Bill Bryson breaks retirement to record Christmas audiobook

Despite assertions that he is ‘enjoying not doing anything’, author pens The Secret History of Christmas to reveal Santa’s true identity

I’m going through hell for the sake of art. Tolstoy or Henry James could learn a thing or two

There’s nothing like recording an audiobook to make you question every word you write. The classics would definitely take a trim

Keisha the Sket by Jade LB audiobook review – a portrait of teenage desire and abuse

Rapper Nadia Rose and actor Taz Munya are among the seven narrators of these stories documenting the misadventures of a Black London teenager

Burntcoat by Sarah Hall audiobook review – love, loss and lockdown

Actor Louise Brealey narrates this melancholic tale about an artist’s life and loves, set during a future pandemic

Persuasion by Jane Austen audiobook review – Juliet Stevenson stars in this reading of ‘the perfect novel’

Actors including Tim Brierley and Sorcha Cusack narrate this version of the great writer’s final novel originally created for radio

The Paper Lantern by Will Burns audiobook review – a compelling contemplation of country life

Community, class and the proliferation of men called Pete at the pub are explored as we follow our narrator on his daily walks in the countryside

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley audiobook review – a portrait of mother-daughter resentment

Helen McAlpine brings Riley’s crisp sentences to life in this compelling story of family boundary-testing

Ten Steps to Nanette by Hannah Gadsby audiobook review – startling candour

The standup narrates her soul-baring work, which pushes the boundaries of comedy

I’m addicted to the spoken word – I blame the Roald Dahl cassettes of my childhood

Whether it’s a true-crime podcast while cleaning or an audiobook while running, I can’t get enough of the human voice. Is it because Matilda used to ease me to sleep?

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe audiobook review – inside America’s opioid crisis

With a calmly astonished tone, the author narrates the shocking story of how the Sackler family made its money out of the lethal painkiller OxyContin

A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes audiobook review – vintage crooks and conmen

Samuel L Jackson’s narration does full justice to this grimly comic novel from the mid-century master of New York crime

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan audiobook review – a smartly realised thriller

Luke Thompson plays the minister who has an affair with a parliamentary aide, in a tale told from contrasting viewpoints

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage audiobook review – quietly subversive

Sparks fly between rancher brothers in this audiobook version of the 1967 novel, read by Chad Michael Collins

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck audiobook review – California dreaming

The desperate tale of the Joad family during the Great Depression is expertly narrated by actor Richard Armitage

Double Blind by Edward St Aubyn audiobook review – Cumberbatch revels in caustic wit

The Sherlock actor breathes life into the intertwined narratives of a group of thirtysomething professionals, spiked with flashes of caustic wit