SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Happy Friday, friends! It hasn’t been a big news week or anything, right? 😱Let’s get into it.

The impeachment process has begun.

The inescapable big news of the week is the formal impeachment inquiry opened on President Trump. No matter where you land on the matter, and even though many of us lived through Bill Clinton’s impeachment process, just about all of us could stand a little more context on historical grounds for impeachment. Impeachment: An American History lays out the three times it’s been invoked before (Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Clinton) and hopefully from that we can glean what we all might soon witness anew. Who are we kidding? Anything can happen next.

Speaking of boldface news:

Editor Abby couldn’t stop talking about the energy at the famed Apollo Theater Monday night when Oprah Winfrey interviewed award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his moving and brilliant debut novel, The Water Dancer. And now that Abby’s heard Joe Morton’s amazing narration, her love for the audiobook has no bounds.

The couple who listens together…

Do you need to love your significant other’s favorite author, too? A recent quandary on Reddit Relationships has the Audible Editors considering this question. In the thread, a 33-year-old physicist describes how she finally read her husband’s thesis on his favorite author, Hegel, and how their marriage is now in jeopardy because she can’t buy into his views on one of the great modern philosophers. We hope this pair can resolve their academic differences, and would like to offer them hope that yes, you can emerge from different genre preferences unscathed! In fact, we have found that group listening can bring you closer to your partner.

Watch your back, gymnasts!

Author Alyssa Cole recently shared on Twitter a story about Atlas the robot, who’s showing off some serious skills with a new gymnastics routine. We have to say, Atlas’s expression when he sticks the landing is mildly terrifying. We’re thinking Alyssa may be on to something with her forthcoming Audible Original, The A.I. Who Loved Me: robot love is the future, guys.

Let’s paws to reflect on this.

Despite the feline reputation for being self-interested and aloof, all self-respecting cat parents know our fur babies love us—and now there’s scientific proof that the attachment they feel toward us is very real. So let those cat-ignorant naysayers keep worrying, “Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?” A real Cat Daddy (or mommy) doesn’t have such trivial concerns! We’re quite content to simply soak in the love we receive from our Tiny but Mighty kitty children.

Authors in the news:

  • Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness came out as a proud member of the beautiful HIV-positive community in an NYT profile and a fab new memoir.
  • Stanford sex-assault survivor Chanel Miller’s memoir, Know My Name, is here, and we’ll never be the same. A lot of people are going to know her name, and this audiobook, now.
  • The MacArthur Genius grants are in. Ours must have been lost in the mail, but huge congrats to talented writers Ocean Vuong, Saidiya Hartman, and Valeria Luiselli, and translator extraordinaire Emily Wilson.
Till Next Week!
—the audible editors