Hello Audiophiles!
By some miracle, the Lowcountry has decided to give us some cooler days post-pollen apocalypse. So Dylan, Gwen, and I have spent a lot of time at the dog park working on Gwen’s recall and other obedience training. Gwen has recently fallen in love with the dog tunnel, hiding out in it like it’s her secret Corgi cave. She waits for the perfect moment and pounces on Dylan from above. Nothing like being known for the two Corgi who always seem to be bickering.
The months have flown by, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s closing in on time to figure out the best audiobooks of the year so far. Do you have any traditions around this? While I usually talk about this more over on my BookTube channel, I have something special planned for audiobooks coverage this year—stay tuned! But in the meantime, what have been YOUR favorite audiobooks of the year?
As many of you already know, I can’t read text very much. I get severe migraines if I read more than a paragraph at a time. Currently, in our world of an abundance of audiobooks for recent titles, it’s usually not an issue. But I often struggle to find audiobooks for backlist and translated titles.
Recently, a friend has been reading some books to me over voice message. Right now, he’s reading Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel, which doesn’t have an audiobook edition here in the U.S. Mantel’s prose is phenomenal. There’s nothing like it. She has this way of communicating so much in a single sentence.
Giving Up the Ghost details Mantel’s childhood and, later, her experience with endometriosis. The memoir is short, but impactful. It’s so beautifully written, I’m shocked that the audio rights haven’t been snapped up yet. But I’m grateful to have the chance to listen to it via my friend volunteering.
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Recent Listen
Finding Me by Viola Davis, Narrated by the Author
As soon as this audiobook hit my audiobook app, I dropped everything to listen to it. From the moment I saw Viola Davis on screen, I was mesmerized by her performance. She quickly became one of my favorite actors. She possesses an incredible ability to get under the skin of her characters, understanding everything that makes them who they are.
Finding Me begins with Davis’s childhood in Rhode Island. She and her family lived in a run down apartment. Economical disadvantage, combined with her father’s violent outbursts and alcoholism, created a very unstable home life for her. She describes the child she was and the determination she had to make something of herself.
When she found acting as a child, she began to blossom. She worked hard to get to college, eventually attending Juilliard. But as a dark-skinned Black woman, Davis chafed against the very white-centered classical training she received. She pushes back against the racist idea that the “proper” way to do things was to focus on white characters and experiences.
When she entered the professional acting world, Davis had an uphill battle pushing back against colorism and feedback that she wasn’t “the right kind of pretty.” But then she gets some hard-earned lucky breaks and ends up on broadway.
Davis is one of the best actors I’ve ever had the privilege to watch, and her performance reflects that. As she describes her early childhood, you can hear the raw emotions in her voice as she tells her story. I hung on every moment.
If you want a preview of what Finding Me is like, Davis sat down with Oprah for a special on Netflix. There, Davis describes some highlights from the book.
Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!
Around the Web
“What Makes a Great, or Terrible, Audiobook Performance? The case for doing less.” by Mimi Kramer (Vulture) – An interesting take on what makes a good audiobook narrator.
“Quiz: Audiobooks by Asian American and Pacific Islander Authors” (Libro.fm) – Looking for more recommendations for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month? Check out this quiz from Libro.fm!
“Holly Black Appreciates a Good Con” (Audible) – “The best-selling author of The Folk of the Air series and the Spiderwick Chronicles debuts her first adult fantasy, Book of Night, which follows an accomplished con artist as she navigates the criminal underworld of shadow magic and those hunting for its secrets.”
“‘It’s like somebody’s whispering in your ear’: Inside the expansive, intimate world of audiobooks” by Marsha Lederman (The Globe and Mail) – As more people discover audiobooks, more articles like this keep popping up. I find it interesting to see how different folks are introduced to audiobooks. I love seeing their joy.
That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave or over on Instagram @kdwinchester. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE audiobook content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.
Happy listening, bookish friends!
~ Kendra