SOUNDS LIKE 2020
that will be everywhere this year.
It’s been especially cool to see how ahead of the curve Audible and our listeners are, having predicted the vast potential of audio storytelling more than 20 years ago. So if you’re curious about the biggest audio, literary, and publishing trends for 2020 and beyond—including emerging genres and talent to watch—consider this a peek into the sounds that will define the year ahead. —Kat, Audible Editor
1. Voice casting coups
We don’t know who needs to hear this, but we for one want to hear everything on this list. With the rise of scripted audio, more and more celebrities are exploring the format, resulting in swoon-worthy multicast performances. Meanwhile, some of the biggest names in Hollywood are adding audiobook narrator
to their CVs, a longtime trend that’s only picking up speed. And while some of the year’s casting news is still under wraps, trust us when we say 2020 will be star-studded.
Check out the full list here.
2. Genre-swapping surprises
This year some of our favorite writers are changing the game, genre-wise. Three YA fantasy authors—Leigh Bardugo, Veronica Roth, and Sarah J. Maas—recently forayed into adult debuts while Jeff Vandermeer goes in the other direction with a new YA fantasy series. We also have our eyes on celebrity auteurs releasing fiction, kidlit, and thrillers—just call it, as Jim Carrey does, the celebrity anti-memoir.
Check out the full list here.
3. Elder protagonists
The culture has long been youth obsessed, but these days we’re seeing a noticeable uptick in characters of a certain age, in every genre from literary fiction and thrillers to kidlit and theater. The trend is especially noticeable when it comes to female protagonists, but literature doesn’t have to be no country for old men—we rounded up a few selections that say You’re OK, boomer!
to elder folks of either gender.
Check out the full list here.
4. Class consciousness
Publishing trends reflect the broader culture, so in a year when Parasite swept the Academy Awards and wealth inequality is a key election issue, it makes sense that we’re seeing an explosion of stories tackling class tensions, conflict, and privilege. From historical and contemporary fiction to autobiography and thrillers, these listens explore class struggles in a nuanced, narrative way.
Check out the full list here.
6. Podcast connections
The lines between audiobooks and podcasts have been blurring for some time as audio grows overall. Once upon a time, it was easy to see how the audio version of a printed book (written by an author, arranged into chapters) was different from a podcast (presented by a host, arranged into episodes), but things are getting a lot fuzzier as audio formats intersect in new and surprising ways—and as we like to say, we’re hear for it.
Check out the full list here.
7. Evolving immigration stories
A hot-button political issue, immigration is also one of the most pervasive themes in audio storytelling, showing up in memoir and nonfiction, YA and kids, commercial fiction, history, and even theater. Far from a monolithic group of voices, these ever-evolving stories of immigration and migration reflect on dreams and ambition, overlapping identities, separated families, and the universal search for self.
Check out the full list here.
8. Classic retellings
They’re classics for a reason. But far from remaining dusty and fusty, our beloved tales of the past can be infinitely refracted through today’s lens, inspiring radical reinterpretations of treasured (and sometimes controversial) classic literature and pop culture revivals that turn on contemporary nostalgia. Another trend to watch: backlist gems making their long-anticipated arrivals in audio.
Check out the full list here.
9. The memoir as manifesto
The compelling blend of intimate first-person account and call-to-arms recently got a high-profile boost with the announcement of Colin Kaepernick’s upcoming memoir. The NFL star’s project is expected to be part political awakening and part memoir,
a timely combination we’re going to hear a lot more of this year, via famous folk like influencers and politicians as well as established authors and emerging voices.
Check out the full list here.
10. Microgenres having a moment
Microgenres are inherently trend-driven. Their specific nature often reflects the zeitgeist, and some have a longer shelf life than others. While we can’t say for certain which of these trending microgenres will have the staying power of, say, cozy mysteries or space operas, we do know you’ll be seeing (and hearing!) a lot of these in the year ahead.
Check out the full list here.
New releases from favorite authors
-
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- A Hunger Games Novel
- By: Suzanne Collins
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low.
-
-
Bad part
- By Edgars Dumins on 05-19-20
-
Rhythm of War
- Book Four of the Stormlight Archive
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
- Length: 57 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move. Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals.
-
-
Meh - boring
- By Louis on 11-22-20
-
A Long Petal of the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.
