Better on the page

Seven checks: a timeline that jumps, three or more points of view read by one narrator, prose a critic calls literary or dense, many similar-sounding names, a story that depends on images or layout, maps, family trees or footnotes, and narration that critics have marked down. A book gets a Read verdict when the checks pointing to reading outweigh those pointing to audio.

Only up to a point. A praised or award-winning narration counts toward audio, and it applies to A Little Life, Wuthering Heights, Flashlight, John of John and A Game of Thrones, but each is still a Read verdict because the checks pointing to reading outweigh it. For Circe (68%), one narrator counts on the listening side, but many similar-sounding names and dense prose count on the reading side.

Four books score 100% for reading on our checks: May We Feed the King, The End of Everything, Frankenstein and Lessons in Chemistry, with nothing confirmed pointing to audio. Nothing Lasts Forever is also listed at 100%, because no audiobook of it was found. May We Feed the King is listed first: its two eras run in very short alternating sections, and the prose is lyrical.

No. Several have praised or award-winning narrators, Roy Dotrice’s A Game of Thrones among them. The verdict is about what the book asks of a reader, not the quality of the recording.

Because there was a real case for listening: a praised narration, a single narrator or a long print edition. A Game of Thrones (55%) and John of John (56%) are the closest, and their verdict pages say exactly what would change the verdict.