Sheila Heti's latest meditative work comes alive with Kate Berlant's expressive narration. This compilation has an unusual conceit: Heti chose sentences from 10 years of her journal-keeping and then organized them according to the first letter of the first word of each sentence. Consistent themes emerge, including romantic entanglements, financial struggles, writing joys and... Read More
Rob Shapiro captures the viewpoint of Brent Cummings, an Iraq War veteran who leads cadets with his moral conviction. Shapiro emphasizes the shock Cummings feels at Donald Trump's election and his worry that his country is falling apart because of the president's divisiveness. Brent's neighbor, Michael, is a man with politically polar opposite views. Shapiro excels at dialogue... Read More
Author/narrator Amy Tan takes up bird watching to counteract the negativity and discord in the world. Tan is a joy to listen to--a charming and warm presence, with a dollop of self-deprecation, as she chronicles her learning journey. She exudes joy and wonder as a hummingbird feeds from her hand. There is anguish when, to avoid spreading a disease among the Pine Siskins, she... Read More
Sam Dewhurst-Phillips's sonorous narration sets the right tone for this true story of Frederick Rutland, a double-dealing British war hero who spied for Japan in the run-up to Pearl Harbor. Like his Hollywood friend Boris Karloff, Rutland was a man who wore many masks. He earned the nickname "Rutland of Jutland" for his heroics during the 1916 Battle of Jutland. His engineering... Read More
Entertainer Whoopi Goldberg's raspy timbre and amused tone make her the only person appropriate to narrate her memoir. As listeners hear just a trace of a New York City inflection at the ends of some sentences, the story of Goldberg's career is skillfully woven into anecdotes featuring her exceptional mother, Emma Johnson, and her unique older brother, Clyde. Born Caryn... Read More
Performing this revealing look at the complexities of the revered jazz pioneer Billie Holiday, actress Maya Days connects with every ounce of the brilliance and tragedy of the singer's life. Strategic pauses in Days's phrasing and spot-on dialect for dialogue make her sentences sing with auditory variety. But it's her heartfelt resonance with Holiday's difficult life that makes... Read More
Jaime Lincoln Smith skillfully narrates this long overdue biography. Smith's relaxed pacing, rich tone, and understated swagger embody Calvin Peete, one of the best Black golfers in history. This fascinating audiobook takes listeners from Peete's early days as the child of migrant laborers with limited opportunities for education to his incredible success in the PGA despite his... Read More
Barrie Kreinik performs this in-depth look at the life of literary prodigy Carson McCullers (THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, published in 1940). Dearborn presents a complex portrait of McCullers, who grapples with a toxic marriage and alcoholism. As she finds herself eternally entangled in messy relationships--both romantic and platonic--she experiences physical and mental... Read More
Ellen Adair handles this biography of Pete Rose beautifully, with clear enunciation and pronunciation, letting the rich and troubled life of baseball's all-time hits leader stand for what it is. Rose was a homegrown Cincinnati guy who went on to star for the Reds. But his off-field pursuits--gambling, an extramarital affair, and a lack of solid friendships--mar his legacy.... Read More
The privileged world of the spirited Isabella Stewart Gardner is aptly captured by the patrician voice of narrator Maggi-Meg Reed. Born in 1840 to a wealthy family in New York City, Isabella married Boston Brahmin Jack Gardner and proceeded to both dazzle and confuse proper Boston elites. Reed softens her tone when "Mrs. Jack" suffers the death of her only child, to recover,... Read More
Journalist Nicholas Kristof delivers his monumental memoir--by turns harrowing (think gunfire, rats, Darfur) and inspiring (he mentors young journalists, starts a nonprofit, and champions rural America). A practiced public speaker, Kristof sounds thoughtful as he covers his long and distinguished career. He's worked four decades as a reporter, foreign correspondent, bureau... Read More
Julie Chavez projects the cheer and passion that have earned her recognition for her podcast, "Ask a Librarian." Here she writes about a time of personal crisis when she was juggling the demands of her job and taking sole care of her sons when her husband was frequently traveling for work. Suddenly, she found herself experiencing a mental health crisis that manifested as panic... Read More
In this memoir of the unexpected death of her son, Fi, Alexandra Fuller pulls off quite a feat by simultaneously filling her voice with both life and loss. Fuller grew up in Zimbabwe (DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT), and her rich, warm voice contains appealing traces of that accent. Fi died at age 21 despite having no real health problems, and grief and incomprehension are... Read More
Narrating her memoir, Sloane Crosley delivers ironic humor that balances the horror of back-to-back traumas. Admitting the unlikelihood and disorientation of what happened, Crosley links the vulnerability she felt at a burgled apartment and, a month later, at the suicide of her boss and friend, Russell. Their shared history in the shifting publishing industry serves as a... Read More
Happily, another of John McPhee's classics has been brought to life with this finely narrated audiobook. Golden Voice narrator Edoardo Ballerini performs the work with care for the author's eloquent descriptions of Deerfield, Massachusetts, as it evolves over the twentieth century--as does its legendary headmaster, Frank L. Boyden, who took over in 1902 and stayed in charge for... Read More
