If last year was about proving I could still balance being a reader, hobby writer and professional, this year was about trusting that I am one. Reading didn’t compete with the rest of my life – it moved alongside it. That feels like real progress.

With audiobooks making up nearly 80% of my reading this year, what I observed is that great audiobook narration isn’t about performance, range or theatrics – it’s about restraint.

Genre mattered far less than execution. YA, westerns, memoir, horror, literary fiction – even lighter romance – were all fair game. The result is a year light on five-star reads but heavy on discernment. Not a banner reading year, but certainly a clarifying one.

Reading mirrors life. At times, you experience one incredible read after another, but other times you’re stuck in a slump that seems unending. But perseverance often leads to better days, and this year reminded me of that truth.

With 72% of my reading this year incorporating an audio component, it’s surprising that more performances didn’t land on my “worst” list – especially considering how average my overall reading year felt.

Short story collections, anthologies and graphic novels provided much-needed variety, proving that it’s always a good idea to shake up your format. As for my quest to tackle the “chonky” novels languishing on my TBR list, well, many were ambitious but frustrating.

Revisit my year in reading.

I had no trouble narrowing down my “best” list this year, but “worst” was another story. Truthfully, I read a lot of mediocre books – many I should’ve given up on – which means this was a year dominated by quantity and not quality.

In a year where 67 percent of my reading was listening, I experienced the good, the bad and the downright ugly of audiobook performances and production. With that said, here are the 10 best and 12 worst audiobook narrations I heard in 2023.

My 2022 reading goal was to have 45 percent of books read be written by authors not like me, defined by being a white, cis-gendered male who identifies as gay. Factoring in all diversity markers (and multiple books by the same authors), 53% of books read qualified under the “not like me” umbrella.

Ultimately, for the amount of books I read in 2022, there were only a few that I actively disliked. While there were many that felt incredibly average, I was able to find redeeming qualities in most reads - even the 22 titles reflected here that account for the lower 20 percent of my total reading.

I read a lot of great books this year, so I forced myself to narrow down the list to 10 favorites and 10 honorable mentions. These two lists comprise less than 20 percent of my overall reads, so they really were the cream of the crop. 

After listening to more than 70 audiobooks in 2022, I can definitively state these are the 10 best and seven worst audiobook narrations I heard.

This year, I attempted more than 100 books - 102 to be exact - and only abandoned one read (although I should’ve given up on several others). Explore all the books I read in 2022.