My Corgi Loves Audiobooks As Much As I Do

Way back when, I remember everyone at Book Riot raving about The Sorcerer to the Crown. Of course, I picked it up and fell in love with Zen Cho’s storytelling. So when I heard about Black Water Sister, I knew I needed to listen to it ASAP. Jess, a Malaysian American queer woman, is returning with her parents to Malaysia only to discover that her grandmother’s dead spirit is haunting her.

As Jess settles into her life in Malaysia, she tries to learn more about her grandmother’s spirit, but her mom refuses to talk about her family. If that wasn’t bad enough, Jess’s girlfriend still lives a world away and keeps asking when Jess is going to tell her parents about them. And at every step, her grandmother’s spirit comments on every part of Jess’s life.

I love how Cho introduces us to Jess’s new world. As she learns more about her family’s path and the gods that they serve, so do we. The book highlights her family’s spiritual beliefs, and while these beliefs aren’t shared by all of her family, they are still respected.

Without getting into spoilers, this book is hella creepy in the best possible way. A couple scenes had me glancing up at my windows and making sure I have nightlights around at night. This world of gods and spirits—some friendly, some not—always hovers at the edge of Jess’s mind, creating a perfect haunting sort of atmosphere.

Emily Woo Zeller performs Black Water Sister with her usual brilliance. I love how she’s able to transfer between the descriptive text and the dialogue—such a range! I’d never listened to anything even remotely spooky narrated by her before, so I was delighted at how she captured the perfect sinister mood with her performance.

Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Did you love Maud from An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good as much as I did? Well, Maud is back to her deadly shenanigans in An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed. At nearly 90 years old, Maud is still as formidable as ever.

Narrated by Ann Richardson (The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg and There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather by Linda Åkeson McGurk)

Everyone and their mother’s brother have been raving about Jonathan Franzen’s new novel. Crossroads features a pastor and his family in the 1970s. Each family member has their secrets and desires to be something different. Franzen’s intimate look at these characters has been praised as Franzen at his finest.

Narrated by David Pittu (My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing and The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott)

Brand Colbert’s new nonfiction young adult book is Black Birds in the Sky, which shares the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 and discusses how the horrific events of that day still affects Black Americans today.

Narrated by Brandy Colbert and Kristyl Dawn Tift (Pushout by Monique W. Morris and Colonize This! edited by Daisy Hernández and Bushra Rehman)

Chibundu Onuzo’s latest novel, Sankofa, follows Anna, a woman who has just left her husband and her mother has died. With her daughter grown, she begins to search to learn more about herself and the father she’s never known.

Narrated by Sara Powell (All Men Want to Know by Nina Bouraoui and Assassin’s Orbit by John Appel)

One of my most anticipated audiobooks of the fall is What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy. This novel follows a cast of characters during and after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Across Port-au-Prince, each character witnesses one of the most haunting days of their lives.

Narrated by Ella Turenne (A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler and Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin)