Author: Vanessa Diaz

Hola Audiophiles!

Know what time it is? Time for more new audiobooks! Here are the new releases for the second half of May as promised. Read up then listen in, and tell me what your faves are!

I also want to check in with you and get your feedback. Is there any specific kind of audiobook content that you’d like to see covered? Let a girl know! Yo soy here to serve.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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Sponsored by the audiobook edition of The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

Moving through three generations and back and forth in time, The Guest Book asks how we remember and what we choose to forget. It shows the untold secrets we inherit and pass on, unknowingly echoing our parents and grandparents. Sarah Blake’s triumphant novel tells the story of three generations of the Milton’s, their family home on an island in Maine, and a country that buries its past in quiet, until the present calls forth a reckoning. The audiobook is read by Orlagh Cassidy, who won an AudioFile Earphones Award for her narration of Blake’s previous audiobook, The Postmistress.

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New Releases (publishers descriptions in quotes)

Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson, narrated by Korey Jackson, Nile Bullock, Adenrele Ojo, Adam Lazarre-White  (May 21)

This one is giving me major On the Come Up vibes with the throwback to 90s hip hop. Here for it! Know what else I’m here for? Representation. Damn, it feels good to read about black and brown kids.

“Brooklyn, 1998. Biggie Smalls was right: Things done changed. But that doesn’t mean Quadir and Jarrell are cool letting their best friend Steph’s music lie forgotten under his bed after he’s murdered – not when his rhymes could turn any Bed-Stuy corner into a party.

With the help of Steph’s younger sister, Jasmine, they come up with a plan to promote Steph’s music under a new rap name: the Architect. Soon, everyone wants a piece of him. When his demo catches the attention of a hotheaded music label rep, the trio must prove Steph’s talent from beyond the grave.

As the pressure of keeping their secret grows, Quadir, Jarrell, and Jasmine are forced to confront the truth about what happened to Steph. Only, each has something to hide. With everything riding on Steph’s fame, they need to decide what they stand for or lose all they’ve worked so hard to hold on to – including each other.”

How to Forget: A Daughter’s Memoir by Kate Mulgrew, narrated by the author (May 21)

I came to love Kate Mulgrew through her performance in Orange is the New Black as I’m sure many of you have too! This is her memoir and it sounds like we’re all going to need some tissues.

“They say you can’t go home again. But when her father is diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer and her mother with atypical Alzheimer’s, New York-based actress Kate Mulgrew returns to her hometown in Iowa to spend time with her parents and care for them in the time they have left.

The months Kate spends with her parents in Dubuque – by turns turbulent, tragic, and joyful – lead her to reflect on each of their lives and how they shaped her own. Those ruminations are transformed when, in the wake of their deaths, Kate uncovers long-kept secrets that challenge her understanding of the unconventional Irish Catholic household in which she was raised.

Breathtaking and powerful, laced with the author’s irreverent wit, How to Forget is a considered portrait of a mother and a father, an emotionally powerful memoir that demonstrates how love fuses children and parents, and an honest examination of family, memory, and indelible loss.”

Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini, narrated by Hannah Melbourn (May 21)

Whew, child. This sounds like the kind of book that will open your eyes and boil your blood. I don’t think I knew that eugenics were still a thing.

“After the horrors of the Nazi regime in WWII, the mainstream scientific world turned its back on eugenics and the study of racial difference. But a worldwide network of unrepentant eugenicists quietly founded journals and funded research, providing the kind of shoddy studies that were ultimately cited in Richard Hernstein’s and Charles Murray’s 1994 title, The Bell Curve, which purported to show differences in intelligence among races.

If the vast majority of scientists and scholars disavowed these ideas, and considered race a social construct, it was still an idea that managed to somehow make its way into the research into the human genome that began in earnest in the mid-1990s and continues today. Dissecting the statements and work of contemporary scientists studying human biodiversity, most of whom claim to be just following the data, Saini shows us how, again and again, science is retrofitted to accommodate race. Even as our understanding of highly complex traits like intelligence, and the complicated effect of environmental influences on human beings, from the molecular level on up, grows, the hope of finding simple genetic differences between ‘races’ – to explain differing rates of disease, to explain poverty or test scores, or to justify cultural assumptions – stubbornly persists.