-
-
Impressive
- By Jean on 05-24-20
-
Deacon King Kong
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird.
-
-
Masterpiece
- By Linda G McDonough on 05-17-20
-
Rodham
- A Novel
- By: Curtis Sittenfeld
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1971, Hillary Rodham is a young woman full of promise: Life magazine has covered her Wellesley commencement speech, she’s attending Yale Law School, and she’s on the forefront of student activism and the women’s rights movement. And then she meets Bill Clinton. A handsome, charismatic southerner and fellow law student, Bill is already planning his political career. In each other, the two find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced.
-
-
I felt insulted by this novel
- By Y. Scott on 05-29-20
-
The Mirror & the Light
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 38 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in May 1536: Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
-
-
Ben Miles is not as good a reader...
- By EllenP on 03-13-20
-
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- A Hunger Games Novel
- By: Suzanne Collins
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 16 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low.
-
-
Bad part
- By Edgars Dumins on 05-19-20
-
Rhythm of War
- Book Four of the Stormlight Archive
- By: Brandon Sanderson
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
- Length: 57 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After forming a coalition of human resistance against the enemy invasion, Dalinar Kholin and his Knights Radiant have spent a year fighting a protracted, brutal war. Neither side has gained an advantage, and the threat of a betrayal by Dalinar’s crafty ally Taravangian looms over every strategic move. Now, as new technological discoveries by Navani Kholin’s scholars begin to change the face of the war, the enemy prepares a bold and dangerous operation. The arms race that follows will challenge the very core of the Radiant ideals.
-
-
Meh - boring
- By Louis on 11-22-20
-
A Long Petal of the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Isabel Allende, Nick Caistor, Amanda Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.
-
-
Impressive
- By Jean on 05-24-20
-
Deacon King Kong
- A Novel
- By: James McBride
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird.
-
-
Masterpiece
- By Linda G McDonough on 05-17-20
-
Rodham
- A Novel
- By: Curtis Sittenfeld
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1971, Hillary Rodham is a young woman full of promise: Life magazine has covered her Wellesley commencement speech, she’s attending Yale Law School, and she’s on the forefront of student activism and the women’s rights movement. And then she meets Bill Clinton. A handsome, charismatic southerner and fellow law student, Bill is already planning his political career. In each other, the two find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced.
-
-
I felt insulted by this novel
- By Y. Scott on 05-29-20
-
The Mirror & the Light
- A Novel
- By: Hilary Mantel
- Narrated by: Ben Miles
- Length: 38 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story begins in May 1536: Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
-
-
Ben Miles is not as good a reader...
- By EllenP on 03-13-20
-
If It Bleeds
- Mr. Harrigan's Phone, The Life of Chuck, If It Bleeds, Rat
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Danny Burstein, Steven Weber
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From number one New York Times best-selling author, legendary storyteller, and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary collection of four new and compelling novellas - Mr. Harrigan's Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the title story If It Bleeds - each pulling you into intriguing and frightening places.
-
-
Chapter breakdown of the short stories
- By Jason Sebesta on 04-23-20
-
Utopia Avenue
- A Novel
- By: David Mitchell
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 25 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief, blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and drafty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, and on to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968. David Mitchell’s captivating new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue. Can we change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us?
-
-
1960s Nostalgia Served David Mitchell-Style.
- By Nick O. on 07-20-20
-
The Last Emperox
- The Interdependency, Book 3
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems - and billions of people - are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. This collapse was foretold through scientific prediction...and yet, even as the evidence is obvious and insurmountable, many still try to rationalize, delay and profit from, these final days of one of the greatest empires humanity has ever known.
-
-
I bought 3 audiobooks for this crap.
- By Harold on 04-25-20
-
Wow, No Thank You.
- Essays
- By: Samantha Irby
- Narrated by: Samantha Irby
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new rip-roaring essay collection from the smart, edgy, hilarious, unabashedly raunchy, and best-selling Samantha Irby. Irby is 40, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin despite what Inspirational Instagram Infographics have promised her. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and has been friendzoned by Hollywood, left Chicago, and moved into a house with a garden that requires repairs and know-how with her wife in a Blue town in the middle of a Red state....
-
-
listen to this book. and then repeat. twice.
