New Reviews: Biography & Memoir

Journalist E.A. Hanks conversationally narrates an account of her solo road trip along Interstate 10, retracing the route she drove with her mother from California to Florida as a child in 1996. As she immerses herself in conversations with residents and explorations of towns like Tombstone, Arizona, and Palatka, Florida, Hanks grapples with questions about the formative... Read More

In this engaging memoir, author Joe Dunthorne narrates his own investigation into the dubious moral legacy of his grandfather, a chemist whose career evolved from creating mundane consumer products to developing chemical weapons for Nazi Germany. Dunthorne's skill as a novelist and storyteller comes through in both his prose and his narration. His tone is energetic and well... Read More

Anelise Chen narrates her memoir quietly--as if depicting the timidity that led to her reclusiveness after her divorce. She dubs herself "Clam," a name suggested by her mother's oft-sent misspelled texts to "clam down" when she was in a high emotional state. These texts launch Chen's discoveries of truths about herself. Led by serendipity, reading, introspection, and insights,... Read More

In this moving memoir, columnist Dave Barry makes fun of life's absurdities with his trademark warmth, humility, and keen insights about the human condition. It's fitting that he narrates his story; his heartfelt performance syncs perfectly with the details of how he grew up to write professionally and eventually become a Pulitzer Prize winner and one of America's favorite... Read More

For a comedy audiobook, the words "over-the-top" should be welcome. Alas, Larry Charles's narration of his memoir about 40 years in show business is just too much. His delivery pushes so hard that he ends up sounding like an amateur actor trying to impress. A winner of many prestigious awards, the writer and director of such successful shows as "Seinfeld," "Curb Your... Read More

Jason Culp delivers a top-notch narration of this entertaining biography of writer Elmore Leonard. Culp's relaxed pacing and acting chops come in handy when he delivers excerpts from Leonard's work and when he quotes the myriad sources for the bio. There's a wealth of information on Leonard's private life, including significant events like his battle with alcohol, as well as... Read More

Comedian Tamara Yajia narrates her debut memoir with dynamic energy. Her stories of her childhood in Argentina feature her hilarious yet often inappropriate Jewish family. After they move to the U.S., her grandfather's declining health brings them back to Argentina. Inspired by Madonna, Yajia almost becomes a child star, but an economic crisis forces another move to America,... Read More

Like a singer-songwriter performing her own work on stage, Niko Stratis really HAD to be the narrator of her own memoir. In a gentle voice tinged with strength, humor, and vulnerability, she shares stories as a kind of "soundtrack of my life," weaving commentary on popular music with her experiences as a trans woman. Reflecting on the lyrics of bands such as R.E.M., Pearl Jam,... Read More

Tanya Eby's bright voice and precise delivery help illuminate the story of Frances Perkins's humanitarian work during World War II. Perkins was a woman of firsts. The first female to serve in a presidential cabinet (Franklin Roosevelt's), she became the country's longest serving labor secretary and an architect of the New Deal. As historian Rebecca Brenner Graham discovered... Read More

Journalist Todd S. Purdum narrates his absorbing, well-researched, and beautifully delivered examination of actor, producer, and musician Desi Arnaz--also known as comedienne Lucille Ball's husband in the sitcom "I Love Lucy" (1951-1957) and in real life. This enjoyable performance is pure perfection--well enunciated, paced for understanding, and delivered in an entertainingly... Read More

Jacinda Ardern believes empathy and kindness should be central to politics. Her warm voice and Kiwi accent embody authenticity, earnestness, and self-effacing humor. At a young age and newly pregnant, Ardern unexpectedly became New Zealand's prime minister, heading a coalition government from 2017 to 2023. She was the face of the government's response to a terrorist attack at... Read More

Ashraf Shirazi's narration brings quiet strength and emotional resonance to the author's contemplations of imprisonment in Iran--her own and that of other feminist figures, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Narges Mohammadi. This unique audiobook focuses on a group of women who bake sweets as expressions of solidarity with those who are imprisoned. Shirazi's delivery... Read More

At the age of 38, Jonathan Gluck fell and injured his hip, and it didn't heal. In his audiobook, Gluck narrates his own story of coming to find out he had multiple myeloma, which upended his young family's life. He and his wife, both magazine journalists, were living an idyllic life in New York City with their 7-month-old daughter when Gluck was given between 18 months and 3... Read More

Andrea Currie narrates her memoir with the perfect balance of clarity and courage. Her voice may be gentle, but that doesn't conceal or betray the power of her lived experience. Currie is one of the many thousands of Indigenous children who were taken from their families during Canada's "Sixties Scoop," a government adoption policy that forced such children to be raised in... Read More

