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THE BEST STRANGERS IN THE WORLD

THE BEST STRANGERS IN THE WORLD Stories from a Life Spent Listening

by Ari Shapiro | Read by Ari Shapiro

Harper Audio
Biography & Memoir

NPR's Ari Shapiro has real verbal skills. Not surprisingly, he narrates his memoir with practiced professionalism. His confident tone, lyrical cadence, and timbre all hint at his background as an a cappella singer while he was at Yale. He still sings with the Pink Martini and has performed cabaret with Alan Cummings. Happily, he occasionally croons a bar or two here. His... Read More

BITTER MEDICINE

BITTER MEDICINE

by Mia Tsai | Read by Natalie Naudus

Recorded Books
Romantic Fiction

Natalie Naudus delivers a dynamic performance of this romantic fantasy. Elle has a lot of potential careerwise, yet she slaves away at a fairy temp agency, performing subpar magical tasks. One day she agrees to help Luc, a highly regarded half-elf, with a complex task-- despite the risk of being found out by his vengeful brother. As their adventure brings Elle and Luc together,... Read More

BLOOD DEBTS

BLOOD DEBTS

by Terry J. Benton-Walker | Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Zeno Robinson, Bahni Turpin, Torian Brackett

Macmillan Audio
Young Adult

Joniece Abbott-Pratt and Zeno Robinson capture the voices of Cristina and Clement Trudeau, Black teenage twins who are growing up in a New Orleans family that practices magic. A year after their father's death, their mother is sick, and they fear she'll succumb to her mysterious illness. Then they discover she's actually cursed--and they're targets, too. As Cris and Clem set... Read More

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

COLLATERAL DAMAGE Ali Reynolds, Book 17

by J.A. Jance | Read by Karen Ziemba

Simon & Schuster Audio
Mystery & Suspense

Narrator Karen Ziemba brings a matter-of-fact tone to this Ali Reynolds mystery. Ziemba lets listeners into the minds of its many characters on both sides of the law, starting with an ex-cop who's planning revenge on the people who helped send him to prison. Ziemba's delivery also illuminates the contributions of the law enforcement figures who prevent the contract killings the... Read More

COMMUNITY BOARD

COMMUNITY BOARD

by Tara Conklin | Read by Kristen Sieh

Harper Audio
Fiction

Kristen Sieh's bright, expressive tones enliven this quirky audiobook, set in 2019. Twenty-nine-year-old Darcy takes a leave from her actuary position and returns to her parents' home in small-town Massachusetts after her husband leaves her. Darcy is surprised to discover that her parents have moved to Arizona without telling her, so as not to upset her. She hunkers down in her... Read More

THE CURATOR

THE CURATOR

Earphones Award Winner

by Owen King | Read by Marin Ireland

Simon & Schuster Audio
Fantasy

Marin Ireland navigates an ever-expanding world of characters and details. In a mysterious city recently devastated by conflict, museums and universities have been turned to rubble. Dora finds work as a curator at the last remaining museum, where she seeks her long-lost brother. In the city, cats are highly revered. King's audiobook unfolds in a dreamlike fashion, with much... Read More

DON'T FEAR THE REAPER

DON'T FEAR THE REAPER Jade Daniels, Book 2

Earphones Award Winner

by Stephen Graham Jones | Read by Isabella Star LaBlanc, Jane Levy, Alexis Floyd, and a full cast

Simon & Schuster Audio
Horror

A talented cast of narrators performs a horror story involving the survivor of a small-town massacre. Four years after Proofrock, Idaho, was devastated by the horrific murders, Jade attempts to put her traumatic past behind her. When a serial killer escapes during a prison transfer in a blinding storm, another massacre may be on the horizon--unless Jade and her friends can stop... Read More

ENCHANTMENT

ENCHANTMENT Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age

by Katherine May | Read by Rebecca Lee

Penguin Audio
Personal Growth

With her pleasant British accent, Rebecca Lee narrates this meditation on wonder in our everyday lives. Lee's voice is an apt stand-in for the author's as May grapples with pleasures she has lost and attempts to recapture the joy in them. Much of ENCHANTMENT is a snapshot of a particular place in a particular moment in time--England during strict Covid lockdowns--but many... Read More

GIGI, LISTENING

GIGI, LISTENING

by Chantel Guertin | Read by Natalie Naudus

Recorded Books
Romantic Fiction

Natalie Naudus throws herself wholeheartedly into Gigi Rutherford's fantasy that the narrator of her favorite audiobook is her soulmate. Naudus plays up Gigi's longing, both for narrator Zane and for his connection to her late parents. After Gigi's friends at her romance bookstore chip in to send her on a ten-day tour of England, she is thrust into the drama of a bus tour that... Read More

I SWEAR

I SWEAR Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan

by Katie Porter | Read by Katie Porter

Random House Audio
Biography & Memoir

Katie Porter, representative from California, presents her memoir, which begins with her Iowa childhood and takes listeners through her 2018 election and subsequent work in Congress. Porter's Midwestern accent aligns with her straightforward approaches to consumer protection, anti-corruption, and corporate accountability. Her earnest and even presentation reflects her sincerity... Read More

I WILL FIND YOU

I WILL FIND YOU

by Harlan Coben | Read by Steven Weber

Brilliance Audio
Mystery & Suspense

Harlan Coben could not ask for a better person than narrator Steven Weber to portray a man wrongly accused of killing his own son. Weber, known for his movies, television shows (like the long-running "Wings"), and top-notch audiobook performances, including several other works by Coben, has a natural ease and an ability to transport the listener into a world of panic,... Read More

