Each year Publishers Weekly awards the Listen Up Awards to the best audio titles that they review.
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  • Play Bossypants
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audiobook of 2011

    Bossypants

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 35 mins)
    • By Tina Fey
    • Narrated By Tina Fey
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (12699)
    Performance
    (8871)
    Story
    (8794)

    Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV. She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told....

    Warren says: "Tina Fey broke my new SUV"
  • Play Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audiobook Reader of 2011 and Best Non-Fiction of 2011

    Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 27 mins)
    • By Michael Lewis
    • Narrated By Scott Brick
    Overall
    (774)
    Performance
    (666)
    Story
    (670)

    Moneyball reveals a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the giant offices of major league teams and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors.

    Sarah Dumoulin says: "No need to be a baseball fan"
  • Play The Neil Simon Collection (Dramatized)
    Listen Up Awards, Best Full Cast Production of 2011

    The Neil Simon Collection (Dramatized)

    • ORIGINAL (17 hrs and 9 mins)
    • By Neil Simon
    • Narrated By Dan Castellaneta, Nathan Lane, Richard Dreyfuss, and others
    Overall
    (42)
    Performance
    (37)
    Story
    (36)

    Ten essential plays by Neil Simon, one of the world’s most celebrated, translated, and widely performed playwrights, including Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and more.

    Michael says: "What a wonderful way to spend some time..."
  • Play Drama: An Actor's Education
    Listen Up Awards, Best Read by Author of 2011

    Drama: An Actor's Education

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 17 mins)
    • By John Lithgow
    • Narrated By John Lithgow
    Overall
    (205)
    Performance
    (185)
    Story
    (181)

    In this riveting and surprising personal history, John Lithgow shares a backstage view of his own struggle, crisis, and discovery, revealing the early life and career that took place out of the public eye. Above all Lithgow’s memoir is a tribute to his most important influence: his father, Arthur Lithgow, who, as an actor, director, producer, and great lover of Shakespeare, brought theater to John’s boyhood. From bedtime stories to Arthur’s illustrious productions, performance and storytelling were constant and cherished parts of family life.

    Diane Havens says: "Superb"
  • Play The Woman in White
    Listen Up Awards, Best Classic of 2011

    The Woman in White

    • UNABRIDGED (25 hrs and 5 mins)
    • By Wilkie Collins
    • Narrated By Josephine Bailey, Simon Prebble
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (544)
    Performance
    (404)
    Story
    (398)

    One of the greatest mystery thrillers ever written, Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White was a phenomenal best seller in the 1860s, achieving even greater success than works by Charles Dickens. Full of surprise, intrigue, and suspense, this vastly entertaining novel continues to enthrall audiences today.

    David says: "Gripping novel, excellent production"
  • Play Untouchable: A Novel
    Listen Up Awards, Best Fiction of 2011

    Untouchable: A Novel

    • UNABRIDGED (11 hrs and 47 mins)
    • By Scott O’Connor
    • Narrated By Bronson Pinchot
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (9)
    Performance
    (5)
    Story
    (5)

    It is the autumn of 1999. A year has passed since Lucy Darby’s unexpected death, leaving her husband David and son Whitley to mend the gaping hole in their lives. David, a trauma-site cleanup technician, spends his nights expunging the grisly remains of strangers, helping their families move on, though he is unable to do the same. Whitley—an eleven-year-old social pariah known simply as the Kid—hasn’t spoken since his mother’s death.

  • Play Room: A Novel
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2010

    Room: A Novel

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 52 mins)
    • By Emma Donoghue
    • Narrated By Michal Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, and others
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (4026)
    Performance
    (1546)
    Story
    (1539)

    To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, but what she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

    Kathleen says: "A truly memorable read"
  • Play Lay Down My Sword and Shield
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2010

    Lay Down My Sword and Shield

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 45 mins)
    • By James Lee Burke
    • Narrated By Will Patton
    Overall
    (289)
    Performance
    (146)
    Story
    (143)

    Against the backdrop of growing civil rights turmoil in a sultry border town, the hard-drinking ex-POW attorney Hackberry Holland yields to the myriad urgings of his wife, his brother, and his so-called friends to make a bid for a congressional seat - and finds himself embroiled in the seamy world of Texas powerbrokers.

    Cat F. says: "The Publisher's Summary is Anemic"
  • Play Remarkable Creatures
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2010

    Remarkable Creatures

    • UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 1 min)
    • By Tracy Chevalier
    • Narrated By Charlotte Parry
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (308)
    Performance
    (131)
    Story
    (132)

    From the moment she's struck by lightening as a baby, it is clear that Mary Anning is marked for greatness. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, she learns that she has "the eye"-and finds what no one else can see. When Mary uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious fathers on edge, the townspeople to vicious gossip, and the scientific world alight.

    Griffin says: "Wonderful Book!"
  • Play Cleopatra: A Life
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2010

    Cleopatra: A Life

    • UNABRIDGED (14 hrs and 21 mins)
    • By Stacy Schiff
    • Narrated By Robin Miles
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (621)
    Performance
    (251)
    Story
    (256)

    Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than 40 years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

    Evans says: "Very captivating."
  • Play No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2010

    No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller

    • UNABRIDGED (13 hrs)
    • By Harry Markopolos
    • Narrated By Scott Brick, Harry Markopolos, Frank Casey, and others
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1176)
    Performance
    (501)
    Story
    (501)

    No One Would Listen is the exclusive story of the Harry Markopolos-lead investigation into Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme. While a lot has been written about Madoff's scam, few actually know how Markopolos and his team - affectionately called "the Fox Hounds" by Markopolos himself - uncovered what Madoff was doing years before this financial disaster reached its pinnacle. Unfortunately, no one listened, until the damage of the world's largest financial fraud ever was irreversible.