At a time when racialized nationalisms are a resurgent threat throughout the world, Superior is a powerful reminder that biologically, we are all far more alike than different.”

The Organs of Sense by Adam Ehrlich Sachs, narrated by Andrew Wincott (May 21)

I thought this was a historical fiction piece with a dash o’ mystery but I’ve seen it referred to as a comic fable. Either way, it sounds downright delightful.

“In 1666, an astronomer makes a prediction shared by no one else in the world: at the stroke of noon on June 30 of that year, a solar eclipse will cast all of Europe into total darkness for four seconds. This astronomer is rumored to be using the largest telescope ever built, but he is also known to be blind – both of his eyes were plucked out under mysterious circumstances. Is he mad? Or does he, despite this impairment, have an insight denied the other scholars of his day?

These questions intrigue the young Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – not yet the world-renowned polymath who would go on to discover calculus but a 19-year-old whose faith in reason is shaky at best. Leibniz sets off to investigate the astronomer’s claim, and in the three hours before the eclipse occurs – or fails to occur – the astronomer tells the scholar the story behind his strange prediction: a tale that ends up encompassing kings and princes, family squabbles, insanity, art, loss, and the horrors of war.”

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Rory Kinnear (May 28)

Mwaahahaha, I’m so excited! I’ve been a Horowitz fan since devouring Magpie Murders in a day last year. I really enjoyed The Word is Murder, his take on the Holmes/Watson dynamic made modern; The Sentence is Death picks up where that left off.

“’You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late….’

These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine – a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.

Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?

Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.

But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realizes that these secrets must be exposed – even at the risk of death…”

The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild by Thomas D. Seeley, narrated by William Hope

WE MUST SAVE THE BEES! That is all. Continue.

“Humans have kept honey bees in hives for millennia, yet only in recent decades have biologists begun to investigate how these industrious insects live in the wild. The Lives of Bees is Thomas Seeley’s captivating story of what scientists are learning about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees living outside the beekeeper’s hive – and how wild honey bees may hold the key to reversing the alarming die-off of the planet’s managed honey bee populations.

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science, as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and reveals how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping – Darwinian Beekeeping – which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past 30 million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He tells beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees.

Engaging and deeply personal, The Lives of Bees reveals how we can become better custodians of honey bees and make use of their resources in ways that enrich their lives, as well as our own.”

Rebel (Women Who Dare) by Beverly Jenkins, narrated by Kim Staunton (May 28)

I’ve been meaning to read Beverly Jenkins for some time and she keeps giving me more and more reasons to start! Her latest is the first in a new series following a Northern woman south in the aftermath of the Civil War. And that cover… Dios mio!

“Valinda Lacey’s mission in the steamy heart of New Orleans is to help the newly emancipated community survive and flourish. But soon, she discovers that here, freedom can also mean danger. When thugs destroy the school she has set up and then target her, Valinda runs for her life – and straight into the arms of Captain Drake LeVeq.

As an architect from an old New Orleans family, Drake has a deeply personal interest in rebuilding the city. Raised by strong women, he recognizes Valinda’s determination. And he can’t stop admiring – or wanting – her. But when Valinda’s father demands she return home to marry a man she doesn’t love, her daring rebellion draws Drake into an irresistible intrigue.”

Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik, narrated by Jayme Mattler (May 28)

In the mood for a thriller? This one takes place in the isolated river towns of Bolivia and involves a jaguar, some missionaries, and some shamans with an axe to grind. Well okay then!

“Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it.

When the gig falls through and Lily stays in Bolivia, she finds bonding with other broke, rudderless girls at the local hostel isn’t the life she wants either. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life.

When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: Stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in a string of ever-more-isolated river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. Thirty-foot anaconda? Puppy-sized spiders? Vengeful shamans with unspeakable powers? Love-struck Lily is oblivious. She follows Omar to this ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle–its wonders as well as its terrors—using only her wits and resilience.”

From the Internets

“As we goooo on, we remeeeember!” Be glad you didn’t have to hear me belt out that Vitamin C diddy that always reminds me of my eighth grade graduation. Tis the season for graduations and Penguin Random House recommends these audiobooks for recent grads.

Summer is all like, “Hey, I’m on way!” and for many that means a summer vacation. If you’re the road trippin’ sort, check this list of 20 great audiobooks for extra long road trips from Country Living.

