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
This biography of playwright and poet August Wilson contains both narrative and brief passages from some of his plays. Thus, the narrator has to be both storyteller and actor. Dion Graham excels at both. His rich voice carries the biography along nicely, but it is when he recites lines from plays such as FENCES and quotations from figures in Wilson's past that Graham really... Read More
A great opportunity to explore the development of the iconic entertainer Ella Fitzgerald is thwarted here. While there's little new information, author Judith Tick succeeds in compiling an exhaustive compendium of facts. Sadly, Carmen Jewel Jones is not up to the task of delivering it. Her performance is peppered with mispronunciations, and nearly every foreign name or phrase... Read More
Renowned singer Dolly Parton is center stage as she describes how her clothing choices over the years represent who she is. The production takes a Q&A format: Dolly's niece, Rebecca Seaver, also the director of Dolly's archived clothing collection, poses the questions. Seaver's engaging manner leads to Dolly's spontaneous clothing-related reflections during different periods of... Read More
Henry Winkler is clearly delighted to tell his own story. He learned to live with dyslexia; understand his odd, strict parents; and succeed at doing what no one thought he could do--become an actor. Perhaps he made it so quickly because he was never told how impossible it would be for a young man with almost no professional acting experience to make it in Hollywood. Trusting in... 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
Celebrated chef Erin French shares glimpses of her Maine past and the familial roots of her favorite recipes, as well as ideas and temptations from her renowned restaurant, The Lost Kitchen. Her recitations of her recipes are both engaging and perfectly paced. One could cook while listening, though the recipes are handily indexed at the end. Interspersed are unscripted chats... Read More
Narrator Cheryl Smith engages listeners with this audiobook, part memoir, part nature and social activism. O'Kane, who spent most of her career as a human rights journalist and social activist, became an "accidental birder" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Her life and worldview changed when she began noticing and observing birds outside of her destroyed home in New Orleans.... 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
Deeply personal and persistently provocative, these episodic memoir essays are relatable and poignant. Ziwe, a rising political satirist and comedian, delivers her work with the appropriate amount of sarcasm and humor. Tackling questions of race, racism, and the ubiquitous awkward moments that occur around these issues, Ziwe encourages engagement with that discomfort in an... Read More
Benjamin Taylor delivers a plainspoken performance of this audiobook; little fanfare or theatrical nuance is added to the work. This style may suit the subject matter well; after all, Cather is often associated with the simple majesty of the American plains, and simplicity governs this work--despite the intriguing energy of its title. Taylor's workmanlike narration echoes the... Read More
As he narrates Willie Nelson's thoughts on 160 or so of his songs, listeners could forget they're listening to actor Ethan Hawke. With a gruff voice and a touch of a Texas twang, Hawke recounts the story of the poker game that inspired "Good Hearted Woman" and the sudden debut of "Wake Me When It's Over." Nelson's lyrics are narrated by Hawke, rather than sung, but listeners... Read More
Renowned VILLAGE VOICE dance critic Deborah Jowitt has written an informative biography of the legendary modern dance choreographer, performer, and teacher Martha Graham. Erin Bennett delivers a sophisticated yet relaxed performance of the text. Three cheers for an enchanting effort so well matched to the book at hand. Bennett's tone and intonation are solid--in all respects... 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
Pop culture drag star RuPaul's soft narration opens with sensory details that evoke the power of memory. His gentle voice allows listeners to enter early scenes of his life in San Diego that are not always easy--waiting for his father who never shows up, arriving home for lunch to find a locked door. Within those scenes are wise reflections about the world around him and his... Read More
Memoirs are often best when they're read by the author, and Lucy Sante's intimate and poignant account of her journey from assigned-male-at-birth to female-presenting is sometimes raw, sometimes soft, and altogether genuine. Her own voice delivering vignettes from her life resonates with authenticity. Sante's lifelong success as a writer comes through in her near-poetic... Read More
Through this audiobook, listeners will come to see Civil Rights pioneer John Lewis as a living bridge from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., to President Barack Obama. The force behind the concept of "good trouble," Lewis was inspired to become a minister and to join the Civil Rights movement after hearing King preach over the radio. Lewis was just a boy at the time. His life,... Read More