- By hattie walls on 04-08-20
-
A Private Cathedral
- A Dave Robicheaux Novel
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After finding himself caught up in one of Louisiana’s oldest and bloodiest family rivalries, Detective Dave Robicheaux must battle the most terrifying adversary he has ever encountered: a time-traveling superhuman assassin.
-
-
Unrealistic and corny
- By LLM on 08-13-20
-
Capital and Ideology
- By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 48 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Piketty’s best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system.
-
-
Big thinking at its finest
- By Amazon Customer on 03-20-20
-
Near Dark
- The Scot Harvath Series, Book 19
- By: Brad Thor
- Narrated by: Armand Schultz
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world’s largest bounty has just been placed upon America’s top spy. His only hope for survival is to outwit, outrun, and outlast his enemies long enough to get to the truth. But for Scot Harvath to accomplish his most dangerous mission ever - one that has already claimed the lives of the people closest to him, including his new wife - he’s going to need help - a lot of it. Not knowing whom he can trust, Harvath finds an unlikely ally in Norwegian intelligence operative Sølvi Kolstad.
-
-
Excellent but not his best!
- By Wayne on 07-22-20
-
The Splendid and the Vile
- A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: John Lee, Erik Larson
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next 12 months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally - and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless."
-
-
John Lee’s narration is a struggle
- By Leslie Rathjens on 03-05-20
-
The Evening and the Morning
- Kingsbridge, Book 4
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 24 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined.
-
-
I was really waiting for this book!
- By Firebolt on 09-20-20
-
Camino Winds
- Camino, Book 2
- By: John Grisham
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The master of the legal thriller sweeps you away to paradise for a little sun, sand, mystery, and mayhem. With Camino Winds, America’s favorite storyteller offers the perfect escape. Welcome back to Camino Island, where anything can happen—even a murder in the midst of a hurricane, which might prove to be the perfect crime...
-
-
Another Thrilling Mystery
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 04-29-20
-
All the Devils Are Here: A Novel
- Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, Book 16
- By: Louise Penny
- Narrated by: Robert Bathurst
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand’s godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. But an attempt on the elderly man’s life sends Armand, his wife, Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d’Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded works of art. It sends them deep into the secrets Armand’s godfather has kept for decades.
-
-
One of her best
- By Georgia gardener on 09-06-20
-
Dragonfly Summer
- By: J.H. Moncrieff
- Narrated by: Natalie Gold
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jo Carter never thought she'd return to Clear Springs, Minnesota. But when the former journalist receives a cryptic note about the disappearance of her friend Sam twenty years before, she's compelled to find out what really happened. During her investigation, she learns another high school friend has died in a mysterious accident. Nothing is as it seems, and Jo must probe Clear Springs' darkest corners and her own painful and unreliable memories to discover the truth - and save herself from the killer who could still be on the hunt.
-
-
Home is not always where the heart is...
- By shelley on 02-15-20
-
You Are Not Alone
- A Novel
- By: Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik, Dylan Moore
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely. Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better. Shay would die for them to like her. She may have to.
-
-
Best book I have listened to in months!
- By Renee on 03-04-20
-
Big Summer
- A Novel
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Danielle Macdonald
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time - she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media - so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.
-
-
Book is great; narrator is painful to listen to
- By katherine rosenberg on 05-07-20
-
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
- A Novel
- By: Hank Green
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh, Joe Hempel, Jesse Vilinsky, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April May and the Carls are back in the much-anticipated sequel to Hank Green's number-one New York Times best-selling debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. The Carls disappeared the same way they appeared, in an instant. While they were on Earth, they caused confusion and destruction without ever lifting a finger. Months later, the world is as confused as ever. Andy has picked up April’s mantle of fame; Maya, ravaged by grief, begins to follow a string of mysteries that she is convinced will lead her to April; and Miranda infiltrates a scientific operation.
-
-
Thrilling and relevant
- By Kari on 07-17-20
-
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
- By: Christopher Paolini
- Narrated by: Jennifer Hale
- Length: 32 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope....
-
-
Don't waste the credit
- By mike on 09-26-20
-
Caffeine
- How Caffeine Created the Modern World
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Michael Pollan, known for his best-selling nonfiction audio, including The Omnivores Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, conceived and wrote Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World as an Audible Original. In this controversial and exciting listen, Pollan explores caffeine’s power as the most-used drug in the world - and the only one we give to children (in soda pop) as a treat.
