OCTOBER 18, 2019
...so we give this story an A+ 😴
While we do see the value of waking up an hour earlier for somemetime (as Rachel Hollis and editor Abby advocate for their
finish the year strongcampaigns), it’s safe to say we Audible-ites are big fans of sleep. Our inner teenagers reacted with glee to the news that California passed a law mandating that no high school classes begin before 8:30, and no middle schools before 8, in hopes of mitigating health and academic woes brought on by sleep deprivation.
Don’t touch our chicken, Mr. King
Who doesn’t love a Costco rotisserie chicken? Priced at $4.99—and delicious to boot—they’re a major draw for the superstore. In an effort to keep their prices low, Costco is opening their own poultry complex in Nebraska. We’re grateful they’re taking this approach, as opposed to, say, traveling back in time to buy their meat on the cheap.Never mind the chicken dinner—we have another winner, winner
This week we got a delicious surprise when the Booker Prize judges announced not one, but two winners of the prestigious award! Even though it broke the official rules (established after Michael Ondaatje and Barry Unsworth both won in 1992), the judges awarded top honors to both Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. We were moved to see this pairing of an established literary giant and a hidden gem who has long been honing her craft off the global stage.
Forging a new life
Cyntoia Brown’s path from teenage sex worker to convicted murderer to author (of the newly released Free Cyntoia) is both tragic and a cautionary tale, she says. Sexually abused as a child and forced into sex work by a boyfriend, at 16 she shot a man who’d paid her to have sex with him. She was sentenced to life in prison but after 15 years behind bars, appeals, and a social media campaign influenced by the likes of Kim Kardashian West, Brown was granted clemency. She’s vowed to use her story to help young girls who find themselves in similar situations, something she says is far more prevalent than we realize.More news:
- The Vatican introduced a Click to Pray eRosary, which brought to mind our favorite fictional faith-meets-tech invention, Margaret Atwood’s Soul Scrolls!
- Playwright Isaac Gomez shared what it’s like to grow up along the U.S./Mexican border and how he felt after the devastating massacre in his hometown of El Paso.
- As SCOTUS revisits the life sentence of DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, retrace the manhunt that paralyzed the nation in the upcoming Audible Original Call Me God.
- John Banville had the most gracious reaction to a truly terrible prank: a phony phone call announcing he’d won a Nobel. Someone get this man a prize for dignity—or at least a well-deserved case of champagne.
—the audible editors
Audiobooks in This Edition
-
We're Better Than This
- My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy
- By: Elijah Cummings, James Dale
- Narrated by: Nancy Pelosi, Laurence Fishburne, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 143
Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings was known for saying, “We’re better than this.” He said it in Baltimore, a city on the verge of explosion over police treatment of citizens. He said it in Congress when microphones were shut down, barring free speech. He said it when the president flaunted his power and ignored the Constitution. He said it when the president resorted to bullying, name-calling, and feeding racial divisions. We are better than this. He continued to say it until his final days last October.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most inspiring piece of work I’ve heard in my adult life.
- By Jaraun on 01-29-21
-
Girl, Wash Your Face
- Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be
- By: Rachel Hollis
- Narrated by: Rachel Hollis
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62,300
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54,009
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53,727
As the founder of the lifestyle website TheChicSite.com and CEO of her own media company, Rachel Hollis developed an immense online community by sharing tips for better living while fearlessly revealing the messiness of her own life. Now, in this challenging and inspiring new book, Rachel exposes the 20 lies and misconceptions that too often hold us back from living joyfully and productively.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More for women who are mothers
- By MeredithNCSU girl on 04-07-18
-
Sleep Better
- By: Aaptiv
- Narrated by: Jade Alexis
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,127
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2,605
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,487
By now you know that getting enough sleep is one of the fundamental keys to overall health and well-being. But, achieving optimal shuteye and truly winding down at night are skills that few seem to have mastered.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
"THIS IS AUDIBLE" at the end is the only bad part!
- By wisny on 09-09-18
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68,177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61,473
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61,327
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
-
Girl, Woman, Other
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Anna-Maria Nabirye
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,847
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,838
From one of Britain's most celebrated writers of color, Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of black British women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
smart, compassionate, confronting and enjoyable
- By Kelly on 12-20-19
-
Girl, Stop Apologizing (Audible Exclusive Edition)
- A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals
- By: Rachel Hollis
- Narrated by: Rachel Hollis
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 20,571
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17,733
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 17,606
Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women not living into their full potential. They feel a tugging on their hearts for something more, but they’re afraid of embarrassment, of falling short of perfection, of not being enough. In Girl, Stop Apologizing, number-one New York Times best-selling author and founder of a multimillion-dollar media company, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people - whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee....
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
girl, listen.
- By Johanna on 03-08-19
-
We're Better Than This
- My Fight for the Future of Our Democracy
- By: Elijah Cummings, James Dale
- Narrated by: Nancy Pelosi, Laurence Fishburne, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 143
Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings was known for saying, “We’re better than this.” He said it in Baltimore, a city on the verge of explosion over police treatment of citizens. He said it in Congress when microphones were shut down, barring free speech. He said it when the president flaunted his power and ignored the Constitution. He said it when the president resorted to bullying, name-calling, and feeding racial divisions. We are better than this. He continued to say it until his final days last October.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most inspiring piece of work I’ve heard in my adult life.
