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Hi friends! We’re two days into Spring 2019 and we’re letting the promise of warmth and rebirth go to our heads even as we deep dive on topics from yesteryear. To wit:

A new reckoning for an old scandal.

It’s been 21 years since a scandal erupted from a sitting president having an affair with a young intern; while he retained his status on the world stage, she faced a global public shaming. This week Monica Lewinsky spoke with John Oliver about how that pile-on affected her life, especially as comedians felt that she—the one with the least power—was fair game. Oliver even apologized for the way a former Daily Show segment may have contributed to her ordeal, a phenomenon she once discussed with Jon Ronson, author of So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. We have to say, it’s been pretty wonderful to see her reclaiming her public life as society tries to reframe these narratives.

Giving (extra) credit where it’s due.

Speaking of politics, last week we learned a fun linguistic tidbit (though is something as impressive as learning an entire language a mere “tidbit”?) about Pete Buttigieg. Apparently the Democratic presidential candidate became so fascinated by the author Erlend Loe that he learned Norwegian just to be able to read all of his works that weren’t translated. Sadly, we only have Loe’s books in German, so maybe we too need to sign up for some language learning. But now that Mayor Pete has conquered the works of one Norwegian author, we’d direct him to Nobel prize winner Sigrid Undset, whose Kristin Lavransdatter is an in-house favorite.

File under: watch even if you’ve already listened.

If you’ve seen a lot of Lindy West in your social feeds lately, it’s probably because the Hulu series based on her memoir Shrill had its premiere. The show is getting a lot of press for its unflinching depictions of what it’s like to be an unapologetically big, brash, opinionated woman today. If we may not-so-humbly brag here, we were ahead of the Lindy-love curve by a mile, and it was among the inspiration for editor Courtney’s Body Positivity collection—which also includes a memoir from Shrill series writer Samantha Irby. Call us tastemakers, just don’t call us late to the viewing party!

And in the exact opposite of “shrill”...

Is there anything NOT fascinating about the saga of disgraced tech company Theranos, as told in John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood? (It was our top nonfiction pick of 2018, so nope.) Now that the story is also a documentary and podcast, people are hearing one of its strangest elements firsthand [insert deep baritone here]: Elizabeth Holmes’s voice. We won’t speculate on its authenticity; we’ll just say that as experts in and lovers of the human voice, we’ve noticed that when people do fake it, it’s *deeply* unsettling. In fact, the phony accents are what make one of our favorite villains so fundamentally bizarre. It’s impossible to turn your ears away from Harry Clarke—but since he’s fictional, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We’re busy, we swear.

In case you thought all we did all day was scroll through Twitter for Weekly Sound Off stories (you’re not entirely wrong), we wanted to share some updates about what we’ve been working on. Editor Kat interviewed acclaimed investigative journalist and THE Facebook detective Billy Jensen about his new Audible Original, Chase Darkness with Me. He was fascinating, and Billy motivated more than a few employees to join his crime-solving efforts. Editor Abby sat in on Steve Burns’s (of Blues Clues fame) recording session for his children’s project, which we can’t wait to share soon. Editor Rachel flew to LA to chat with Celeste Barber about her new memoir, Challenge Accepted—plus ADD, emergency open-heart surgery, mean girls, and more. Finally, Kat and Abby along with editors Emily and Katie sat down with Rachel Hollis (#1 New York Times best-selling author of Girl, Stop Apologizing) to record the latest episode of Audicted, available now! Let’s just say we all picked up what she was puttin’ down. Phew. OK, now back to Twitter.

*Puts on our best Harry Clarke voice*

Any fellow Anglophiles out there? If so, you won’t want to miss what our UK team has deemed their thriller of the year, Winter Dark, which has a fantastic new modern spy hero. You’re going to love her.
Cheerio!
—the audible editors

Audiobooks in This Edition

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo Audiolibro Por Marlon Bundo, Jill Twiss arte de
So You've Been Publicly Shamed Audiolibro Por Jon Ronson arte de portada
Shrill Audiolibro Por Lindy West arte de portada
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life Audiolibro Por Samantha Irby arte de portada
Bad Blood Audiolibro Por John Carreyrou arte de portada
The Daily Show (the AudioBook) Audiolibro Por Jon Stewart - foreword, Chris Smith arte de portada
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