-
-
Leaves much to be desired
- By Melody H on 02-02-20
-
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
- By: Christopher Paolini
- Narrated by: Jennifer Hale
- Length: 32 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope....
-
-
Don't waste the credit
- By mike on 09-26-20
Instagram-candy covers
-
Verge
- By: Lidia Yuknavitch
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An eight-year-old trauma victim is enlisted as an underground courier, rushing frozen organs through the alleys of Eastern Europe. A young janitor transforms discarded objects into a fantastical, sprawling miniature city until a shocking discovery forces him to rethink his creation. A brazen child tells off a pack of schoolyard tormentors with the spirited invention of an 11th commandment. A wounded man drives eastward, through tears and grief, toward an unexpected transcendence.
-
Perfect Tunes
- By: Emily Gould
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wondered what your mother was like before she became your mother, and what she gave up in order to have you? It’s the early days of the new millennium, and Laura has arrived in New York City’s East Village in the hopes of recording her first album. A songwriter with a one-of-a-kind talent, she’s just beginning to book gigs with her beautiful best friend when she falls hard for a troubled but magnetic musician whose star is on the rise. Their time together is stormy and short-lived - but will reverberate for the rest of Laura’s life.
-
-
Edited version?
- By ROJ on 08-30-20
-
The Night Watchman
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, DC, this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Melanie on 03-09-20
-
Death in Her Hands
- A Novel
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on her daily walk with her dog in a secluded woods, a woman comes across a note, handwritten and carefully pinned to the ground by stones. "Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body." But there is no dead body. Our narrator is deeply shaken; she has no idea what to make of this. She is new to this area, alone after the death of her husband, and she knows no one. Becoming obsessed with solving this mystery, our narrator imagines who Magda was and how she met her fate.
-
-
Omg get ON with it
- By Nicole Dreyfus on 06-24-20
-
Verge
- By: Lidia Yuknavitch
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An eight-year-old trauma victim is enlisted as an underground courier, rushing frozen organs through the alleys of Eastern Europe. A young janitor transforms discarded objects into a fantastical, sprawling miniature city until a shocking discovery forces him to rethink his creation. A brazen child tells off a pack of schoolyard tormentors with the spirited invention of an 11th commandment. A wounded man drives eastward, through tears and grief, toward an unexpected transcendence.
-
Perfect Tunes
- By: Emily Gould
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you ever wondered what your mother was like before she became your mother, and what she gave up in order to have you? It’s the early days of the new millennium, and Laura has arrived in New York City’s East Village in the hopes of recording her first album. A songwriter with a one-of-a-kind talent, she’s just beginning to book gigs with her beautiful best friend when she falls hard for a troubled but magnetic musician whose star is on the rise. Their time together is stormy and short-lived - but will reverberate for the rest of Laura’s life.
-
-
Edited version?
- By ROJ on 08-30-20
-
The Night Watchman
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Louise Erdrich
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, DC, this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.
-
-
Beautiful
- By Melanie on 03-09-20
-
Death in Her Hands
- A Novel
- By: Ottessa Moshfegh
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While on her daily walk with her dog in a secluded woods, a woman comes across a note, handwritten and carefully pinned to the ground by stones. "Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body." But there is no dead body. Our narrator is deeply shaken; she has no idea what to make of this. She is new to this area, alone after the death of her husband, and she knows no one. Becoming obsessed with solving this mystery, our narrator imagines who Magda was and how she met her fate.
-
-
Omg get ON with it
- By Nicole Dreyfus on 06-24-20
-
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida
- By: Clarissa Goenawan
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay, David Shih
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
University sophomore Miwako Sumida has hanged herself, leaving those closest to her reeling. In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from? To Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda; Chie, Miwako's best friend; and Fumi, Ryusei's older sister, Miwako was more than the blunt, no-nonsense person she projected to the world. Heartbroken, Ryusei begs Chie to take him to the village where Miwako spent her final days.
-
-
Didn’t hold my interest, though well done.
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-23
-
The Mercies
- By: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Narrated by: Jessie Buckley
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves. Three years later, a stranger arrives on their shore. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa.
