Category: Audiobooks

My favorite book club is The Indigenous Reading Circle run by Erin (Lingít Alaskan) and Dani (Ojibwe from Dog Creek First Nation). Last year, they focused on memoirs, but this year, they’re reading short stories and fantasy. Erin and Dani represent Indigenous Nations in both what is considered the United States and Canada, so they feature Native authors from across Turtle Island (North America).

May’s pick was Anoka by Shane Hawk (Cheyenne and Arapaho). Set in Anoka, Minnesota, these short stories feature everything from werewolves to bone collectors. I’m usually not a horror person, but Anoka makes me think that I’ve been picking up the wrong horror stories, because I really enjoyed reading Hawk’s work!

I really appreciated that at the end of the collection, the author listed notes on each of his stories, explaining the inspiration behind them. With one story, he wanted to raise awareness for missing murdered Indigenous women and Two Spirit people, while in another he wanted to discuss the role of intergenerational trauma in Indigenous communities. These notes felt like I was sitting in on an author event, getting a chance to listen to the author answer questions about his stories.

Kyle Bullock performs the audiobook with that perfect balance between suspenseful and sinister. Without overacting, Bullock narrates the most intense parts of stories with great skill, and I often stopped dead in my tracks as he described the most gruesome scenes.

Vincent is deeply hurt when her estranged husband, Cillian, published a book revealing secrets from their marriage. But when Vincent meets a young man named Loup in Paris, they begin an intense affair. When Cillian begins to try to reconcile with Vincent, she realizes she must decide what future she truly wants.

Serene loves fashion, but as the daughter of an ultra famous designer, she has always felt trapped in her mother’s shadow. When her mom is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Serene finds herself running her mom’s business. Lian moved to Serene’s town in California a year ago, but he can’t wait to leave—that is, until he meets Serene.

Eliot seems to have everything together. He has a successful TV writing career and an amazing boyfriend. But beneath the surface, Eliot is struggling with alcohol addiction and can’t seem to stop cheating on his boyfriend. As he tries to get a handle on his life and change his ways, he must confront the deeper struggles of his life as a disabled gay man in a homophobic and ableist society.

Both Sara and Emilie have pasts that haunt them. When they start their love affair, they are everything to each other. But time and time again, they run into complications from lives they thought they left behind. In this queer love story, Sara and Emilie must decide, once and for all, is their relationship worth fighting for?

Theo never wanted a spirit companion, but when his brother Jamie dies, Theo inherits Jamie’s fox spirit, Kai. Now instead of being a normal kid like everyone else, Theo has to deal with Kai, who is also very upset at this change. But when they both discover a journal of Jamie’s, Theo and Kai stop their bickering long enough to wonder what secrets Jamie left behind.

When Jess arrives in Paris, she plans on staying with her brother, Ben, in his very nice apartment. But her brother isn’t there. Instead, Jess meets his eclectic neighbors, who all eye her with suspicion.

The story starts from Jess’s point of view before moving to the different neighbors’ perspectives. They each get their own narrator, making the audiobook feel like a performance of different monologues. I really enjoyed the overall effect, and found myself staying up late to finish the story.

Narrated by Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, Sope Dirisu, Sofia Zervudachi, and Charlie Anson

Six twenty-somethings are chosen to join a prestigious magic school. Each possesses a unique ability, and they all compliment each other as a whole. They are now a team. The catch? One of them will be cut from the group by the end of the year.

At first, I felt overwhelmed trying to keep the characters straight. But each character has their own narrator, which gives them all a unique feel. Once I got to know them, I was hooked. I had to know what happened next. There are so many twists and turns to this story, so it’s perfect for anyone wanting a fast-paced, character-driven fantasy novel.

Narrated by James Cronin, Siho Ellsmore, Munirih Grace, Andy Ingalls, Caitlin Kelly, Damian Lynch, David Monteith, and Steve West

In this intimate family story, we meet Morgan who was raised by their neurodivergent father, Julian. Morgan’s mom, Zoe, left when Morgan was just a year old. But after a bad break up, Zoe comes back into Julian’s and Morgan’s lives. Morgan is drawn back into Zoe’s chaotic whirlwind of a life and is forced to confront some hard truths about their mom.

Narrated by Sagan Chen

A man wakes up in the wilderness remembering only glimpses of his past life. With only a head wound and a pocket of pills to his name, he wanders around the desolate landscape, trying to figure out who he is and where he came from.