Over at the Riot

Are you a Hoopla user? If you haven’t tried out this awesome library lending platform, now is a good time to start! Resident mystery expert Jaime Canaves has rounded up a collection of 21 mysteries and thrillers available on Hoopla now. She cool.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles!

Welcome back to another week of audiobookishness. I was going to hit you with Part Dos of May audiobooks, but I’ll save that for next week since I already covered this week’s releases. I’ll catch you up on my latest listens and talk Mother’s Day audiobook ideas, all while trying very hard to stop crying over that last episode of Game of Thrones. PORQUUEEE???? If anyone else needs cheering up (and a good laugh: kill us with that falsetto, Greyworm!), please see this delightful little vid. 

Ready? Let’s audio.

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Sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive

Meet Libby. The award-winning reading app that makes sure you always have something to read. It’s like having your entire library right in your pocket. Download the app today and get instant access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free thanks to your public library and OverDrive.

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Latest Listens

Steven Rowley’s The Editor is about James Smale, a gay writer in 1990s New York City who finally gets the break he’s been waiting for when Doubleday agrees to buy his book. He’s caught just a wee bit off guard when he goes to meet his editor, because that editor is none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

I didn’t know that Jackie O really was an editor, publishing over 100 books in the two decade publishing career that defined the latter part of her life. I really enjoyed spending time with Rowley’s imagining of the icon, a woman catapulted to reluctant fame through her relationships with famous men who clearly had a mind and ambitions of her own. She’s soft but strong, never willing to take the focus off her writers even if it means remaining behind the scenes.

James’ story is of course the primary narrative and is every bit as compelling. As Jackie correctly surmises, his book he writes is largely autobiographical. It’s an exploration of a complicated mother-son dynamic that very much mirrors his own estranged relationship with his mother. When James struggles to finish the book, Jackie suggests that James might need to fix things with his mom in order to make progress. James soon realizes he has a lot of digging to do if he’s ever going to pull that off.

Great narration, a fun and relatable story, and a peek into the myth and legend that was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It’s not a soul-shaker, but it is very funny, light, and great for spring and summer listening.

Listens on Deck

It’s time, friends. Elizabeth Acevedo’s new book is finally here! With the Fire on High came out this Tuesday and I just have to do it on audio! Elizabeth Acevedo’s narration is just too good to pass up, even though I’ve had the galley sitting on my shelf for months.

For those that need a refresher, With the Fire on High is about Emoni Santiago, a teen mother working hard to raise her young daughter and take care of her abuela. She dreams of being a chef and has the skills to do it, but dreams feel impractical and impossible. Her talent is too great to ignore though, as Emoni learns when everything leads back to the food.

Mother’s Day Audiobooks

Mother’s Day is just a few days away! Or it’s tomorrow if your family celebrates like mine (May 10th is Mother’s Day in Mexico and several other Latin American countries). Whether you have three days or less than 24 hours, audiobooks are an easy, thoughtful, and convenient gift. Services like Libro.fm and Audible make it easy to gift them too. Here are a few recommendations for the lovely lady in your life!

For the mom who loves inspirational celeb memoirs:

The Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun, and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes, narrated by the author

The powerhouse writer behind shows like Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy was known among her friends and family for always saying no. When this habit was brought to attention, Rhimes decided to confront her fears and insecurities and say yes to damn near everything (within reason) for a year. This book documents all the things she said yes to and how transformative the experience was both physically and emotionally. A great listen for anyone who wants to be a little braver, a little bolder, who needs a little push to finally say yes.

Bonus rec: Becoming by Michelle Obama because duh.  

For the foodie or anyone who ever loved Gourmet magazine:

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl, narrated by the author

I’ve raved and raved about this one so I’ll just recap what I said previously: Ruth Reichl is the acclaimed food writer, restaurant critic, and general foodie goddess who wrote for the LA Times and New York Times before she was named editor of Gourmet in 1999. This memoir focuses on her time at the magazine during which she revamped its content and design, all while balance the demands of that career with being a loving wife and mother at fifty years of age. While I’ve said I’d love to own this in print because of the recipes, I still think it’s an excellent audiobook to gift! For an extra special treat: make the recipient one of the delicious foods. I vote for the chocolate jewel cake… YUM.