-
-
The Mercies is a Strong and Moving Story, Not to be Missed
- By Lenore Poyer on 02-29-20
-
Friends and Strangers
- A novel (A Read with Jenna Pick)
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly 20 years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms' Facebook group, her "influencer" sister's Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women's college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit.
-
-
thought provoking story
- By Barbara S on 07-26-20
-
Little Gods
- A Novel
- By: Meng Jin
- Narrated by: Karen Huie, Francois Chau, Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the night of June 4th, a woman gives birth in a Beijing hospital alone. Thus begins the unraveling of Su Lan, a brilliant physicist who until this moment has successfully erased her past, fighting what she calls the mind’s arrow of time. Seventeen years later, Su Lan’s daughter, Liya, brings her mother’s ashes to China, along with the silences and contradictions of Su Lan’s life.
-
-
Lots of POVs and story lines
- By OwlLover on 08-06-20
-
The Convert
- A Novel
- By: Stefan Hertmans
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 11th-century France, Vigdis Adelaïs, a young woman from a prosperous Christian family, falls in love with David Todros, a rabbi’s son and yeshiva student. To be together, the couple must flee their city, and Vigdis must renounce her life of privilege and comfort. Pursued by her father’s knights and in constant danger of betrayal, the lovers embark on a dangerous journey to the south of France, only to find their brief happiness destroyed by the vicious wave of anti-Semitism sweeping through Europe with the onset of the First Crusade.
-
-
Half Spectacular Half Pointless
- By Phyllis on 09-09-20
-
Uncanny Valley
- A Memoir
- By: Anna Wiener
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her mid-20s, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener - stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial - left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: A world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress.
-
-
Could have been better
- By R. Herz on 01-20-20
-
Weather
- A Novel
- By: Jenny Offill
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lizzie Benson slid into her job as a librarian without a traditional degree. But this gives her a vantage point from which to practice her other calling: she is a fake shrink. For years, she has tended to her God-haunted mother and her recovering addict brother. They have both stabilized for the moment, but Lizzie has little chance to spend her new free time with husband and son before her old mentor, Sylvia Liller, makes a proposal. She's become famous for her prescient podcast, Hell and High Water, and wants to hire Lizzie to answer the mail she receives.
-
-
Read This Article Before Listening to Weather
- By MOR Denver on 04-28-20
-
Too Much
- How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today
- By: Rachel Vorona Cote
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar, Rachel Vorona Cote
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written in the tradition of Shrill, Dead Girls, Sex Object, and other frank books about the female gaze, Too Much encourages women to reconsider the beauty of their excesses - emotional, physical, and spiritual. Rachel Vorona Cote braids cultural criticism, theory, and storytelling together in her exploration of how culture grinds away our bodies, souls, and sexualities, forcing us into smaller lives than we desire.
-
-
So glad this was recommended to me!
- By Snef on 03-15-20
-
Good Morning, Destroyer of Men's Souls
- A Memoir of Women, Addiction, and Love
- By: Nina Renata Aron
- Narrated by: Nina Renata Aron
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A scorching memoir of a love affair with an addict, weaving personal reckoning with psychology and history to understand the nature of addiction, codependency, and our appetite for obsessive love. "The disease he has is addiction," Nina Renata Aron writes of her boyfriend, K. "The disease I have is loving him."
-
-
when does the story begin?
- By Lisa Hartline on 06-07-20
-
Clap When You Land
- By: Elizabeth Acevedo
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Melania-Luisa Marte
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
-
-
Narration
- By VB on 06-05-20
-
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
- Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African-American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s "lost" Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales.
-
-
Great Writer - Great Reader
- By Avid Listener on 09-09-20
-
Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies
- And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who's Been There
- By: Tara Schuster
- Narrated by: Tara Schuster
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time she was in her late 20s, Tara Schuster was a rising TV executive who had worked for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and helped launch Key & Peele to viral superstardom. By all appearances, she had mastered being a grown-up. But beneath that veneer of success, she was a chronically anxious, self-medicating mess. No one knew that her road to adulthood had been paved with depression, anxiety, and shame. Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies is the story of Tara’s path to re-parenting herself and becoming a "ninja of self-love".
-
-
Shallow romp through other authors works
- By MM in Los Angeles on 03-01-20