Narrated by Intae Kim

In her follow up to The Idiot, Elif Batuman continues Selin’s story in Either/Or. It’s 1996, and Selin is now a Sophomore at Harvard. Though she’s tried to move on, she can’t understand why her crush, Ivan, would get her a job in Hungary if he wasn’t interested in her. Full of Batuman’s dry wit and brilliant characterization of her protagonist, Either/Or is sure to be just as all-consuming listen as The Idiot.

Narrated by the author

Aside from having on of the best book titles this year, Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster is sure to be one of the most memorable young adult debuts of 2022. Maggie must find an escort to her sister’s quinceañera. But Maggie has three friends/escort prospects that are making her love life a bit more complicated than she’d like.

Narrated by Stacy Gonzalez

Feyi Adekola is trying to move after the love of her life died five years ago. Her new boyfriend is everything she could ever want in a man. But there’s a catch: she can’t help but be deeply attracted to her boyfriend’s father. Feyi must come to decide what kind of person she wants to be and what her life will look like moving forward after tragedy.

Narrated by Bahni Turpin

One day, people start receiving little boxes that inform them how many years they are going to live. This knowledge causes society to change. Some people want to know how long they have, while others refuse to open the box. It invites the question, if you received a box like that, would YOU want to know how long you had to live?

Narrated by Julia Whelan

I have been reading Melissa Febos’s writing for years, but I hadn’t read a full-length book from her until last year. Once I’d finished Girlhood, I went out and bought all of her books immediately. 

When Body Work landed on my doorstep, I ran to Hoopla and checked out the audio. In a delightful collision of the best of both worlds, I annotated the print copy while Melissa Febos read the text.

The book’s essays focus on Febos’s approach to writing memoir. From sex scenes to respecting the privacy of others, she covers a wide range of topics perfect for writers, memoir lovers, or the purely curious. 

Febos writes each essay in her precise style, each word carefully chosen. She has this way of expressing her ideas in a clear way that makes you pause and think on what she’s just said.

Whether you are new to Febos’s work or are a long-time fan, you’ll find something wonderful in this audiobook.

Verónica is the child of Peruvian immigrants and was born with hip dysplasia, a condition requiring many surgeries and lots of physical therapy. Her favorite place is the local mermaid show where women in tails dance beneath the water. When a chance to become one of them comes her way, she decides to go for it. But even if she gets the job, how will she manage it when her parents would definitely disapprove?

Narrated by Frankie Corzo

The day before her 40th birthday, Alice tries to cheer herself up. Her father’s health is deteriorating. If only they had more time. The next day, she wakes up and it’s 1996. She is 16 years old, and her dad is vibrant and healthy. Now armed with the wisdom of hindsight, she sees this incredible time for the important time that it was. Alice must decide if she would change anything now that she has the chance.

Narrated by Marin Ireland

Granted, I would listen to anything Jhumpa Lahiri writes, even if it was a grocery list. But I’m especially excited to read her new book all about writing and translating. She draws from Ovid’s myth of Echo and Narcissus and closely examines Aristotle’s Poetics to talk about writing in a broader sense.

Narrated by Sneha Mathan

The author of the much-acclaimed novel Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead is set to publish her new short story collection, You Have a Friend in 10A. These stories illustrate the incredible range of Shipstead’s talent. With settings in Montana, Paris, an Olympic village, and Romania, listeners travel to new places around the world with each story.

Narrated by Mark Bramhall, Mark Deakins, Ari Fliakos, Kyla Garcia, Rebecca Lowman, Alex McKenna, George Newbern, and Xe Sands

Two sisters from Tibet arrive at a refugee camp in Nepal. The two are haunted by their trip over the Himalayas when they lost their parents. Years later, the sisters are separated. When the daughter of one of the sisters begins to uncover some secrets of her family’s past, she must make a life-changing decision. 

Narrated by Asha Vijayasingham, Shridhar Solanki, and Rishma Malik Scott

Five women meet in New York City to work through their problems. Each woman has a horrible story in their past that sounds very suspiciously like a fairytale. Each of the women is suspicious of the others. Can they really trust each other? In this delightfully dark take on women in fairytales, Adelmann creates a one-of-a-kind story.

Narrated by Lauren Ezzo

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.

Nora has an incredible career as a literary agent, living her best life in New York City. When Libby, her sister who is seven months pregnant, asks her to go on a vacation to small-town North Carolina, Nora reluctantly agrees. But her entire vacation plans are thrown off kilter when she runs into Charlie, her New York nemesis.