For the mom who loves sweet stories and books about books:

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson, narrated by Ann Marie Gideon

Miranda Brooks was twelve years old when the uncle she loved like a second father mysteriously disappeared from her life. Sixteen years later, Miranda receives word that her uncle has died, and  that he’s left her a bookstore. He’s also left her a scavenger hunt with literary clues, one that will finally answer all of the questions that went unanswered for years. It’s part mystery, part family saga, part love letter to indie bookstores: a perfect present for anyone who loves books and a heartwarming story about the lengths we go to for the people we love.

For the mom who likes murder and perhaps some historical fiction: 

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt, narrated by Jennifer Woodward, Erin Hunter, and Garrick Hagon

Did Lizzie Borden do it? Did she kill her parents? This chilling piece of historical fiction reimagines the events leading up to the chilling ax murder of Andrew and Abby Borden, one of America’s most notorious murder cases and unsolved mysteries. It tells the story from multiple perspectives: Lizzie Borden herself, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and a stranger named Benjamin. The plot unravels suspensefully (and maddeningly!) until it all comes to a fever pitch ending that may make your mom want to punch you, but in a loving way! Excellent audio on this one, especially Lizzie’s part: the perfect amount of creepy delusion and unreliability.

For the mom who likes some smart with her funny:

Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah, narrated by the author

This might be one of my favorite audiobooks ever. Comedian and The Daily Show host Trevor Noah was quite literally born a crime: the son of a white man and a black woman, his very existence as the product of interracial coupling was punishable by law under South African apartheid. His book focuses on his childhood and young adulthood, much of which was spent indoors to keep his family safe. When apartheid ended, Trevor and his mother were finally able to live life out in the open. Their story is one of adventure, abuse, discovery, and reinvention, not to mention of the funniest stories I’ve heard narrated in a long time.

For the mom who likes her history and a strong woman’s narrative:

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff, narrated by Robin Miles

I thought I knew plenty about the Queen of Egypt, but it turns out I had lots to learn. Cleopatra is a fascinating figure who is so often described as a cunning seductress, one who got by on her feminine wiles and not her competency. The truth of course is that she was so much more than this reductive set of descriptions: she was a strategist, a negotiator, a wager of wars and a marrier of brothers (seriously she married two of her siblings and gave no effs about either). I loved getting to know more about the woman whose notoriety overshadowed her truth.

From the Internets

Here’s your shocker of the week: audiobook consumption is – once again – still on the rise.

Over at the Riot

The Baby-Sitter’s Club audiobooks are coming in August! Elle Fanning will narrate the first five in the series and other narrators include Brittany Pressley and Bahni Turpin. Yay!

Your girl be booktubin’ about this audiobook life! If you want to catch the visual version of my audiobooks breakdown, head over to our YouTube page for May Audiobooks, Part 1.

Print book snobs: this part ain’t for you. Here are four types of books that are better as audiobooks than print!

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles!

I’ll spare you the photo of JT and his blonde NSYNC era curls and just come out and tell you that IT’S GONNA BE MAY. At least it is at the time of my writing this. May is already upon you fine people as you read this and that means it’s time for new audiobooks!

Once again, I couldn’t pick 10 for the month so I’ll be splitting the new books up in two parts. Today I’ll hit you with ten picks from the first two weeks of May releases. Ready?

Let’s audio.

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Sponsored by our giveaway of $100 to spend on YA lit!

What’s Up in YA? is our biweekly newsletter about all things young adult literature, and we’re giving away a $100 gift card to Amazon to support all (well, some of) your YA purchasing! Just sign up for the newsletter below to enter, and enjoy young adult new release news, interviews, backlist recommendations, and deals!

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New Releases (publisher’s descriptions in quotes)

Nocturna by Maya Motayne, narrated by Kyla Garcia (May 7)

You’ve heard me talk plenty about this one already both here and if you follow my Friday YouTube vids. While I had some concerns about not being as moved by the narration as I might have been in print, I do still solidly recommend this first installment in Motayne’s Latinx-inspired fantasy trilogy.