This biography of one of America's best distance runners, Steve Prefontaine, captures his spirit, accomplishments, and maverick personality wonderfully. Narrator Roger Wayne sets the pace, so to speak, in a comfortable style. He creates a commanding, almost upper-crust, voice for pioneering coach Bill Bowerman; his accents and cadence seem to fit the legendary running coach's... Read More

Edoardo Ballerini's excellent storytelling turns this biography into a fascinating listen. Born in New Jersey to working-class parents, James Gandolfini focused on acting after moving to New York City. Before becoming Tony Soprano, he was a hardworking stage actor, who earned the respect and friendship of actors, directors, and critics. Ballerini details a bighearted, generous,... Read More

Narrator Mike Zuzel captures these stories about Olympic athletes-- some well known, others not--who went above and beyond in heroic or sacrificial gestures in their careers. Zuzel's deep voice is consistent and calming. He narrates clearly with restrained enthusiasm. The stories that emerge are interesting and include accounts of track athlete Peter Norman and his famed 1968... Read More

In this raw and poetic memoir, Sarah Aziza traces her own history of anorexia, trauma, and hospitalization alongside her family's history of occupation, violence, and displacement from Palestine. The beauty of Aziza's remarkable prose becomes apparent in her narration, which is quiet, vulnerable, and utterly compelling. There is a lot of Arabic scattered throughout; often Aziza... Read More

Born in Australia, food critic Besha Rodell lived in the US for many years, but her voice still has the lilt and distinctive accent of an Aussie. She narrates at a good pace and with strong emotion. What sets her apart is that she has had to struggle to succeed in the posh world of fine dining criticism. Her backstory includes being raised by hippies--Australian academic dad... Read More

Richard E. Grant showcases the compelling life of legendary restaurateur Keith McNally, who does not shy away from the complicated stories that make up his life and choices. Having started out in the film industry, McNally discovered true theater in building successful restaurants, including New York's Balthazar, where the right environment and staff made the perfect dining... Read More

In this poignant, fragmented memoir, poet and novelist Hala Alyan reflects on her journey to motherhood through surrogacy. She narrates with an emotional intensity that matches the intimacy of the prose, her voice sometimes scratchy with grief, sometimes full of love. The memoir unfolds in a series of nonlinear moments and memories--of her marriage, her college years in Beirut,... Read More

Anyone who believes the American entrance into WWII was easy and inevitable will be shocked to hear that the path was difficult and paved with spies, lies, and coercion. Stephen Graybill performs this audiobook with the skill of a newscaster who's recounting revelation upon revelation about the spies on both sides of the war (and the Atlantic) who were using their skills to... Read More

The author narrates her own work, a memoir about the period when her Missouri-raised children were coming of age. The title is a misnomer; the story really recounts a series of educational and entertaining road trips across the country as they visited state parks, caves, small-town museums, and many other colorful places. Kendzior uses the political landscape of the times we... Read More

Jilly Bond paints a charming portrait of Eugénie de Montijo, the last empress of France. The Spanish-born aristocrat married to Emperor Napoleon III was a woman ahead of her time. The Napoleonic Code defined women as little more than chattel. They were uneducated, taught only to be good wives and unable to do or think for themselves. Bond's narration portrays a fierce advocate... Read More

Author/narrator Stephen Grant goes from a lucrative marketing job to being unemployed with cancer during Covid. Listeners join him as he moves back to Virginia and begins working as a rural mail carrier. He describes his joy at landing a job with health insurance, his in-depth training, the complexities of mail sorting, and various unique co-workers. Once he begins delivering... Read More

Author and narrator Tourmaline invites listeners inside her warm and revealing biography of Marsha P. Johnson, an LGBTQIA+ icon, Black trans activist, and irrepressible spirit. In a deliberate, earnest performance, she explores the pivotal 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, one of many key moments in Johnson's eventful life. Tourmaline adds vibrancy to quotations from... Read More

Samantha Desz dials down the vocal drama to provide a pitch-perfect documentary-style narration of this inspiring biography of the 20th-century pop music giant. With her comforting voice adding warmth and her interpretations never faltering, her easy-listening performance allows the author's writing and Krupa's captivating story to remain prominent throughout. The... Read More

Who writer Joan Didion was has never been clearer than in her attempt to trace the emotional cosmos of her deeply troubled adopted daughter, Quintana. Built from a set of notes left on her desk, this posthumous work lends itself particularly well to narrator Julianne Moore's delicate twang. Whereas much of Didion's oeuvre is identifiable for its razor-sharp economy of language,... Read More

