Armageddon in Retrospect
by Kurt Vonnegut
Short Stories/Collection Winner - Twelve previously unpublished writings on war and peace include such pieces as an essay on the destruction of Dresden, a story about the first-meal fantasies of three soldiers, and a meditation on the impossibility of shielding children from the temptations of violence. Read by Rip Torn ; introduction read by Mark Vonnegut.

Child 44
by Tom Rob Smith
Thriller/Suspense Winner - In the workers' paradise of Stalin's Russia, crime cannot exist. Loyal, hardworking citizens will have all their needs met by the state, making crime unnecessary. The one exception is political crime, and MGB (State Security) officer Leo Demidov works long hours arresting people and delivering them to dreaded Lubyanka Prison. Deeply patriotic, but covetous of the perks of his position, Leo knows that many of the people he arrests are innocent, and he knows that he could suffer a similar fate. He does, almost, when office politics, MGB style, dictate his transfer to the lowly militia in a small city hundreds of miles east of Moscow. There he discovers that a serial killer is preying on children in cities along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Having lost almost everything, Leo seeks redemption by hunting the killer, but his effort makes him a high-profile enemy of the state (acknowledging that a serial killer could exist in the USSR is tantamount to treason). Read by Dennis Boutsikaris.

Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady
by L.A. Meyer
Female Solo Narration Winner - In 1803, after being exposed as a girl and forced to leave her ship, Jacky Faber finds herself attending school in Boston, where, instead of learning to be a lady, she battles her snobbish classmates, roams the city in search of adventure, and learns to ride a horse. Read by Katherine Kellgren.

Duma Key
by Stephen King
Fiction Winner - Construction multimillionaire Edgar Freemantle has a violent side. After he loses his right arm in a critical work accident, Pam, his wife of more than 29 years, asks him for a divorce. In a spurt of anger, Edgar uses his remaining limb to stab Pam with a plastic knife. Heeding the advice of his therapist, Edgar packs up and leaves Minnesota for some psychological rehabilitation along the Florida Gulf Coast on the undeveloped island of Duma Key. There aren't many other residents, and Edgar quickly begins to discover the hidden family mystery of the elderly Elizabeth Eastlake, who owns most of the island's houses. In his new rental home, Edgar begins to experiment with drawing and painting, sometimes in a frenzied manner, as if controlled by some outside source. As Edgar's artwork begins to bloom, the haunted mysteries of Elizabeth's past unfold. Narrated by John Slattery.

Gandhi and Churchill
by Arthur Herman
History Winner - Herman shows how Gandhi and Churchill's 40-year rivalry revolutionized India and the British Empire, paving the way for a new era. Gandhi championed India's independence, Churchill the British Empire. Narrated by John Curless.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded
by Thomas L. Friedman
Non-Fiction Winner - Friedman proposes an ambitious national strategy to address key issues in climate change and energy shortages, identifying the factors that have contributed to current circumstances while outlining an American-led revolution of clean technology solutions. Read by Oliver Wyman.

Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
by Jeffrey Gittomer
Business/Educational Winner - In this fun and accessible sales manual, Gitomer presents a philosophy of selling that has nothing to do with manipulative tactics and everything to do with long-term relationship-building and ethics. Succinct, witty, and enthusiastic, he offers practical solutions for typical selling complaints while making his case that the best salesperson is the one with genuine passion for the job. Narrated by the author.

Mudbound
by Hillary Jordan
Multi-voiced Performance Winner - Winner of the prestigious Bellwether Prize for Fiction, this powerful debut unfolds a human drama of love, betrayal, and bigotry set in the postwar South. When Laura McAllan, an educated Memphis belle, moves to her husband's cotton farm in rural Mississippi, she finds it hard to adjust to her new lifestyle. As she struggles to raise her children properly despite the racist influence of her father-in-law and neighbors, she befriends Florence Jackson, the wife of one of their black tenants. Into the mix come two young World War II veterans returning to work the land: Jamie, Laura's charming brother-in-law, still haunted by memories of war; and Ronsel, Florences son, who finds that his war hero status quickly evaporates in the Jim Crow culture of his homeland. When the two young men form a deep friendship, tensions mount into inevitable tragedy. Narrated by Joey Collins, Peter Jay Fernandez, Kate Forbes, Ezra Knight, Brenday Pressley and Tom Stechschulte.

The Dark Highlander
by Karen Marie Moning
Romance Winner - Darker, spicier and more serious than Moning's previous time-travel romances, this tall tale is every bit as entertaining. A Highlander from the 16th-century versed in both ancient Druid magic and the many ways in which to love a woman, Daegus MacKeltar is an enchanting hero as well as his own worst enemy. At the end of Moning's previous book, To Kiss a Highlander, Daegus used his Druid powers to travel back in time and save his twin brother, Drustan, who would have otherwise perished in a fire, but in doing so, he released the spirits of 13 evil Druids, who now reside inside him. In his search for age-old texts that may hold the key to re-imprisoning the spirits, Daegus meets ever-curious Chloe Zanders, a Manhattan antiquities lover. When she accidentally stumbles upon his collection of "borrowed" texts, Daegus holds her captive, which leads to a number of hilarious exchanges and heady encounters. Read by Phil Gigante.

The Last Lecture
by Randy Pausch
Biography/Memoir Winner - Based on the extraordinary final lecture by Carnegie Mellon University professor Pausch, given after he discovered he had pancreatic cancer, this moving audiobook inspires listeners to live each day with purpose and joy. Read by Erik Singer.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris
Humor Winner - From armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds to the awkwardness of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a sleeping fellow passenger on a plane, David Sedaris uses life's most bizarre moments to reach new heights in understanding love and fear, family and strangers. Culminating in a brilliantly funny account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, Sedaris' sixth essay collection will be avidly anticipated. Performed by the author.

You Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty
by Michael Roizen
Personal Development Winner - The authors make recommendations for promoting optimal health and longevity after age thirty in a reference that likens the aging process to the maintenance of city systems. Narrated by Johnny Heller.