This week’s Audiobooks! newsletter is sponsored by All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker.
Wendy Walker’s blockbuster new audiobook All is Not Forgotten begins in the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut, where everything seems picture perfect. Until one night when a young woman is attacked at a local party. The attack reveals fault lines within the close-knit community, and the quest to find the monster who invaded their town—or perhaps lives among them—drives this psychological thriller to a shocking conclusion. Dylan Baker—whose acting credits include appearances in the Spider-Man film series, The Good Wife, and The Americans—performs this gripping tale of one town’s search for the truth.
Hey there, fellow audiobook lovers! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been sailing through books this week while I roam my neighborhood catching Pokémon. I’ve been listening to the fabulous short story collection Hot Little Hands by Australian writer Abigail Ulman, about teenage girls and young women who grapple with sex, love, punk bands, gymnastics, and horse camp (right?!). But I bet some quick and action-packed listens by Dan Brown, Ernest Cline, Maggie Stiefvater, or Daniel José Older would also make for perfect Pokémon-catching material! Whatever you’re into right now, I hope you’ve got some great listens to keep you company.
10 Audiobook Narrators We Can’t Get Enough Of
Book Riot contributor Cassandra Neace asks: “Do you have a narrator that has made such an impression on you that you would listen to them read the phone book? What is it about their voice that makes you want to listen to everything they’ve ever recorded?” Cassandra surveyed our fellow Book Riot contributors, and our list of favorites includes professional voice actors, British actors with diehard fandoms, and surprising celebrities. Read on to find out which 10 audiobook narrators we can’t get enough of!
The Book Lin-Manuel Miranda Narrated Before He Became Bonkers Famous
I just finished listening to the most beautiful book that I’ve been dying to tell you guys about. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz came out on audio in 2013, and while it was a big YA award winner, it just started showing up on my radar this year. Which makes sense, because YOU GUYS it is narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda! (You know — that guy who wrote a bananas popular musical about the Schuyler sisters and some other people.)
Ari is a Mexican American teenager who likes to keep to himself. Until he meets Dante, a bubbly teen who’s new in town and volunteers to give Ari swimming lessons. Dante’s infectious charm wins over a sullen Ari, but after one of them is injured, their friendship grows deeper and more complicated.
Aristotle and Dante is the kind of book that wraps you all over in tingly goosebumps and makes makes the hair on your arms stand up straight. It’s about kissing, boys who like boys, and two Latino teenagers who are learning to be OK with their feelings and desires. It’s also about parents, PTSD, and family secrets. And it’s about figuring out how to open up to the people who matter to you most.
As narrator, Lin-Manuel Miranda finds the perfect balance between lighthearted teenage humor and existential angst, and his kissing scenes are 100. It was also really nice to hear a Latino narrator on a story about two Mexican American teens. And for more from the author, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, he recently wrote a moving piece for Book Riot about creating sanctuaries for LGBTQI+ teens through fiction.
Gilmore Girls Actress Teams Up With Where’d You Go, Bernadette Author
One of my very favorite audiobooks ever of all time is Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, read by Kathleen Wilhoite (you might know her as Luke’s sister, Liz, on Gilmore Girls). About an architect mother, a father who builds robots, their precocious daughter, Bee, and a mysterious disappearance to Antarctica, Where’d You Go, Bernadette lands squarely in that sweet spot where satire meets warm heartedness — and Wilhoite captures that essence gorgeously.
Maria Semple’s newest book, Today Will Be Different, is coming out this October, and Hachette Audio has confirmed that Kathleen Wilhoite is lined up for an encore performance. EXCUSE ME while I flail my muppet arms; I hope I don’t accidentally hit you in the face!! My birthday is also in October, and I can’t think of a better bookish birthday present to myself <3