This is a serious and, at times, personal discussion of one of America's finest 20th-century writers. Colm Tóibín makes interesting connections between the American Black experience and that of the Irish. In fact, Tóibín winds up making meaningful connections between Baldwin and James Joyce, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde, among others. Gary Furlong's relaxed, pleasant tone and... Read More

Tamsin Kennard tackles this mammoth narration with confidence and clarity. Goldstone has written an enjoyable and accessible account of two women whose beauty and wit propelled them into positions of great power. But in neither case did power bring the happiness both Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France desired. Kennard's friendly and relaxed tone makes this a far easier... Read More

The tumultuous life of Juliane of Saxe-Coburg is given a solid narration by Jennifer M. Dixon. Julie, who was an aunt of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, became Grand Duchess Anna Fedorova of Russia when she married Grand Duke Constantine, brother of the future Tsar Alexander I. It was not a happy union, and she eventually abandoned him and fled back to Western Europe.... Read More

Author Bridget Crocker recounts her life as a young woman before coming into her own, thanks to her appreciation for the natural world. One Easter morning Crocker's mother abandoned her family, leaving Bridget to fend for herself. Few people stepped in to help. Through a series of traumatic trials and tribulations--including sexual assaults-- Crocker found herself confronting... Read More

This poignant audio memoir recounts the tragedy of the past three generations of the New Jersey Seabrooks, WASP agriculture kings brought low by family feuds, self-dealing, and racism. Golden Voice Dion Graham gives a bravura performance of the fraught relationships between three generations of fathers and sons: CF, who was dubbed the "Henry Ford of Agriculture"; his son,... Read More

Joshua Quinn's performance embodies the spirit of a true educator: John B. King, Jr.--who was Secretary of Education during the Obama administration. Quinn's voice projects a deep intellect and curiosity. King began as a classroom teacher; then he became an administrator. His focus on student success is at the heart of his commitment to education as an art. Given the current... Read More

Roshaan Riyahi-Boni narrates this look at the lives of working-class lesbians in North London in the 1990s, a look that serves as a springboard for a memoir and a discussion of queer theory. The audiobook is filled with entries in the Women's Line Logbook, a lesbian helpline. The entries cover a period of five years, beginning in July 1993. Riyahi-Boni's renderings reveal the... Read More

It's difficult to imagine an audiobook with a more bleak premise. Between 2017 and 2024, author and Princeton professor Yiyun Li lost both of her sons to suicide, at the ages of just 16 and 19. This work explores her grief, her struggles to understand why her sons chose to end their lives, and her progress towards acceptance. Suzanne Toren's voice is gentle and restrained, and... Read More

When a nonfiction audiobook is described as "monumental," it can be challenging for listeners. But Courtney B. Vance makes this biography of pioneering Black sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois highly accessible. The work is still long and detailed, but Vance's pace and tone keep it from seeming tedious. He varies his voice to suit the material, especially in denoting irony or when... Read More

This series of essays by Tess Sanchez, actor Max Greenfield's wife, is intended to be humorous, but her nasal-tinged, if well-enunciated, narration doesn't mask the privileged tone of its not very relatable personal stories. Greenfield, who wrote and narrates the foreword, offers a more professional audio performance. Sanchez's writing about her life as a casting director who... Read More

Media powerhouse Barry Diller, at 83, offers an articulate, humble, and utterly honest account of his varied life. Dillard's narration is workmanlike, moving the narrative forward in a somewhat monotonous manner. That unvaried tone sharply contrasts with the fascinating story of a young, not very aggressive personality who nonetheless became highly influential in the... Read More

Saskia Maarleveld skillfully narrates this well-researched historical account. Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1943, and Nazi Germany quickly invaded. Many brave Italian women, hiding in plain sight, secretly delivered messages, weapons, and food to Resistance fighters. The biography focuses on four brave Italian women whose subversive activities included hiding bombs in... Read More

Nancy Kwan, the trailblazing Eurasian actress, dancer, and singer, narrates her life story in an appealing manner. The preface, narrated by her cousin Kevin Kwan sets the tone and provides an overview of the woman who was a 1960s sex symbol in movies and in Broadway productions such as FLOWER DRUM SONG. Kwan tells stories of living internationally and her marriages, the final... Read More

Micaela Blei's narration of her 2006 experience with a Divine Feminine course is expressive, touching, and humorous. Through "Moth"-style storytelling, she shares how the self-help class transformed her confidence and approach to life, especially in finding love. At the time, Blei loved her work as a third-grade teacher, but her lack of a love life kept her from feeling truly... Read More

To understand the life of the Zbigniew Brzezinski, one must understand the history of Poland--and not just 20th-century Poland. This idea is a major thesis of this extensive and authoritative biography of the Carter Administration's national security advisor, whose worldview and approach to communism ultimately led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Michael David Axtell... Read More