I’m a sucker for books about the book industry. But even more, I love grumpy characters in romance novels, and Book Lovers follows two very grumpy people falling in love. Nora constantly resists the trope of the big city girl who falls in love with the small town guy. She just wants to get through this vacation and go home to the city. But Charlie ends up working with her on a book, meaning she has to spend time with one of the men she likes the least. And when she learns he’s actually from this tiny town in North Carolina, well, that’s just perfect isn’t it?

As the listener experiencing every single moment of this novel, yes, it is wonderful. I love watching two city people fall in love in my neck of the woods. The contrast is perfection. And while I’ve listened to a lot of witty banter in romance novels, Julia Whelan performs the dialogue perfectly. I found myself laughing out loud throughout the entire book. I guess that’s just the magic of a great novel finding the perfect narrator.

Narrated by Julia Whelan

A month before her graduation Chloe kisses Shara Wheeler. When Shara vanishes after they kiss, Chloe decides to try to find Shara. But as she investigates, she realizes that she isn’t the only one to kiss Shara. As the mystery unfolds, Chloe finds herself chasing clues into unusual places.

Narrated by Natalie Naudus

It’s the 1920s, and Benjamin and Helen Rask are at the top of their game. He’s a Wall Street tycoon and she’s got the well-known family name. Together, they are taking New York by storm. But a question starts circulating: how did they make their fortune? As rumors start circulating, the Rasks must navigate a high-stakes game of the New York elite.

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò, and Orlagh Cassidy

Charlie Hall lives in an alternative world where people can manipulate their shadows, creating a sinister underworld. Charlie wants nothing to do with her old life stealing things for the criminal elite, but when she finds herself backed into a corner, Charlie decides to do one last job before she retires for good.

Narrated by Sara Amini

Only Ali Smith could write a quartet with five books, but I’m here for it. While this novel stands apart from the quartet, it still possesses the timely nature of the other four books. Smith’s prose, per usual, is incredible. I love the way her writing just flows in this beautiful way.

Narrated by Natalie Simpson

Look, I will read anything that Jasmine Guillory writes. This time around she’s writing a standalone novel about Isabelle, a Black woman working in publishing determined to make her mark in the industry. So when she hears that one of her boss’s clients is about to miss his manuscript deadline, she decides to go to his house and collect. 

Narrated by Sarah Hollis

Rick Riordan presents Daniel José Older’s latest fantasy novel. It focuses on Mateo Matisse, whose island homeland disappeared. Now he and the other members of his community move to Brooklyn, creating their own neighborhood. Mateo becomes determined to find out why  he had to flee his island, and to take down whoever caused such a horrible disaster in his community.

Narrated by Lee Osorio

The moment I heard Pamela Paul interview Dr. Imani Perry on the New York Times Book Review Podcast, I knew I needed to listen to South to America. This book meanders its way through the South, touching on different locations around the region. Each chapter focuses on a different location, usually a city or general area, and Perry shares some of its history with her readers.

Perry asks her audience to approach the South from a more nuanced point of view, to investigate our preconceived notions, and to examine the things non-Southerners typically assume to be true in American history. Perry’s love for the South comes through in every chapter. She centers and celebrates Black Southern culture while also making the point that for the South to make positive change, white Southerners need to be prepared to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

As a Black woman with Southern roots, Perry’s journey through the South is deeply personal to her and she brings her readers along for the ride. Perry is an excellent tour guide, unafraid to confront the South’s obvious racist history as well as the more complex American narratives that proclaim the South as the root of all of the country’s ills.

As a long-time South Carolina resident, I recognized the ebb and flow of Perry’s audiobook narration. Her sentences and paragraphs blend together to create rhythm reminiscent of many Southern accents, and her approach to different topics feels more like an even paced meander through her subjects, not a precise rush to get to her points. You can hear the dialect in her voice, the way she says place names, and turns of phrases she uses. It all drips with the South in the most wonderful way.

Narrated by the Author

Viola Davis is one of my favorite actors, so when I heard she had a memoir and that she narrates the audiobook, I immediately put it on my “drop everything and listen” TBR. This memoir covers Davis’s childhood in Rhode Island and her introduction to acting. If you want a long trailer of sorts, be sure to check out the special on Netflix where Oprah interviews Viola Davis about the memoir.

Narrated by the Author

From the moment I heard about it, I knew I had to read Anjali Enjeti’s essay collection Southbound. But while the print edition came out in 2021,  it wasn’t released as an audiobook until April of this year. In Southbound, Enjeti shares her experience growing up in the deep south as a South Asian girl during the 80s and 90s. She performs the audiobook herself.