A refresher for you: Prince Alfehr (Alfie) is grieving the loss of his brother Dez, the heir to the throne who was captured in a failed coup by some doers of dark magic. Alfie clings desperately to the hope that Dez might still be alive and goes to some sketchy lengths to get him back, including a high-stakes magical and super shady card game where he meets face-shifting thief Finn Voy. The two immediately clash but are thrown together in a quest to save the world when Alfie kinda sorta accidentally unleashes an ancient, deadly evil; they’ll have to use each of their unique types of magic to somehow pull off the impossible. I loooove all the Spanish spellcasting here. I’ve tried some at home. No luck so far.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev, narrated by Soneela Nankani (May 7)

I read the words “pride,” “prejudice,” and “flavors” and was interested; then I read “their assumptions crumble like the spun sugar on one of DJ’s stunning desserts” in the description and added to cart with the quickness. This latest from Sonali Dev follows Trisha Raje, an acclaimed neurosurgeon who’s defied her immigrant Indian family’s traditions all her life and ostracized herself in the process. She gets the chance to redeem herself and get back in good standing with the fam when she meets up-and-coming chef DJ Caine. He’s doesn’t like or trust Trisha, seeing her as just another rich girl judging his humble beginnings and lack of pedigree. It turns out Trisha is also the only surgeon who can save his sister’s life, so… insert that spun sugar analogy here.

I really enjoyed Soneela Nankani’s narration of Internment by Samira Ahmed. I’m excited to spend time with her and in a lighter, brighter setting.

Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer, narrated by Henrietta Meire (May 7)

I had the privilege of meeting Lara Prior-Palmer at a dinner during Winter Institute and managed not to give her swine flu! Her story is nothing short of bananas, so weird and wonderful that it sounds made up when it’s not.

At age 19, Prior-Palmer stumbled across a website for “the world’s longest, toughest horse race.”  This race is an annual competition where riders race a bunch of wild ponies across 1,000 kilometers of Mongolian grassland in a recreation of the route used in Genghis Khan’s horse messenger system… insert Lil John voice WHAT?!? Had she prepared for years like most contestants? Nah. Had she even raced a horse before? Nope. Did she have any experience with any activities involving this extreme test of endurance? Sure didn’t. She got on that plane anyway and made her way to East Asia, hoping a love of horses and a state of restlessness would fuel her through the challenge.

What follows is a gripping, suspenseful account of the 10 day race: storms, stifling heat, falls, injuries, hunger, sleep deprivation, dehydration… you name it. But the woman sticks with it, mounting a fresh pony every morning until she WINS THE THING. Youngest woman to do so ever. Work, girl.

The Unspeakable Mind by Shaili Jain, M.D., narrated by Carol Jacobanis (May 7)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that affects millions worldwide but it’s still so shrouded in myth and misinformation, not to mention stigma. While we have seen a giant spike in instances since 9/11 and both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it now goes far beyond warfare in its terrible reach and scope. I’m both eager and a little anxious to learn more about the condition, its diagnosis, and innovations in treatments from Shaili Jain, a Stanford professor, psychiatrist, and trauma scientist at the National Center for PTSD. “Combining vividly recounted patient stories, interviews with some of the world’s top trauma scientists, and her professional expertise from working on the front lines of PTSD, The Unspeakable Mind offers a textured portrait of this invisible illness that is unrivaled in scope and lays bare PTSD’s roots, inner workings, and paths to healing.”

With the Fire on High written and narrated by Elizabeth Acevedo (May 7)

I mean how hard do I really have to sell you on Elizabeth Acevedo? In her follow up to the smash success of The Poet X, Acevedo introduces us to Emoni Santiago, a teen mother working hard to raise her young daughter and take care of her abuela. The kitchen is where she finds solace and dreams of being a chef, but dreams feel both impractical and impossible when her priority is survival. Some talents are just too big and bold to shove to the side though, a lesson Emoni learns when everything leads back to the food.

Yo, because I care: maybe eat a snack before you listen. The aromas and flavors described in this book will make your mouth actually water.

The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby, narrated by Emma Fenney and Kris Dyer (May 7)

Snap, this sounds good! Take a trip with me to the grit and grime of Victorian London and meet Cora Burns, a young woman with a history of violence who was birthed to a convict in jail and hardened by a harsh upbringing in a workhouse. After a stint at the Birmingham Gaol, she finds work in the home of a scientist studying hereditary criminality and befriends a living experiment named Violet. Things get a little weird when Cora suspects there might actually be two Violets, and that maybe she is a subject of this weird experiment herself. A study on the nature of violence in this creepy London setting is so up my alley, you don’t even know.

