Which book on tape will with the Audie award?

At the Audie awards, the competition for Audiobook of the Year can get pretty surreal. Last year, Bill Clinton’s presidential memoir beat out James Joyce and Lemony Snicket. The three finalists for this year’s prize, to be announced on May 19 in Washington, D.C., are similarly eclectic. Here’s our handicapping of the race.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Narrator Jim Dale renders nearly 100 voices with brio, but took the 2004 award for the last Potter book. Enough already. ODDS: 10-3

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase
The full-cast BBC recording of Douglas Adams’ 1982 sci-fi classic is a slick, uncontroversial front-runner. ODDS: 2-1

The Truth (With Jokes)
SNL alum-turned-liberal gadfly Al Franken’s hilarious and bravura expression of political outrage may be too partisan to carry the day. ODDS: 5-1