    Brendan says: "Shocking, terrific"
  • Play Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2009

    Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon

    • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 12 mins)
    • By Craig Nelson
    • Narrated By Richard McGonagle
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (362)
    Performance
    (129)
    Story
    (129)

    A richly detailed and dramatic account of one of the greatest achievements of humankind. At 9:32 A.M. on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 rocket launched in the presence of more than a million spectators who had gathered to witness a truly historic event. It carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins to the last frontier of human imagination: the moon.

    Joseph says: "DeJavous"
  • Play Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2009

    Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian

    • UNABRIDGED (6 hrs and 42 mins)
    • By Kim "Howard" Johnson
    • Narrated By Johnny Heller, Simon Vance
    Overall
    (24)
    Performance
    (5)
    Story
    (6)

    In 1978, Kim "Howard" Johnson ran away to join the circus - Monty Python's Flying Circus, that is. The Pythons converged on Tunisia to film their timeless classic Life of Brian, and Howard found himself in the thick of it, doubling for nearly all the Pythons, playing more roles in the film than John Cleese, and managing to ruin only one shot. He became the unit journalist, substitute still photographer, Roman soldier, peasant, near-stalker, and, ultimately, friend and confidant of the comedy legends.

    Jacob says: "A boring log book."
  • Play The Help
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2009

    The Help

    • UNABRIDGED (18 hrs and 19 mins)
    • By Kathryn Stockett
    • Narrated By Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and others
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (24228)
    Performance
    (10931)
    Story
    (10957)

    Why we think it’s a great listen: The most celebrated performance in all of Audible’s history, The Help has nearly 2,000 5-star reviews from your fellow listeners. We hear the print book’s not bad, either. In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another.

    Jan says: "What a great surprise!"
  • Play Sarah's Key
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2009

    Sarah's Key

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 58 mins)
    • By Tatiana de Rosnay
    • Narrated By Polly Stone
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1493)
    Performance
    (681)
    Story
    (688)

    Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a 10 year-old girl, is arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

    Benson says: "Important subject and plot, pedestrian execution"
  • Play When You Are Engulfed in Flames
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2008

    When You Are Engulfed in Flames

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 3 mins)
    • By David Sedaris
    • Narrated By David Sedaris
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (3352)
    Performance
    (833)
    Story
    (827)

    Once again, David Sedaris brings together a collection of essays so uproariously funny and profoundly moving that his legions of fans will fall for him all over again. He tests the limits of love when Hugh lances a boil from his backside, and pushes the boundaries of laziness when, finding the water shut off in his house in Normandy, he looks to the water in a vase of fresh cut flowers to fill the coffee machine.

    Kelley says: "Smokin'"
  • Play The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2008

    The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

    • UNABRIDGED (21 hrs and 45 mins)
    • By David Wroblewski
    • Narrated By Richard Poe
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (2651)
    Performance
    (591)
    Story
    (584)

    Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents and an unusual breed of dogs on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. But when tragedy strikes the Sawtelle family, Edgar flees to the surrounding wilderness. He comes of age in the wild, fighting for his survival and that of the three yearling dogs who follow him.

    Ella says: "Just OK"
  • Play Lush Life: A Novel
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2008

    Lush Life: A Novel

    • UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 1 min)
    • By Richard Price
    • Narrated By Bobby Cannavale
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (570)
    Performance
    (86)
    Story
    (86)

    What do you do? Whenever people asked him, Eric Cash used to have a dozen answers. Artist, actor, screenwriter...But now he's 35 years old and he's still living downtown, still in the restaurant business, working night shifts and serving the people he always wanted to be. What does Eric do? He manages.

    Laura L. Graumann says: "A wonderful listen"
  • Play Roots: The Saga of an American Family
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2007

    Roots: The Saga of an American Family

    • UNABRIDGED (30 hrs and 6 mins)
    • By Alex Haley
    • Narrated By Avery Brooks
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (1426)
    Performance
    (604)
    Story
    (618)

    Why we think it’s a great listen: A masterpiece like none other, Brooks’ powerful performance of Haley’s words has been known to leave listeners in tears. It begins with a birth in an African village in 1750, and ends two centuries later at a funeral in Arkansas. And in that time span, an unforgettable cast of men, women, and children come to life, many of them based on the people from Alex Haley's own family tree.

    John says: "Wonderful Listen"
  • Play Rhett Butler's People
    Listen Up Awards, Best Audios of 2007

    Rhett Butler's People

    • UNABRIDGED (18 hrs and 14 mins)
    • By Donald McCaig
    • Narrated By John Bedford Lloyd
    Overall
    (347)
    Performance
    (79)
    Story
    (80)

    Rhett Butler's People is the long-awaited novel that parallels the great American novel Gone with the Wind. Twelve years in the making, Rhett Butler's People marks a major and historic cultural event for millions of Gone with the Wind readers, complementing and adding new dimensions to its timeless story.

    Kristi says: "Extremely Disappointing"
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