Audiobooks 10/29

If you thought I wasn’t going to sneak in at least one more witch book, HA! This one is about Emilia and Victoria, twin sisters who are also both strega! That’s right: outwardly, they’re living a normal life, working in their family’s Sicilian restaurant; secretly, they’re witches. When Victoria misses dinner service one night, Emilia goes looking for her and finds her badly desecrated body. Emilia will stop at nothing to avenge her beloved twin, even if that means using that old forbidden magic.

Read by Marisa Calin (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle)

John Harvey was a neurosurgeon a decade into retirement when a sheriff showed up at his door with a summons. It was a malpractice suit, it did not go well, and Dr. Harvey never got over it. In this memoir, his son Brian Harvey shares the story of a boating adventure he took with his wife, his dog, and a box of documents that surfaced after his father’s death. That box turns out to contain every nurse’s record, doctor’s report, trial transcript, and testimony related to the malpractice case. Only Brian’s father had read it all – until now. Brian finally finds out what happened in the OR on that crucial night and why Dr. Harvey fought the excruciating accusations.

Read by Jason Gray

Tabitha has just returned to her hometown in England when a body is found and she’s blamed for the murder. She attempts to solve her own case from prison as her entire life and past are picked apart. As she attempts to unravel the truth, she realizes her memory of the day in question is a blur. She can’t be guilty. She knows she’s not guilty! She.. thinks she’s not guilty?

Read by Michelle Ford (The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton)

Mike and Benson are a Japanese American chef at a Mexican restaurant and a Black day care teacher living together in Houston. While the years they’ve been together have been good ones—good food, good sex, and, ya know, love—they’re not quite sure why it is they’re still together. When Mike finds out his estranged dad is dying in Osaka, he picks up and flies across the world to say goodbye. There he undergoes an extraordinary transformation as he discovers the truth about his family and his past. Pick this up if you’re in the mood for a “funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability, becoming who you’re supposed to be, and the limits of love.”

Read by Akie Kotabe (Inheritors by Asako Serizawa) and Bryan Washington ( Lot: Stories)

I did not do much non-work reading last week, in part because I took a week off to relax and celebrate my 36th turn around the sun, and mainly because November 3rd is just around the corner and I have apparently just now reached peak Can’t Deal. My focus is non-existent.

So for what I’m sure are obvious reasons, I’m going to go with a throwback hit and reminding everyone about Everything’s Trash, but It’s Okay. I recommended this book waaaaaaay back when I first took over the Audiobooks newsletter! Phoebe Robinson is a hilarious comedian, actress, writer, and one half of the Two Dope Queens podcast and HBO special (I wish both were still going!) Her first book, You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain had me hollering in public and this second effort did not disappoint. No one does excessive hashtags, silliness, and Bono thirst (and I do mean thirst, so much thirst) with an injection of thoughtful social commentary quite like Phoebe does. Phoebe’s narration of personal anecdotes had me cry-laughing and cringing at the same time. Really though, it’s her cultural criticism and musings on feminism, politics, body image, workplace parity, and dating that really set it off. This book is the essence of Phoebe: smart, funny, and a little (a lotta) extra.

If you, like me, are hyper aware that everything’s trash and aren’t feeling all that okay, pick up this audiobook. Permit yourself some laughter and hope.