Some of My Favorite Spring Listens!

As someone with a disabling chronic illness, I spend my days managing my health. So I wasn’t sure I wanted to listen to a book about it. But while books about chronic illness can bring back some of my least favorite memories, I still desperately want to feel that I’m not alone. And Meghan O’Rourke books feel like she’s taking my hand and saying, “I see you.”

Meghan O’Rourke begins her book with her story of living with chronic illness, describing her deterioration over the years. From there, she shares her experience visiting different doctors searching for a diagnosis. Interspersed with the memoir portions of the book, O’Rourke includes research on different aspects of chronic illness. She weaves these two parts together, showing both the medical and the personal parts of living with a chronic illness.

As we share similar stories, I expected to be overwhelmed by The Invisible Kingdom. But while I could deeply relate to her story, I felt encouraged. I wasn’t the only person experiencing the never-ending parade before doctors, hoping that this will finally be THE ONE who will be able to help. Millions of people are going through this just like me.

That’s why books like this are incredibly important. They don’t just educate people about the lives of the chronically ill. They also help sick people, like me, to be seen.

Narrated by the author

Amani, a divorced poet, is looking forward to returning to Jordan with her father for the King’s birthday. To celebrate his special day, the king has ordered a fencing tournament and wants Amani’s father to participate. Amani begins to learn more about her father’s mysterious past as new secrets come to light.

Narrated by Rasha Zamamiri

With this poetry collection, Harold Green III celebrates Black women, highlighting the creators and innovators of our time. Green reflects on Black women’s achievements and how they’ve influenced contemporary society. He also reads the collection, and there’s nothing like a poet reading his own collection.

Narrated by the author

Naomi is struggling to write her novel. In the meantime, she works as a bookseller to pay the bills. But when her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, Rosemary, enters her life, she wonders what they might have in common. What begins as some casual stalking on social media quickly turns into something more nefarious as Naomi begins a friendship with Rosemary based on false pretenses.

Narrated by Kristen Sieh

In this multigenerational family saga, we follow a family across the decades. Beginning in 1938, Meilein flees across China with her son to escape the Japanese invasion. Her son, Henry, settles in America and avoids talking about his past with his family. But his daughter, Lily, is desperate to learn about her family’s past.

Narrated by Eugenia Low

Peng Shepherd, the author of the much-beloved The Book of M is back with her second novel, The Cartographers. Nell Young inherited her love of maps from her father. When he’s found dead in his office, she finds an old map in his desk that at first she thinks is worthless–just another one of her dad’s papers. But with a little digging, she discovers that it’s actually a very rare map. In fact, it’s so rare, people would kill to have it.

Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, Nancy Wu, Karen Chilton, Ron Butler, Neil Hellegers, Jason Culp, Brittany Pressley

With its unique blend of fantasy and myth, Vagabonds! follow characters living at the edges of Nigerian society. Their lives intersect and intertwine, weaving together a complex story until their fates all converge into a single event that changes them all forever.

Narrated by Arit Okpo, Atta Otigba, Eloghosa Osunde, Ifeyinwa Unachukwu, Obongjayar, Sheila Chukwulozie