Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley read by Mary Beth Hurt

A Word in Your Ear

I am not normally drawn to equine blockbusters but the fact that Jane Smiley's Horse Heaven was short-listed for the Orange Prize for women's fiction this year made me give this abridgement a try. The try lengthened into a listening experience that I was loth to interrupt. Most of the credit must go to Smiley's accomplished storytelling. Horsy aficionados complain she doesn't really understand racing, but she combines panache with precision in her drawing of both her animal and her human characters, and observes and explains the dynamics between different sorts of women and different sorts of men with a subtlety that makes Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus (a book I actually have a lot of time for) seem crassly two-dimensional. But credit should also go to Mary Beth Hurt, who reads with an infectious energy that carries the listener over a few puzzling elisions caused by the abridgement.

Best of the Rest

The Highway Code, read by Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres, BBC Radio Collection, £8.99. There's a touch of the 1984s about the audiobook, but it's easy and convenient. You may also find it embarrassingly unfamiliar.

For Children:

A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain, read by Kenneth Jay. Irreverent wit and ingenious invention make this a book that parents will chuckle over as well as children. Naxos 2hrs 30mins, £8.99.