Amy Lin's husband was running a virtual half-marathon when he dropped dead for no discoverable reason. He was 32 years old. She was left absolutely broken. Lin's performance of her memoir, told in vignettes of meeting and losing Kurtis, is so staggeringly beautiful that it will break your heart. Her grief is so obviously raw and her memories of their life together so full of... Read More
Nadia Davis, an attorney who is the ex-wife of a former California attorney general, shares her recovery from various traumas to help those who are facing similar challenges. Davis tells her story with unapologetic honesty and power. She describes how she healed from the physical and psychological pain of a car accident that nearly killed her, abuse, addiction, and public... Read More
Shayla Lawson presents their collection of wide-ranging travel essays in a low, measured tone that mirrors the essays themselves. Lawson's voice is crisp and clear, with a professional cadence that never sounds lofty or removed; instead, Lawson sounds calm, centered, and curious. In essays set in locales across the globe--Egypt, Bermuda, Japan, the Netherlands, and more--Lawson... Read More
Barbara Benjamin-Creel's clear voice and strong performance bring Mendez's memoir to life. Mendez began her nearly thirty-year career in the CIA as a "contract wife"--an administrator who was the spouse of a CIA agent. Embarking into this "man's world," she used her brains, grit, and persistence to become an intelligence agent herself and eventually rose to be the chief of... Read More
Every Holocaust memoir offers a unique perspective. This audiobook shows its horrors through the eyes of innocent children, Stefan and Marion Hess. Tavia Gilbert delivers their story of life with their parents in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with tenderness and care. She manages to depict the reality and fragility of their existence without surrendering its fleeting moments... Read More
Salman Rushdie offers an emotionally resonant account of the shocking knife attack that almost ended his life in 2022 in Chautauqua, New York. In a measured tone, Rushdie describes the events of that day, including the excruciating 27 seconds in which he encountered his would-be assassin and the terrible graphically described wounds that his body sustained. While the attack is... Read More
Author and narrator Uché Blackstock sounds authentic and urgent in this plea for medical practitioners to combat the racism that still exists in all aspects of healthcare. Dr. Blackstock virtually grew up in the hospital where her mother practiced as a kidney doctor. Blackstock is appalled at the gaping systemic disparities she observed during her stints at a well-resourced... Read More
Benjamin Koenig laudably creates the vibrant personality of 70-year-old writer/performer David Vass. Listeners first meet Vass as a 7-year-old impoverished, neglected, stuttering child who had already realized he was gay. His charm and wit enabled his early success at such efforts as securing a YMCA for a 1970s gay rights event and learning to work with the entertainment greats... Read More
Ana Osorio's youthful voice seems an appropriate vehicle for recounting the story of a young Venezuelan reporter who experiences the personal and political upheaval that is taking place under the government of Hugo Chavez. Poignant moments occur throughout the audio; for example, Ramón imagines that a coup might rescue her from having to finish homework. Osorio's voice takes on... Read More
Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez powerfully narrates her memoir of her experiences in the broken immigration system of the United States and her fight for a better future. Gutierrez's family was split up when her parents' visas expired and they were sent back to Mexico. A high school freshman, she was left alone to raise herself and her younger brother in Arizona. Gutierrez's... Read More
British performance artist and writer Travis Alabanza narrates their own expansive exploration of race, gender, and trans identity. Throughout this engaging production, they reject the expectation of a tidy response to the "When did you know . . . " question and the demands to perform according to narrowly defined gender parameters. Alabanza shares their experiences growing up... Read More
History consists of events conducted mostly by men and recorded by men. In her clear, uncompromising voice, Philippa Gregory turns the tables, taking listeners through 900 years of abuse and betrayals, yearnings and near-miraculous accomplishments of women. Frequent interjections by Clare Corbett, Tania Rodrigues, Nneka Okoye, James Goode, and Joe Jameson provide voices for the... Read More
Three voices evocatively describe life in a Polish ghetto and in Auschwitz during WWII. Christine Williams narrates the majority of the audiobook, skillfully juggling the diverse timeframes and details of the memoir published in print. Felicia Lubliner's son, Irving, incorporates excerpts of 1960s recordings of programs she gave about her horrific experiences and clarifies his... Read More
Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders/Wiggins are the authors and narrators of this eccentric musical memoir. Both women are grand storytellers, although Wiggins is the smoother narrator, injecting more rhythm and modulation into her chapters. McGlory has the thicker Liverpool accent. Together, the pair re-create the musical history of their all-women band, the Liverbirds. The group... Read More
Michael Langan's narration infuses curiosity and delight into this memoir and guidebook on sustainability. The authors moved into a 1930s lodge when Peter accepted work as a forester in northwestern Germany. Langan's gentle, uplifting tone captures their enthusiastic but not fanatical attitude during their quest for self-sustainability and small-scale farming. Through his... Read More
Author and narrator Anna Shechtman guides listeners through this combination feminist history of the crossword puzzle and personal memoir. As a young woman struggling with the compulsions of anorexia, Schectman discovered that crafting crossword puzzles distracted her from self-destructive behavior. At 18, she had her first puzzle published in THE NEW YORK TIMES. Schectman... Read More
Raquel Willis gives an impassioned and engaging performance of her memoir about her life in trans activism. After beginning with her childhood in Georgia, she reminisces about her various coming-out moments in high school and college--as gay, as a genderqueer drag performer, and as trans. She delves into her career as a journalist and activist in Georgia, California, and New... Read More
In Q&A format, actor Brendan O'Hea asks intriguing questions of world-famous actor/director Judi Dench. The result is absolutely delicious. O'Hea recorded four years of interviews with Dench, but due to her failing eyesight, the audiobook is co-narrated by Barbara Flynn. In a remarkable performance, Flynn laughs, jokes, and calls O'Hea to task when he's wrong--all sounding very... Read More
Literature specialists may be familiar with the four writers featured in this group biography--Mary Sidney, Aemelia Lanyer, Elizabeth Cary, and Anne Clifford--but most listeners will not be. This is in part because their work was generally ignored or suppressed. Ramie Targoff is interested in why that happened, considering that three of the women were countesses, well... Read More
Kim Bretton infuses Rebecca May Johnson's food memoir with a quiet but breathless energy that makes it feel almost like a page-turner. Johnson spent more than 10 years cooking the same recipe for a simple tomato sauce hundreds of times. In this memoir, she investigates how we think about recipes, combining food writing, literary criticism, feminist scholarship, and social... Read More
Performing this moving history from surviving members of the iconic singing group The Blind Boys of Alabama, Phil Morris captures the joys, hardships, and pathos woven into their 80-plus years of performing Black gospel music. You can hear the reverence Morris feels as he describes the pivotal periods of American history the evolving members of the group somehow survived. Their... Read More
Essayist and novelist Leslie Jamison chooses the tone and pacing of her narration as carefully as she selects the details of her powerful writing. These qualities, along with her candidness, invite listeners deep into her memories, which include the flower-filled hospital room where she stayed after delivering her daughter and desperate Internet searches for relief from her... Read More
Hanif Abdurraqib's latest book is a transcendent feat of poetry, memoir, and--well, magic. His narration is as breathless and beautiful as his prose; this book is epic in every sense of the word. It's an ode to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio; a love letter to basketball; a meditation on home and belonging; and an exploration of faith, Blackness, music, and place. He delivers... Read More
Lyz Lenz narrates her memoir about the end of her marriage and the start of her new life as an "ex-wife." While Lenz had been told that the end of her marriage would be the end of her family, she soon discovered that leaving her unhappy marriage gave her more fulfillment and love than she ever had before. Using her personal experience as a springboard, Lenz delves into the... Read More
David de Vries narrates the autobiography of Ludwig Bemelmans, known best as the creator of the beloved Madeline children's books and for his distinct style of illustrations. The audiobook includes the author's observations and activities in Hollywood during the 1950s, with a particular focus on his friendship with the glamorous late-in-life "First Lady of Interior Decoration,"... Read More
Rob Henderson's flat tone may reflect the substance of his life. Still, his material engages as he describes how his three names represent the first people who abandoned him. He frames his early life as a series of eight moves from one foster home to the next. As he describes his eventual adoption by a loving family as he neared his teens, his characterizations deepen, and the... Read More
Doris Kearns Goodwin's voice is well known from TV appearances; not surprisingly, her narration comes across as thoughtful and familiar. Bryan Cranston's role is minimal. The use of snippets of speeches from John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Robert Kennedy add to the authenticity of the presentation. This is a kind of oral history of the 1960s told through the unique lens of... Read More
Author Kao Kalia Yang's soft Hmong-accented voice opens this forthright and heartrending refugee story with the birth of her own children. She then moves on to chronicle family history from her mother Tswb's (pronounced "Chew") point of view. Yang narrates the introductory and concluding elements of the story herself, with Pamela Xiong picking up the body of the narrative,... Read More
Cindy Kay narrates Dr. Fei-Fei Li's memoir of her life at the vanguard of artificial intelligence (AI) with an emotionally attuned ear. As a teenager, Li's family emigrated from China to the United States, a move that led to both opportunities and challenges. Kay sensitively conveys the author's confidence and vulnerability; her expansive delivery allows listeners to experience... Read More
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