A LIVING REMEDY

A LIVING REMEDY A Memoir

by Nicole Chung | Read by Jennifer Kim

Harper Audio
Biography & Memoir

Jennifer Kim movingly narrates this raw and relatable memoir about loss and grief. Told through a collection of memories, Chung's audiobook recounts the racial trauma she experienced while growing up the Korean child of adoptive white parents in Oregon. After moving away for college and later starting her own family, Chung suffers the heartbreaking loss of both her parents... Read More

NIC BLAKE AND THE REMARKABLES: THE MANIFESTOR PROPHECY

NIC BLAKE AND THE REMARKABLES: THE MANIFESTOR PROPHECY

Earphones Award Winner

by Angie Thomas | Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Harper Audio
Children

Magic flows as Joniece Abbott-Pratt brings to life Nic Blake's 12th birthday. It's the day her father promised to instruct her in using her Manifestor gift. Abbott-Pratt's rich narration shows Nic's frustration at having to hide her magical ability in a world of Unremarkables. Abbott-Pratt expresses Nic's sassy brilliance, the closeness and humor she shares with her father, and... Read More

POVERTY, BY AMERICA

POVERTY, BY AMERICA

Earphones Award Winner

by Matthew Desmond | Read by Dion Graham

Random House Audio
Contemporary Culture

Dion Graham is a master of nonfiction narration. He knows exactly when to pause, sets off quotations flawlessly, and brings exquisite emotion to the text. Here, Graham varies his pacing to complement the flow of Matthew Desmond's writing, whether he's describing the depth of American poverty, the history of why poverty exists in such a wealthy country, or the heartrending... Read More

THE SINISTER BOOKSELLERS OF BATH

THE SINISTER BOOKSELLERS OF BATH Left-Handed Booksellers of London, Book 2

by Garth Nix | Read by Marisa Calin

Listening Library
Young Adult

Marisa Calin gives a breathy and breathless performance of this rollicking YA fantasy set in 1983 England. Art student Susan Arkshaw longs to live a normal life, but she keeps getting drawn into a world of magic and danger. Calin ramps up the action as Susan and her dashing boyfriend, Merlin St. Jacques, face a murderous enemy who can animate marble sculptures. Merlin is part... Read More

STONE BLIND

STONE BLIND

by Natalie Haynes | Read by Natalie Haynes

Harper Audio
Fantasy

Natalie Haynes energizes the melodrama of ancient Greek gods with a divine level of storyteller's flair. Amid a roiling sea of eternal backbiting and scheming are the devoted Gorgon sisters--Sthenno, Euryale, and Medusa--who become drawn into the gods' petty squabbles and the petulant "hero" Perseus's quest for Medusa's head. Haynes's vibrant portrayals of the pantheon of gods,... Read More

THE TRACKERS

THE TRACKERS

by Charles Frazier | Read by Will Patton

Harper Audio
Historical Fiction

Will Patton uses a gentle Southern accent to embody Val Welch, and he maintains that soft approach even through some fairly graphic violence. The story involves many questions about what is actually going on with the rest of the characters. Val is in Wyoming to paint a WPA mural in a post office. He falls into a maelstrom created by a wealthy rancher; his wife, a former hobo;... Read More

VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS

VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS

Earphones Award Winner

by Jesse Q. Sutanto | Read by Eunice Wong

Penguin Audio
Mystery & Suspense

Eunice Wong's brisk performance perfectly suits this humorous yet poignant cozy mystery as she distinctively voices a variety of characters. The lonely existence of 60-year-old Chinese immigrant Vera Wong takes a wild turn when she discovers a dead body in her rundown San Francisco tea shop. Vera is a woman of strong opinions and decisive actions, and Wong's crisp, accented... Read More

VICTORY CITY

VICTORY CITY

Earphones Award Winner

by Salman Rushdie | Read by Sid Sagar

Random House Audio
Fiction

Rushdie's latest novel defies easy description. It is magical realism and myth, historical fiction and fable, all centered around the life story of Pampa Kampana, queen of Vijayanagar--Victory City--in southern India. Narrator Sid Sagar embraces the tone of this audiobook; within moments of its opening, his performance invites listeners to suspend disbelief and step into an... Read More

THE WAGER

THE WAGER A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Earphones Award Winner

by David Grann | Read by Dion Graham

Random House Audio
History

This enthralling audiobook is performed by a master narrator. Dion Graham commands the listener's attention with this true story of HMS WAGER, an English warship that sailed in the 1740s. Graham delivers the nautical adventures at a strong pace with a mesmerizing cadence and impeccable timing. The excitement and peril of the high seas are captured through author Grann's... Read More

THE WHITE LADY

THE WHITE LADY

Earphones Award Winner

by Jacqueline Winspear | Read by Orlagh Cassidy

Harper Audio
Mystery & Suspense

With her keen talent for British accents, narrator Orlagh Cassidy masterfully delivers this stand-alone from Jacqueline Winspear, which introduces powerful, brave heroine Elinor White. The story moves around in time from White's current life in Britain in 1947 to her recruitment in the Belgian Resistance as an adolescent during WWI and her work as an SOE agent during WWII.... Read More

THE WRITING RETREAT

THE WRITING RETREAT

by Julia Bartz | Read by Gail Shalan

Simon & Schuster Audio
Fiction

Gail Shalan narrates this psychological suspense featuring five aspiring authors who are participating in a writing retreat held at an isolated mansion in the Adirondacks. The five attendees are all women under 30, though they seem younger. The leader of the retreat is Roza Vallo, a renowned feminist horror writer much admired by the young writers. Shalan gives Roza, who is... Read More

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