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, narrated by Almarie Guerra (May 14)

Rosa Santos is a Cuban American just out of high school who wants to know more about her Cuban heritage. She gets no help from her family on the matter: her abuela is a Cuban exile who wants nothing to do with Cuba and her artist mother is at best a sporadic presence. Rosa picks a four year college with a study abroad program in Cuba hoping get some answers firsthand, but that dream is shattered when changes to the political climate make travel to the island impossible. That’s when she – literally- runs into a mysterious boy with tons of ocean tattoos who sort of changes everything.

This is truly the rom-com I didn’t know I needed. The descriptions of everything from the hot, flaky, buttery pastelitos to the men playing dominos on the sidewalks were a blast to the very streets I walked on but a couple of weeks ago. The Spanish is super Cuban (as it should be!) and the identity stuff is just so, so relatable. Ah, representation done right is just so delicious.

Spying on the South by Tony Horwitz, narrated by Mark Deakins and Tony Horwtiz (May 14)

I had no idea that Frederick Law Olmsted, the farmer, journalist, and eventual landscape architect who co-designed Central Park, went undercover in the 1850s as a correspondent in the South for what was then a fledgling New York Times. He traveled for 14 months while on assignment through what was quite hostile territory for a Yankee. in Spying on the South, author Tony Horwitz attempts to retrace Olmsted’s steps down to his modes of transport, weaving his way through Appalachia, down the Mississippi River, into Louisiana, and across Texas borderlands to see what all has changed – or hasn’t- since then..

The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey, narrated by Sneha Mathan May 14)

Mistry in the house!!! I am so jazzed to dive back into the 1920s India with Perveen Mistry, solver of mysteries and teller of truths. Picking up after The Widows of Malabar Hill, this next piece in the series opens in the remote Satara mountains where the maharaja and his teenage son have both suddenly died. The dowager queen and the maharaja’s widow are left to raise the surviving crown price and require legal counsel to advise him, which of course gets a little tricky when they observe purdah all the lawyers are men. Or are they!!!??. Enter Perveen to save the day, if she can find her way out of the traitorous trap she steps into the moment she’s involved.

Tears of the Trufflepig by Fernando Flores, narrated by Raul Castillo (May 14)

I’m not entirely sure I understand what’s going on in this book and I kind of love it? From what I gather so far, this funky work of fiction is sort of a love letter to the myths of Mexican Culture where everything is sort of turned on its head. Narcotics are legal in this South Texas parallel universe where the new contraband is stuff like ancient Olmec artifacts and shrunken heads. There are also these things called “filtered animals” which sound like animal zombies brought back to life for funsies?? So we meet this guy named Esteban Bellacosa who’s gotten pretty good at avoiding the not-narcos (because what do I call them??) who make their money through trafficking. Then a journalist invites him to an illegal underground dinner serving filtered animals and he’s suddenly submerged in the world he took such pains to avoid. “Bellacosa soon finds himself in the middle of an increasingly perilous, surreal, psychedelic journey, where he encounters legends of the long-disappeared Aranaña Indian tribe and their object of worship: the mysterious Trufflepig, said to possess strange powers.” Still a little confused. Still a lot intrigued.

From the Internets:

Narrating any kind of copy is so much more challenging than it sounds. You think you won’t stumble on words but of course you just do, then there are the mouth noises and the breath sounds and all sorts of other factors to consider. My experience with this is just in ads spots and podcasts, too. I can only imagine how much harder it is to narrate an entire audiobook!

You might think you know what a piece called Successful People Listen to Audiobooks is about, but in this case you’d be wrong. Check out this commentary on the rise of audiobook popularity, the technology behind it, and pervasiveness of Audible and Amazon at large, and the perceived passivity of listening to a book. Lots to chew on.

Over at the Riot:

Attention please: freeee audiobooks! Yes free! Gratis! $Free.99!

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles!

Heyyyy I’m back from Cuba and the Bahamas! My sunburn is just about healed and I may just be left with my version of a tan, so I think we can all call this trip a success. If you subscribe to In the Club, you’ll already have been these photos but I’m just gonna share ‘em again. Not pictured: the many, many…. MANY mojitos and Cuba Libres imbibed.

