Breathe
By Mariana Conde
At this point in the new year, the posadas, gifts, roscas and parties are already far behind us and most of us are immersed in the routine of 2025.
It would seem then extemporaneous the topic, but late or not, I didn't want to stop making my list of the books I enjoyed the most in 2024.
It won't be a list of the best ones I read, but listened to. Because I have been converted. After a skeptical start and several attempts, I declare myself a fan of the audiobook. And, once I got the hang of it, a new possibility opened up for me: that of doubling the amount of books I could consume in a week or a month.
I listen to audiobooks mostly at the gym, that sacred hour when I escape from my world to slip into the world of some text, surrounded by sweaty strangers with whom I don't want to engage in even the slightest conversation beyond "Can you pass me the 10-pound one? I also listen in traffic, in the shower -making use of a waterproof speaker-, on sleepless nights and, as I had confessed on some other occasion, in idle moments while solving a sudoku. The best thing about this format is that in situations like the above where it is not conducive to reading, I still "read".
Like many people, it used to seem to me that I was not paying enough respect to an author or a work by letting someone else read it to me as I did when I was a child; as if I were cheating. Today I think there is a special charm in letting someone else read to us, a practice not only for kindergarteners, but one that was very common in the golden days when there was no television, let alone other types of entertainment through our inseparable personal screens. Be that as it may, we must fill ourselves with books in any available format: paper, electronic or, why not, with headphones.
A very profitable category in audio is that of the classics. It presents the opportunity to attack those that we still owe us or those that we want to reread and for which we have not found the time because the list of new releases continues to pile up on our nightstand. An additional advantage of this branch is that many of them can be found for free or for a minimal price on the platforms (I use Audible), in the same way that happens with some ebooks. You just have to pay attention to currency because you run the risk of being, like me, halfway through Crime and Punishment when the grace period is over.
When choosing an audiobook it is worth taking into account who is narrating it, who you will be listening to for the next few days. When you read, that voice that sounds in your head is your own, but when it comes to audio it is the voice of the stranger who will accompany you for several hours and there is a strange, intimate effect that can be a joy or shocking. Useful for this is the sample or preview function (I would rename it preview listening) because it not only gives you an idea of what the story is about but also the opportunity to sample the voice of the speaker. I find it unbearable to listen for hours to one whose tone, cadence or speed is not to my liking, as well as certain accents. Let's remember that many works are told in the Spanish of other countries or regions -sadly I report not having found one in my Yucatecan Spanish to date, but nothing is perfect. It also adds great value when it is narrated by the author himself or by a good actor or actress.
Is it possible to fall in love with a voice? You bet, it happened to me several times this year and the hangover is something similar to a short and sweet love sickness.
Let me clarify that this list is not about works published in 2024 but about those that I knew or recognized in that year. Without further ado -at last! - here you have my best 2024 listenings, some of which were not in Spanish:
A love (2021, Anagrama)
I enjoyed discovering Sara Mesa with this story about a young woman's bumpy road to self-discovery. With vivid imagery and pacing sentences, we begin to feel the alienation of Nat, the protagonist, as we continue to not know what has led her to leave everything behind and settle in a bland rural community in Spain. An aggressive landlord, an insensitive dog, an unexpected friend... a love... are the companions of this stage of her life.
Hamnet (2020, Random House Audio)
Delightful novel about an imagined version of Shakespeare's youth, or rather of his enigmatic wife Agnes Hathaway, his children and extended family, full of the intrigues worthy of a town like Stratford Upon Avon in the 19th century. But it might as well be about a stranger falling in love with a stranger; this is a fascinating story told with expertise and an exemplary command of language that left me spellbound. The reason I decided to listen rather than read it was because I had never read Maggie O'Farrel and as I usually do with authors new to me, I preferred to offer her my ears rather than my hours of reading, but if I were to do so again, I would read her.
La noche de la usina ( 2019, Penguin Random House).
One of the funniest stories I had the opportunity to discover this year. Eduardo Sacheri gracefully and mercilessly portrays the lives of a handful of men without much of a future in a province of Argentina in times of the 2001 crisis and the bank "corralito" event, of which they became victims, but decide to cash in. The colloquial use of language and the interactions of the characters are a work in itself.
Hay ríos en el cielo/There are rivers in the sky(2024, Random House Audio)
Elif Shafak tells three parallel narratives that converge at a historical point, all told with a literary skill that makes you not want to let go. Each character, at different times, arrives physically or figuratively in Mesopotamia and the original cuneiform tablets that narrated the Epic of Gilgamesh, the first written account -or of which there is written evidence- of humanity, preceding the Bible by a couple of millennia. Along the way, the most relevant issues of today's world are discussed, such as identity, diversity, ethnic persecution, but above all, human emotion.
Based on real events (2016, Anagrama).
Delphine de Vigan's mastery at its best. She shows us the most feared side of a writer's intimacy - or that of her protagonist, a writer also named Delphine - that of the blockage and the psychological spiral that leads her to question reality. With an unexpected twist and a pace that doesn't let up, it's a delight that will make you wish traffic wouldn't end or lengthen your gym sessions.
Frankenstein, narrated by Kenneth Branagh (2013, Audible Studios).
There is not much more I can say about this Mary Shelley classic that I had read long ago and seen in film versions and countless parodies even in cartoons. Listening to it in Kenneth Branagh's husky voice with his perfect English accent was a sublime experience.
Diamond Square (2023, Audible Studios)
Mercé Rodoreda, in all her splendor, takes us into the intimate life of Natalia, a Catalan woman who goes through the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War and the post-war period. It tells us about illusions, shortcomings, decisions taken under precarious circumstances and the reunion with oneself. At first it took me a while to get used to the strong accent of the narrator, but in a matter of minutes it made the story more believable and helped me to get into the story.
El viejo y el mar/The old man and the sea, narrated by Donald Sutherland (2006, Simon & Schuster Audio).
Another delight to the ear and soul of the monumental Ernest Hemingway. I rewound the narration several times (a frequent resource in this format) to listen again to the best phrases and I paused many times to let myself enjoy or feel certain passages.
On earth we are briefly gorgeous (Audiobook 2019, Penguin Audio; Penguin Press 2019 book).
I cheated with this one. I started listening to it, but as I got into it, because of its structure and language, I understood that I needed to read it despite the great advantage of being narrated by the author himself. Ocean Vuong is first and foremost a poet and this is his first novel. A highly autobiographical story about a young Vietnamese/American boy, son of an absent father, grandson of an unknown grandfather, gay, in search of self. However you choose to approach it, don't miss this work by a multi-award winning poet from whom we are sure to continue to have great surprises. I listened to/read it in English, but fortunately there is a Spanish version in both formats(En la tierra somos fugazmente grandiose. Audiobook: 2023, Anagrama; book: 2020, Anagrama).
To end on a lighter note, I'll pass on my guilty pleasure:
Chemistry Lessons ( 2023, Penguin Randon House Audio)
Pigeonholed, but magnetic, this novel that caused a stir in the English-speaking world in 2023 and was made into a series (for me very well done) in 2024, grabbed me. Well written and entertaining, it tells the story of a brilliant chemist in the 50's who has to fight tooth and nail to claim her place in the macho scientific community of the time in an unorthodox way and making use of her talent for gastronomy. The romantic subplot, which is far from cheesy and conventional, is not to be missed. The story of the path taken by Bonnie Garmus, its author, to complete the manuscript and get it published, is enough for another novel.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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