New Reviews: Biography & Memoir

With a steady voice and skilled delivery, Mark Bramhall splendidly narrates this sympathetic account of how Harry Truman rose to power and changed, not only postwar America, but also the world. Truman was a relatively unknown Missouri senator when he was picked by FDR over then current Vice President Henry Wallace to be FDR's running mate in 1944. Concentrating on the years... Read More

Narrator Justin Vivian Bond emphasizes the drama in the transformation and vivid life of Candy Darling, a transgender performer in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. This biography recounts her traumatic youth, which included growing up in a dysfunctional family, an abusive father, and being bullied outside her home, as well. From there her journey takes her to her true... Read More

Oscar-winning actor, respected singer, and self-declared icon whose comebacks and reinventions have had their own comebacks and reinventions, Cher offers the first volume of her memoir. She alternates narrating with actor and friend Stephanie J. Block--who portrayed Cher in a short-lived Broadway musical biography. Both narrators are charming, effective, and pleasing to the... Read More

The end of a presidency doesn't mean the end of a productive life. That's the primary lesson from this autobiography about Bill Clinton's career after leaving the White House. The former president reads the introduction and then turns the narration over to Steven Weber. He narrates the book in a straightforward, professional style. Any attempt at mimicry would have been... Read More

With a smooth voice and a steady pace, narrator Rob Reider introduces listeners to Judge Frank Caprio. Judge Caprio grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and lived in the heart of the Italian section, called Federal Hill. Reider tells the judge's story--from his humble beginnings to his successful syndicated television program, "Caught in Providence." Reider captures the cadence... Read More

Sarcastic, irreverent, and heartfelt--everything is larger than life in this fond, raw, and boisterous remembrance of Renay Mandel Corren, the author's mother, who "didn't cook, didn't clean, and was lousy with money but was great at dyeing her red roots, weekly manicures, filthy jokes, and pier fishing." With the energy of a stand-up comic, performer and playwright Andy Corren... Read More

John Densmore narrates his audiobook in a voice weathered by age but still lit with the fire of the 1960s. The drummer for the rock band The Doors, Densmore recalls how steadfast its late lead singer and lyricist Jim Morrison was in holding the "all for one, one for all" ethos of the group. This included rejecting "selling out" to commercial companies. Densmore's audiobook is a... Read More

Helen Castor delivers political intrigue, dynastic maneuvering, romance, treachery, and war during the reigns of Richard II and his usurping cousin, Henry IV, up to the accession of Henry's son, Henry V. Overall, Castor narrates this historical drama with suitable intensity. Some authorial liberties, such as expressing the inner thoughts of historical personages, blend into the... Read More

Listeners who relish histories that deflate legend will particularly appreciate this unvarnished portrait of El Cid, Spain's symbol of liberation from the Moors. In reality, the Cid was an eleventh-century mercenary named Rodrigo Diaz, who fought for Christians and Muslims alike. But over the centuries, with the help of a few enterprising monks, Diaz evolved into a symbol of... Read More

Patricia Rodriguez wisely takes her time performing this biography of physicist and chemist Marie Curie. Curie's life was chock-full of scientific breakthroughs, tragedy, sexism, and dozens of female scientists who worked with her. It's a lot to keep straight. Most of Curie's life was spent in Paris, so Rodriguez's skill with French enhances this audiobook. Curie was the first... Read More

It would be an understatement to call actor Josh Brolin's candid and honest memoir bizarre and epically confusing. He narrates the content artfully and understandably, with solid enunciation. However, the content takes the form of what sounds like brief diary entries that discuss his films, his parents--actor James Brolin and former casting director Jane Cameron Agee--and his... Read More

Glory Edim, founder of the Well-Read Black Girl book club, performs her eloquent new memoir with charm and enthusiasm. The memoir is structured around the books that have been significant in her life, particularly those written by Black authors: Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, and more. Growing up in Arlington, Virginia, the child of Nigerian... Read More

Singer-songwriter Neko Case narrates her memoir and brings to it a vitality and dynamism that give the listener a sense of actually being with her as she falls victim to manipulation by her mother, beginning at age 8. Case allows us to feel the tumult and trauma of impoverishment, neglect, and a steady stream of dislocations and relocations. Case balances these with a gentler... Read More

Harpo Marx was known as the silent Marx Brother. In the foreword of this audiobook Johnny Heller describes the voice he uses to narrate the pantomime comedian's fascinating recollections of his life from childhood to stardom, first published in 1961. Heller refers to the voice he created as "1930s East Side" and resembling that of Harpo's brother Groucho. As for tone, Heller... Read More

This somewhat tongue-in-cheek memoir of a boy's coming of age in Britain before, during, and after WWII is splendidly narrated by Gerard Doyle. Rendel, who was born in 1926 and died in 2014, describes his life with humor and insight. His service as a coder on HMS CAVENDISH in the Pacific is interesting as it presents a common sailor's remembrance of the British contribution to... Read More

Narrating in his gravelly timbre and Scottish accent, Callum Robinson invites listeners into his workshop as he recalls the highs and lows of his bespoke woodworking business. The son of a master woodworker, Robinson found his way into the profession as an apprentice and then learned more through his travels. Reflecting on childhood lessons, he marvels at how far his father's... Read More

In this touching memoir, author Paul Weigel describes surviving an emotionally cold childhood by persevering with his schoolwork and entering athletic competitions. Later, as a dad, he describes the importance of his devotion to his daughter. Being a father is a source of peace and inspiration for the author, whose love for his daughter was essential to his overcoming cancer... Read More

It's easy to understand why Brad Meltzer and many other authors love to have Scott Brick perform their work. His delivery is impassioned, impossible to ignore. When he's excited about a passage, which is often, the excitement is contagious, making the work impossible to turn off. Brick's no-nonsense style makes the audiobook even more enjoyable. He's a good match for Meltzer,... Read More

Any listener who's a fan of Julia Child will delight in this audiobook, which is a metaphorical time capsule of American home kitchens in the second half of the twentieth century. Elizabeth Wiley describes how Julia and her husband, Paul, organized their kitchen for comfort, efficiency, and hospitality in their Cambridge home. Wiley warmly narrates the many interviews of the... Read More

Dr. Sacks was a prodigious researcher, tireless clinician, voracious reader, indefatigable traveler, influential neurologist, and long-winded correspondent. The talented James Langton pays close attention to Sacks's English accent and British point of view. He seems to inhabit the great man's extraordinary mind. These revealing and erudite letters testify to Sacks's appetite... Read More

Award-winning actor and singer Keke Palmer weaves personal stories and valuable advice into her inspirational self-help memoir. Authentic and deep, she draws listeners in with her signature voice, which has the ability to be energetic, sincere, and playful all at once. Palmer candidly speaks of moments in her life that have had significant impacts on her self-improvement and... Read More

When novelist Geraldine Brooks's husband, Tony Horwitz, dies while on a book tour, she gets the call from a harried medical resident who can't get off the phone fast enough. Brooks alternates between memories of those first days and her life three years later on an isolated island in Australia, where she finally takes time to focus on grieving. Listening feels particularly... Read More

John J. Sullivan tells the story of his years as the U.S. ambassador to Russia, revealing behind-the-scenes secrets about international politics and war, including Russia's invasion of the Ukraine. Sullivan performs his own work in an unadorned manner. At times, the performance lacks energy and sounds like what it is--a book being read aloud. He may have been better served by... Read More

Morven Christie performs this captivating memoir by English writer and academic Sarah Moss. From an early age, society taught Moss that girls are to be restrained, smart but not too smart. At home, she learned to have a poor relationship with food; a girl must stay thin above all else at whatever cost. Moss's memoir recounts her life as she pushes back against the patriarchal... Read More

Narrator Janina Edwards gives an exceptional presentation of this biographical examination of Harriet Tubman. This audiobook compares the work of Tubman and other known civil rights activists in the pre-Civil War period. Edwards effectively delivers the vignettes of Tubman's life, complete with Southern accents and the local vernacular of the era. Tubman endured more physical... Read More

Sarah LaBrie, a successful television writer based in Los Angeles, narrates her gripping memoir of family trauma in a calm, sweet voice that keeps listeners engaged. Throughout LaBrie's childhood her mother ricocheted from one psychiatric episode to another, terrifying and caring ineptly for the girl. With hard work and luck, LaBrie made it to an Ivy League college. There, a... Read More

In 1978, Rick Steves left his job teaching piano lessons to set out on the legendary Hippie Trail. Starting in Europe, Steves and his friend Gene left the "wading pool of European travel" (as he puts it) to visit old friends in Bulgaria and then embark on an epic journey from Istanbul to Kathmandu. Steves's trademark enthusiasm and joie de vivre are on full display as he... Read More

Matthew Goode's amiable narration sets the right tone for this memoir by the late Russian anti-corruption activist. With Alexei Navalny's ghost hovering over the recording studio, Goode does an outstanding job of channeling the activist's humanity and warmth. Avoiding sanctimony, he dryly delivers Navalny's gallows humor--of which there is plenty. Amid the terror and confusion... Read More

If you find Emmy Award-winning actor Uzo Aduba's on-screen performances captivating ("Orange Is the New Black"), wait until you hear her narrate her life story. Aduba's lifelong habit of journaling produces a memoir sizzling with ambiance-enhancing details, beginning with descriptions of her '90s pop-culture-filled childhood in small-town Massachusetts. The daughter of Nigerian... Read More

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini captures the listener's heart with this new audiobook memoir following a family that was forced to move to Rome after being expelled from their home in Egypt during political unrest. In his adolescence, André Aciman, his brother, and his deaf mother find themselves in a city where they don't speak the language. As the year progresses, André must find... Read More

Sally Huband takes up beachcombing as a distraction to the debilitating arthritic pain brought on by her pregnancy. Huband is a slow, deliberate narrator, a style that is fitting for a meditative memoir on the environment and chronic illness. Based in the Shetland Islands, where her husband is a helicopter pilot, Huband searches for the sea bean, a seed from a vine in the... Read More

Cassandra Campbell's outstanding narration makes this history of Nazi efforts to eliminate Jewish and female academic opportunities in Germany an accessible and completely absorbing listen. While this subject is challenging, Campbell's investment in relaying the historical details of Nazi actions to eradicate women's roles in public professions and, indeed, in all aspects of... Read More

On the verge of turning 80, American novelist, poet, and memoirist Abigail Thomas wrote a series of introspective vignettes about the quotidian moments of her life at that time. She conversationally shares observations, occasionally in third person, of ordinary moments during the extraordinary times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the innumerable joys she reflects on are her... Read More

Listening to artist Maira Kalman narrate her work is akin to sitting next to a beloved friend. The artist recounts stories of her parents and grandparents going from Belarus to Israel to the U.S. Kalman recounts episodes in her and her family's lives that resulted in remorse. She also reflects on remorseful instances in the lives of painters, musicians, and philosophers. Kalman... Read More

Author and lifelong scientist Alan Townsend offers a moving account of how he learned to draw on a healing faith rooted in science to sustain himself amid catastrophe. Townsend shares how his family was asked to imagine the unimaginable: First, his young daughter and then his brilliant wife developed unrelated, life-threatening brain tumors. Listeners will be touched by the... Read More

In this biography of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, British actor Anna Wilson-Jones brings a clipped tone to the complex story of the King's efforts to divorce his first wife, Catherine, so he can marry Anne. Though Henry succeeds, the repercussions eventually result in England's break with the Vatican. Soon, Henry, tiring of his wife, has her beheaded so he can marry... Read More

Narrator Christine Anne-Roche uses impressive vocal agility, infusing her voice with strong emotion that matches the powerful message of this audiobook. Nemonte Nenquimo, a member of the Waorani people of Amazonian Ecuador, recounts her path from her childhood in the forest to her present work as a tenacious environmental activist. Listeners follow Nenquimo on her journey from... Read More

This audiobook captures multiple sides of Nikola Jokic, one of the NBA's greatest stars. His story ranges from his upbringing as an unfocused, aloof teen to his focus on the court. Narrator Roger Wayne offers the right amount of emotion for the many folks quoted in this well-researched biography written by a former news reporter who covered Jokic's team, the Denver Nuggets.... Read More