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Sponsored by Oasis Audio and The Ravenwood Saga by Morgan L. Busse.

Lady Selene is heir to the House of Ravenwood and the secret family gift of dreamwalking—the ability to enter a person’s mind and manipulate their greatest fears or desires. Soon Selene discovers her family’s dark secret: The Ravenwood women are using their gift for hire to plot assassinations. Selene is torn between upholding her family’s legacy or seeking the true reason behind her family’s gift. Her dilemma comes to a head when she is tasked with assassinating the one man who can bring peace to the nations, but who will also bring about the downfall of her own house.

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A stroll through Old Havana

The most adorable bookshop!

Daiquiris at El Floridita with Hemingway

While my reading goals were indeed a little lofty (as predicted), I still got a lot done! I’ll give you the skinny on my favorite listen in just a sec. For those interested, I’ll go over both my audio and  my print reading in this week’s YouTube video too; head to the Book Riot channel on Friday to tune in!

But first… let’s audio.

Latest Listen

Foodies listen up: the new Ruth Reichl memoir Save Me the Plums is all that and a bag of bone marrow. I was gonna say “and a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Limon” because I will absolutely %#& up some FHCs, but it felt hella disrespectful to compare such an elegant and esteemed food writer to a bag of processed, fake-cheese-dusted snacks. Moving on.

Ruth Reichl is an acclaimed and award-winning food writer, restaurant critic and general foodie goddess who wrote for the LA Times and New York Times before taking over as editor of Gourmet in 1999. This memoir focuses on her time at the magazine: her decision to take the job, the task of revamping its vision, and the challenges of balancing a demanding career with being a wife and mother at fifty years of age.

This woman knows food and describes it with the kind of lyricism and sensuousness that makes you pine for the dish she’s describing and look at your own lunch with straight up disdain. She is sublimely talented but also humble and unassuming, shying away from the more pretentious parts of her job and the industry at large while staying true to her love of a delectable bite of food. Sure, she’ll extoll the cloudy perfection of Jean Georges’ foie gras; she’ll also tell you the most perfect midnight snack is a bowl of quick and easy spicy noodles made at home.

I savored this audiobook (which Reichl narrates) while soaking up the sun on my trip and recommend it highly. I will add though that I’ll want to own this one in print too: she provides several recipes in the memoir (including those spicy noodles), ones that I need written down as opposed to read to me in a quick two minute bit.

Listens on Deck

Last week I briefly talked about a tiny hangup with listening to fiction on audio, specifically feeling like I don’t always get the same emotional impact in audiobooks that I think I would have if I’d read them in print. I was about to take a break from fiction audiobooks, but several readers wrote in to agree with my musing that the narrator makes all the difference. Since so many of these readers listed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine as an example of fiction audio done really right, I decided my next listen will be The Editor after all. It’s listed as a comp for Eleanor Oliphant and was one of the books I didn’t get to on my vacation reading list.

For those that need a plot refresher: a struggling writer in 90s NYC gets his big break with the help of some lady who’s apparently a pretty big deal. What was her name again? Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, or something.

From the Internets, Etc

Between spring break and a quickly approaching summer, road trip season is pretty much upon us! If you have a long drive ahead of you in the near future, Good Housekeeping suggests these audiobooks for the ride.

I almost didn’t include this one because bruuuuh you’re late to this party, Men’s Health. But fine, here it is: I Listen to Audiobooks When I Work Out—Am I Alone? WHY HAD NONE OF US THOUGHT OF THIS?

Over at the Riot

If you audio often–and I know you do–you probably have your list of narrator faves. Here’s one Rioter’s list of “this is going to be good” narrators. Bahni Turpin is one of my top ten for sure!

A recent report from Rakuten Overdrive shows that audiobooks continue to rise in popularity – that we know. It also shows that Millenials and Gen Z are the primary audience driving audiobook listenership. What do you think: is it just ease of use and our relationship to technology?

My Read Harder Podcast host Tirzah Price has put together a sweet list of YA poetry audiobooks to get into and I love it! On a recent episode of the show, we talked about wanting to listen to more poetry on audio since poetry is meant to be read aloud. Here she is making it so easy for us to do it!

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa