AUGUST 16, 2019

Welp, it’s Friday—and here at Audible HQ, we are racing way too fast toward the end of summer (how is August halfway over already??). Now, if only there were a meme that channeled the feeling of going from one place to another at hyperspeed... 🤔

So this zombie snail walks into a salmon cannon…

The oddities of fauna—one of our perennial favorite topics here at Audible—captivated the internet once again, this time in the form of a “zombie” snail and a wild contraption known as a fish tube (or its delightful alternative, “salmon cannon”). The beleaguered mollusk invaded our minds, much like the parasite that causes the snail to look like a colorful, pulsating disco light, thus rendering it an unmissable, caterpillar-like treat to predators. Meanwhile, the fish tube transports its titular sea creatures through a long pipe to aid in its migration over hydroelectric dams. Both are apt metaphors for life and excellent fodder for writers’ wit—much like the collected listens in the first link above, which likely will *not* cause you nightmares...unlike the zombie snail. You’ve been warned!

But as usual, humans are the animals making a mess of things.

Dogs, hamsters, alpacas, peacocks, snakes—at some point, all of the above have been registered as Emotional Support Animals. This week The Guardian reported on “ESA mills”—for-profit websites that certify animals as ESAs through lax online appraisals while selling vests, tags, and other swag. Although this might seem like a harmless way to be allowed to travel with your pet, it’s making life harder for legitimate service dog users, who are being denied access by weary taxi drivers, restaurateurs, and other business owners. We love disability advocate Molly Burke’s take on this issue in her new memoir, It’s Not What It Looks Like—it’s permanently changed the way we see service dogs.

Considering the slavery-capitalism connection.

A feature on the DNA of American capitalism from The New York Times 1619 Project, which explores the impact of slavery after 400 years, knocked History Editor Christina’s socks off. She says: Written by the Pulitzer-winning author of Evicted (performed by Dion Graham!), it made me question how I had not seen this connection before. An uncomfortable thought wiggled to life: maybe I had? Albion’s Seed details how the second sons of British nobility (disinherited from the big moolah because…primogeniture) arrived in America precisely to remake the old system of people living in servitude to the land. Fischer argues that those lordly wannabes were actually *looking* for a permanently indentured underclass, but that neither white nor Native American victims fit the emerging economic model. I remember being grateful I grew up in the (allegedly) egalitarian Quaker-influenced region of the mercantile mid-Atlantic…and now…well, I’m not feeling quite so, shall we say ‘exempt.’ My editors’ pick for August, Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist, might have published just in time.

Remembering rock history...

The magic of Woodstock has been an almost mythical thing in pop culture since it happened 50 years ago this weekend. Those three days in upstate New York defined a generation, became fodder for decades of books and movies, and gave us sooooo much great music—from Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner” to Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice” to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s career-making setlist after helicoptering onto Max Yasgur’s farm. A planned anniversary concert didn’t come together, but we’ll always have the music.

...and hanging onto our scrunchies.

What happens when you get eight women in a room to talk about why they love The Baby-Sitters Club? Well, first they eat a bunch of junk food and talk about their cool outfits. Then they say super smart things about race, class, and what it meant to their younger selves to see teenage girls make their own money. This week we celebrated the release of all 131 audiobooks in The Baby-Sitters Club series with a free audio essay that we hope you’ll love as much as we do.

And a few more must-knows...

  • Sarfraz Manzoor’s acclaimed memoir about falling in love with Bruce Springsteen’s music while growing up as a Pakistani boy in 1970s Britain was the inspiration for the new hit film Blinded by the Light. Bonus points for listening to Greetings from Bury Park before you watch, but the author’s winning narration makes this one a treat either way.
  • Do you love love? Well then, we think you’re going to love our latest episode of Audicted to Romance, which features our interview with actress, producer, and best-selling author Mindy Kaling. Listen in as we discuss romcoms, her writing process, favorite love stories, and more.
  • Audible announced two new theater productions at New York’s Minetta Lane, both starring incredible women. Certain Women of an Age (we see what she did there) stars former Canada first lady Margaret Trudeau; The Swimmer marks record-breaking athlete Diana Nyad’s stage debut. If you can’t join for the live performances in September, fear not. Both will be available this year as audio plays.
  • While we’re talking live performances, we’ve got a 🤘🎸 production cooking. Guitar icon Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) will tell his life story in a three-night run at the Minetta Lane in September, with musical direction by T Bone Burnett; the recording will be available exclusively on Audible.
  • Barack Obama released his annual summer reading listening list (hot tip, every single one is great in audio). It’s no surprise that the man who presented Toni Morrison with the Presidential Medal of Freedom recommended her collected works, but we still may have wept a little. The rest of the list is pretty darn amazing, too.
Till Next Week!
—the audible editors