Molly Roden Winter gives an affecting narration of her and her husband's exploration of an open marriage in contemporary Brooklyn. Winter's tone is forthright and vulnerable as she portrays entanglements with several men she meets on apps catering to people in non-monogamous relationships. While much of the memoir focuses on her arrangement with her husband, Stewart, Winter... Read More
The sea, with its tides and weather, can be peaceful and inspiring, or it can be wild and chaotic. Anna Rust's calm and rhythmic voice evokes the constantly moving ocean that intersects and shapes Hannah Stowe's life. The author grew up on the Welsh coast, where she learned to sail and surf and observe the creatures of the ocean. Here she warns of ocean acidification, rising... Read More
Longtime sportswriter Dave Kindred narrates his memoir, which canvases his 80-plus years--from growing up and covering sports in a variety of places to retiring in the plains country of Illinois. His retirement "job" is covering a high school girls basketball team. When Kindred's wife becomes ill, covering the team becomes a catharsis. His voice and words suggest sweetness,... 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
This memoir about the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol combines an able narration by author Liz Cheney with clips of quoted material from actual sources, such as news reports and recorded speeches. As a result, the work has a sense of immediacy that cannot be duplicated in print. Because she was a longtime U.S. representative, Cheney knows how to... Read More
The author struck up a friendship with champion bowler Dot Wilkinson, and the resulting conversations turned into this biography of one of our nation's greatest female athletes. Wilkinson excelled at softball, playing for decades while also becoming an accomplished bowler. There's a down-to-earth quality about Wilkinson that comes across in Stephanie Németh-Parker's narration.... Read More
Olympic medalist Caster Semenya engages listeners with this deeply personal memoir of her experiences amid the ongoing debate over fairness in women's sports. Semenya, who was raised a girl and has always identified as female, has naturally high levels of testosterone, which are known as "differences in sex development (DSD)." She's been forced to undergo invasive and... Read More
Natalie Naudus performs this memoir about the author's experience with a traumatic brain injury and its intense aftereffects. The child of Greek immigrants, Liontas had always just picked themself up and carried on. But after receiving three concussions in a year, Liontas grapples with migraines, memory loss, and sensitivity to light and sound. Their relationship with their... 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
Clara Kim narrates her mother's memoir. The initial chapters describe Nguon's early years in Cambodia, which were filled with the abundance of her mother's gifted cooking and the love of her older siblings. Interspersed are joyfully remembered recipes. Sadly, Kim's narration fails to capture the elegance of this memoir's language. Later, when Pol Pot's genocide necessitates... 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
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
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
Every one of performer Billy Dee Williams's well-lived 86 years can be heard in this candid memoir. Williams's somewhat tired vocal demeanor sharply contrasts with his cool and crisp delivery of the fascinating events of his life, beginning with his childhood appearance in a Broadway show. He has a tinge of a New York City accent. And--make no mistake--his frequent odd pauses... Read More
Because Kenan Thompson has been featured in movies and TV shows for the past 30 years, including a long stint on "Saturday Night Live," many people feel they know him--but this audiobook, written and narrated by the actor, shows a personal side. Thompson compares his childhood to how he's raising his two young daughters. He shares his experiences as a Black actor and notes that... Read More
"It's hard to live in someone's blind spot." This refrain is part of Funder's uniquely crafted audiobook about the life of Eileen O'Shaughnessy, George Orwell's wife. Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood is a capable narrator with a bright tone and considerable skill with voices and accents. The audiobook takes on many roles--O'Shaughnessy biography, author's memoir, and social... Read More
Eve Schaub chronicles her family's ambitious undertaking to eliminate household waste for a year, which was made even more difficult by the Covid pandemic. Hillary Huber's tone of bemused humor matches the author's witty rendition of the many sacrifices her family made on their improbable journey to zero waste. The family sought out alternatives to many common products and... Read More
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