the time on a long drive. Enter The Plot. When a struggling writer steals someone else’s plot for his new novel he shoots straight to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. Things start to go off the rails when he receives an email that simply says, “You are a thief”. Daft and enjoyable in equal measure.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

(Narrated by author; 13hrs 33mins)

If you listen to audiobooks on your phone, you will have noticed a handy button that lets you rewind 30 seconds (or however long you set it to). Sometimes you’ll use it because you missed a pivotal plot point. Sometimes you’ll use it because you were daydreaming and have no idea what the narrator just said. And sometimes, as when listening to The Night Watchman, you’ll use it to bask just a little longer in the warm glow of stunning prose. Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction it follows a tribe of Native Americans in North Dakota facing a government-mandated termination in the 1950′s.

The Promise by Damon Galgut

(Narrated by Peter Noble; 10hrs 12mins)

Listening to The Promise it doesn’t take long to realise you’re in the presence of a Great Novel. A searing portrait of a white South African family through the decades, it keenly keeps one eye on wider political and social injustices. Peter Noble narrates beautifully — the clipped cadences, rolling Pretorian R’s and stretched Afrikaans vowels give the whole thing a warm authenticity.

Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West by Catherine Belton

(Narrated by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart; 18hrs 21mins)

The ongoing tragedy in Ukraine can’t be understood without first understanding Vladimir Putin and his wildly corrupt and ruthless regime. Catherine Belton, former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, has produced an extraordinarily detailed and well-researched account of Putin’s rise to power. It can be dense at times, and it’s easy to lose track of all the unfamiliar names, but this is an audiobook everyone should listen to.

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

(Narrated by author; 18hrs 6mins)

You will have no doubt heard of the ongoing opioid crisis in America. Recent reports show that over one million people have now died from an opioid overdose. It is an astonishing figure, and in Empire of Pain we learn about OxyContin, Purdue Pharma and the obscenely wealthy, callous family behind it all. Prepare to be incensed at some Montgomery Burns-levels of evil capitalism and outright disdain for the poor.