- By Jaraun on 01-29-21
-
Girl, Wash Your Face
- Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be
- By: Rachel Hollis
- Narrated by: Rachel Hollis
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62,300
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 54,009
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53,727
As the founder of the lifestyle website TheChicSite.com and CEO of her own media company, Rachel Hollis developed an immense online community by sharing tips for better living while fearlessly revealing the messiness of her own life. Now, in this challenging and inspiring new book, Rachel exposes the 20 lies and misconceptions that too often hold us back from living joyfully and productively.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More for women who are mothers
- By MeredithNCSU girl on 04-07-18
-
Sleep Better
- By: Aaptiv
- Narrated by: Jade Alexis
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,127
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 2,605
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,487
By now you know that getting enough sleep is one of the fundamental keys to overall health and well-being. But, achieving optimal shuteye and truly winding down at night are skills that few seem to have mastered.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
"THIS IS AUDIBLE" at the end is the only bad part!
- By wisny on 09-09-18
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68,177
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61,473
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61,327
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I Owe Stephen King An Apology
- By Kelly - Write Well Academy on 04-16-12
-
Girl, Woman, Other
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Anna-Maria Nabirye
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,847
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,838
From one of Britain's most celebrated writers of color, Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of black British women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
smart, compassionate, confronting and enjoyable
- By Kelly on 12-20-19
-
Girl, Stop Apologizing (Audible Exclusive Edition)
- A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals
- By: Rachel Hollis
- Narrated by: Rachel Hollis
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 20,571
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17,733
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 17,606
Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women not living into their full potential. They feel a tugging on their hearts for something more, but they’re afraid of embarrassment, of falling short of perfection, of not being enough. In Girl, Stop Apologizing, number-one New York Times best-selling author and founder of a multimillion-dollar media company, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people - whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee....
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
girl, listen.
- By Johanna on 03-08-19
-
The Testaments
- The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale
- By: Margaret Atwood
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, Mae Whitman, Ann Dowd, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23,024
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 20,585
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 20,433
More than 15 years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results. Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third: Aunt Lydia. Her complex past and uncertain future unfold in surprising and pivotal ways.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
It does what a sequel should do.
- By Fountain of Chris on 09-10-19
-
The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition
- By: Margaret Atwood, Valerie Martin - essay
- Narrated by: Claire Danes, full cast, Margaret Atwood, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35,953
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32,449
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32,351
After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women. Offred, now a Handmaid tasked with the singular role of procreation in the childless household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost everything, even her own name.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wait! It Mightn't Be What You Think--
- By Gillian on 04-05-17
-
the way she spoke
- By: Isaac Gomez
- Narrated by: Kate del Castillo
- Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 5,407
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4,864
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4,841
Imagine living with a fear so visceral each day that simply walking down the street draws terror to one’s core. That’s the best case scenario for a woman on the streets of Juárez, Mexico. Kate del Castillo (La Reina del Sur) delivers a stunning one-woman performance that transports listeners from a New York stage to the treacherous streets of Juárez, Mexico, where thousands of women have been murdered in an ongoing epidemic of violence.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful, but it's a pity I don't speak Spanish
- By Jeff on 10-06-19
-
Call Me God
- The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation
- By: Jim Clemente, Tim Clemente, Peter McDonnell
- Narrated by: Maureen O'Connell
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,822
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,190
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,171
Inside Michael’s craft supply store, cashier Ann Chapman rings up another customer. Then it happens. A loud crack; a gust of wind; the light in register five goes dark. Over the next 23 days, the entire DC area will be thrust into a reign of terror unprecedented in American history. Sniper attacks targeting and murdering everyday citizens will bring the entire region to its knees as a nation still reeling from the recent attacks of 9/11 and the anthrax scare is forced to confront a new type of brutal assault - this time in their own backyard.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
much like the GSK Audio book
- By Moranda Haines on 10-30-19
-
The Sea
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 407
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 287
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 291
The narrator is Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who, soon after his wife’s death, has gone back to the seaside town where he spent his summer holidays as a child—a retreat from the grief, anger, and numbness of his life without her. But it is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled vacationing family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
OVERWHELMINGLY FINE
- By Karen on 07-20-07
-
Free Cyntoia
- My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System
- By: Cyntoia Brown-Long
- Narrated by: Cyntoia Brown-Long
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,276
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,118
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,120
At the age of 16, Cyntoia Brown, a victim of sex trafficking, was arrested for killing a man who had picked her up for sex. Two years later, she was sentenced to life in prison. In this audiobook, written over the 15 years she was incarcerated, Cyntoia shares her most intimate experiences as an inmate. A coming-of-age memoir set against the shocking backdrop of a life behind bars, Free Cyntoia takes you on a spiritual journey as Cyntoia struggles to overcome a legacy of family addiction and a lifetime of feeling ostracized and abandoned by society.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent!!!
- By Justicepirate on 11-22-19