Narrated by the Author

In Kaikeyi, Vaishnavi Patel retells the queen’s story from the Indian epic the Ramayana. Kaikeyi grows up as a princess, but she feels stifled. She searches for new ways to gain her independence, and she finds it in magic. In her Instagram stories, Roshani Chokshi says that this was the book she was always looking for as a kid. Now it’s here!

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

Merit feels that her entire existence is focused around her husband and her two kids. While she loves them, she wants to carve a space out for herself. So she goes back to work at an architecture firm and meets Jane. The two women immediately hit it off, and Merit begins to feel her love life quickly becoming… complicated.

Narrated by Marin Ireland

Zia finds a magical dictionary. After her world seems to be changing way too fast, Zia decides to start erasing words out of the dictionary. But the results aren’t exactly what she was looking for. Full of the complex feelings that come when a tween’s world seems out of their control, Zia Erases the World is a heartwarming story of kids learning how to change and how to adjust to the changes around you.

Narrated by Cassandra Morris

Every time I start a new poetry collection on audio narrated by the author, I find myself holding my breath. I know I’m about to start something truly special. And Ocean Vuong is one of the best. I often see folks on the corners of the internet bemoaning the fact that you can’t see the use of form and white space on audio editions of poetry. While this can be an issue, you can use the text along with the audio, if that’s something you have access to. But to me, the greater tragedy is missing out on listening to poets read their poetry.

Ocean Vuong’s narration is full of emotional depth, using pauses, adjustment in volume, and rhythm to communicate his work to the listener. He portrays angst, longing, and grief, sometimes all in a single sentence. His poems are tight: not a word out of place. Time after time, he gives listeners concrete images to go with his ideas, making each poem feel fully rounded, complete.

Time Is a Mother was written after the passing of Vuong’s mother, a woman his readers will recognize from his previous work. This loss informs these poems, as each piece is rife with emotional loss. Conversely, this collection is full of hopefulness, particularly when Vuong writes about his longtime partner, Peter. Full of bittersweet stanzas and impeccable use of language, Time Is a Mother is an audiobook you won’t want to miss.

For the last several years, I’ve looked forward to spring when the latest Aru Shah book will come out and I can savor each new adventure. Aru is a reincarnation of one of the Pandava brothers from Hindu mythology. As she goes on her different adventures, she meets the reincarnations of the other four Pandava brothers, but this time around, they are all girls. Aru and her soul sisters are tasked with defeating The Sleeper, a malicious enemy determined to find the Nectar of Immortality, and end/rule the world.

I don’t want to spoil the fifth book for you, but let’s just say the book’s ending is incredibly satisfying. There’s something special about listening to this series with the same narrator all the way through, which is how I prefer to listen to my series. Keeping the same narrator with the same series (particularly a series from the same character’s perspective) helps the books sound cohesive and the characters’ voices remain the same, like you are returning to visit old friends. In this case, Soneela Nankani is with you every step of the way. The first Aru book, Aru Shah and the End of Time, was the first time that I remember truly falling in love with Nankani’s narration. She has this way of capturing the protagonist’s narrative voice that really grabs my attention.

For the longest time, I wasn’t sure I’d be ready to say goodbye to Aru and her sisters. I loved everything about Aru, her nerdy references and truly clumsy moments. With every book, I watched her learn and grow older. It was almost like I was a silent 6th sister in her adventures. From what I’ve seen online, middle graders felt the same. To me, that is the most important: kids in the target audience should be able to connect and relate to the story.

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

Visit from the Goon Squad received much acclaim when it came out several years ago. Now Jennifer Egan is back with a companion novel, which you can read on its own or as a follow up to Goon Squad. BUT The Candy House received the royal treatment, audiobook wise, and is narrated by a full cast. Ah! Can’t wait!

Narrated by a Full Cast

I just finished listening to Ocean Vuong narrate his latest poetry collection on audio. Ugh, it’s so incredibly beautiful, and there’s nothing like listening to a poet narrate his work. Time Is a Mother was written after Vuong’s mother passed away, and it’s full of longing for the person he loved most.

Narrated by Ocean Vuong (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong)

I ADORED The Astonishing Color of After, so I’ve been waiting SO LONG to listen to this one. An Arrow to the Moon is Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology, which is 100% in my wheelhouse.

