My Favorite Audiobooks of 2021 (Premium)

I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and this year was like any other, with a mix of new audiobooks and some repeat listens. Here are my favorite audiobooks from 2021, in chronological order.

Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica
By: Matthew Parker
Narrated by: Roy McMillan

I’ve always been fascinated by James Bond, but I’m even more interested in the writing process, so this was a natural for me.

Later
By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Seth Numrich

An excellent new novella from Stephen King with a nice twist on “I see dead people.”

Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original “Psycho”
By: Harold Schechter
Narrated by: R.C. Bray

Psycho is also worth listening to, but with RC Bray on tap to put it over the top, the true story is even more disturbing.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
By: Jason Schreier
Narrated by: Ray Chase

An amazing collection of stories about how individual video games were made.

Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry
By: Jason Schreier
Narrated by: Ray Chase

The sequel to the previous book and just as interesting.

Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The Rise and Fall of Sierra On-Line
By: Ken Williams
Narrated by: Josh Horowitz

The Sierra On-Line games were my introduction to 16-bit computing, and this autobiography is incredible.

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World
By: Michael Pollan
Narrated by: Michael Pollan

Pollan is a bit polarizing, but I found this one interesting, and it’s quite short. (It’s free with an Audible Premium Plus subscription.)

The Stand
By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Grover Gardner

At almost 48 hours long, this is probably the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to, and this was at least my third time doing so. Fantastic stuff, and probably King’s best.

The Hobbit
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Andy Serkis

The Hobbit can be a bit cloying if you’re an adult, but this reading by Andy Serkis (Gollum in the movies) is amazing.

Billy Summers
By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Paul Sparks

Stephen King’s one big book of 2021 is terrific. It’s about an assassin who figures out that there’s a plot to kill him and the steps he takes to seek revenge.

A Better Life for Half the Price: How to Thrive on Less Money in the Cheapest Places to Live

By: Tim Leffel
Narrated by: Christopher Lawson

We’ve been researching potential international homes for the future, and this is a great resource.

Taste: My Life Through Food
By: Stanley Tucci
Narrated by: Stanley Tucci

This is a great autobiography, and it was nicely timed to arrive just after Tucci’s terrific HBO series “Searching for Italy” first aired. Loved it.

The Exorcist: A Novel
By: William Peter Blatty
Narrated by: William Peter Blatty, Eliana Shaskan

This was another relisten. Blatty is one of my favorite writers. I just wish there was more.

Legion
By: William Peter Blatty
Narrated by: Joe Hempel

Another relisten, and this time it’s one of my favorite books of all time. The dialog, especially between the main character, a detective, and his friend, a priest, is world-class. This was made into a great movie that was unfortunately called The Exorcist III, but it’s also worth seeing. (Legion is basically the only real sequel to the Exorcist.)

My Life in France
By: Julia Child, Alex Prud’Homme
Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

After listening to Stanley Tucci, I naturally went on another Julia Child kick. This book is fantastic, and anyone who cares about software development or technical writing should read it. I know. You’ll see why when you do.

Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors
By: Robby Krieger, Jeff Alulis
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris

This amazing autobiography is what I’m still listening to right now. It’s fantastic, and it clears up a lot of the misinformation and mythology out there about Jim Morrison and the Doors. We’ve been listening to a lot of Doors music lately, too, not coincidentally.