Narrated by Natalie Naudus, Shawn K. Jain, and David Shih (Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum, Golden Boys by Phil Stamper, and No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai)

This heartrending memoir follows Delia Ephron after the death of both her sister and her husband. She meets a new romantic interest, but is shortly thereafter diagnosed with cancer. Full of heart from someone facing the complex reality of life, Left on Tenth is a beautiful memoir.

Narrated by Delia Ephron

I loved Annie Hartnett’s debut novel, Rabbit Cake, so I’ve been waiting on Unlikely Animals for years. But it’s well worth it! Emma Starling is a med student who’s faced with caring for her father while he’s experiencing a deteriorating brain disease.

Narrated by Mark Bramhall and Kirby Heyborne (Nine Lives by Peter Swanson and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn)

This novel follows Ayosa, a wandering spirit who feels incredibly alone. But when she meets someone new, she finds herself caught between the world of the living and her own. Full of the complex contradictions that is life, Things They Lost is sure to tug on your heartstrings.

Narrated by Christel Mutombo

June lives with her family in a homeless shelter called Huey House. But she’s not allowed to bring her beloved viola. Determined to change things for other kids like her, June pushes back, trying to make a better place for her and the other residents of Huey House.

Narrated by Sura Siu and Preston Butler III

In one of my favorite middle grade series, Roshani Chokshi has told us the story of Aru Shah and her sisters as they try to save the world from the Sleeper. Now the final book is here, and my heart is not ready.

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

The author of the smash hit sensation Station Eleven is back with another novel. Like many of her other novels, Sea of Tranquility is told over the course of several different sections that take place over the course of a long period of time. I love this episodic type of novel and can’t wait to listen to it!

Narrated by John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and Kirsten Potter

I’ve had this audiobook pre-ordered for months. I love listening to Jason as he moves through this world of monsters in a video game-like environment. This is Vol 5 of the bind up of the serial story, so not exactly a novel. But definitely still lots of fun.

Narrated by Heath Miller

Memphis follows three generations of Southern Black women. Joan is an artist, and finds comfort in painting portraits of people from her community in the city. As we meet more of her family members, we begin to understand the past Joan is trying to forget and the future that she’s trying to make.

Narrated by Karen Murray, Adenrele Ojo, and Tara Stringfellow

The moment this audiobook landed in my audiobook app, I dropped everything I was doing to listen. Like many Americans, I discovered Hannah Gadsby via her comedy special Nanette. The moment I finished watching Nanette, I started frantically googling, hoping to find out more about this incredible comic. When her memoir was announced, I immediately wrote it down with all of the underlines, arrows, and bolded print. I needed this book.

As an audiobook lover, I knew this was a must-listen memoir. Gadsby narrates her memoir, describing her childhood in Tasmania. Growing up as a queer, neurodivergent child made navigating the world incredibly complicated for her. At the time, she and her family didn’t know that she has Autism Spectrum Disorder, they just knew she was different.

In her late 20s, Gadsby discovered that she had a knack for stand up comedy, and slowly the world unfurled before her, giving her opportunities that she never imagined. After a decade in comedy, Gadsby began crafting the show Nanette.

There’s nothing like listening to an author narrate their memoir. Of course, her comedic timing is perfect. And as a neurodivergent person, I appreciated hearing about Gadsby’s story of trying to find a diagnosis later in life. When your brain views the world differently, you can often feel adrift, too different to matter. Gadsby captures those feelings so beautifully in Ten Steps to Nanette.

Performed by the Author

Alex Welch-Peters has put everything on the line for his scientific research. He believes that his super-algae can reverse the effects of climate change. When a tech company offers to fund his research he agrees, but there’s a catch: his new lab is going to be in space.

Narrated by Xe Sands

The Aunties from Dial A for Aunties are back. Meddy Chan’s day has finally arrived! After attending countless weddings, it’s finally time for her to have her own. But when the mafia plan to use her wedding as a cover for some sketchy deals, Meddy’s aunties swoop in to help keep Meddy’s special day drama free.

Narrated by Risa Mei

From the creator of the podcast Conversations with People Who Hate Me comes a book about having difficult conversations. It’s part guide and part personal story, giving listeners a range of ideas for having more hard conversations with the people in their lives.

Narrated by Dylan Marron

Annie Mason has no desire for any sort of magic in her life. After magic ruined her life, she never wants it in her life again. But on the island she now calls home, magic lies in wait, biding its time until it can make its appearance—again.

Narrated by Marisa Calin, Gemma Dawson, and Ralph Lister