-
Just Kids
- Narrated by: Patti Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

pick 2 free titles with trial.
Buy for $11.28
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's Summary
National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2010
Patti Smith’s evocative, honest and moving coming-of-age story of her extraordinary relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe
A prelude to fame, Just Kids recounts the friendship of two young artists--Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe – whose passion fueled their lifelong pursuit of art.
In 1967, a chance meeting between two young people led to a romance and a lifelong friendship that would carry each to international success never dreamed of. The backdrop is Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel, Max’s Kansas City, Scribner’s Bookstore, Coney Island, Warhol’s Factory and the whole city resplendent. Among their friends, literary lights, musicians and artists such as Harry Smith, Bobby Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Sandy Daley, Sam Shepherd, William Burroughs, etc. It was a heightened time politically and culturally; the art and music worlds exploding and colliding. In the midst of all this two kids made a pact to always care for one another. Scrappy, romantic, committed to making art, they prodded and provided each other with faith and confidence during the hungry years--the days of cous-cous and lettuce soup.
Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. Beautifully written, this is a profound portrait of two young artists, often hungry, sated only by art and experience. And an unforgettable portrait of New York, her rich and poor, hustlers and hellions, those who made it and those whose memory lingers near.
More from the same
What listeners say about Just Kids
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michelle
- 09-21-11
Pure gold.
This audio book had me spellbound. I was transported - lost in the world of Patti and Robert, New York City, 1960's and was oblivious to everyone and everything around me. I hung off every word, and 'couldn't put it down'. If you admire the work of Robert Mapplethorpe and/or Patti Smith you will love this book like I did. But I think even if you have never heard of either of them, you will love it. It stands alone as a love story, a life story, beautifully crafted. That Patti Smith herself has narrated the book makes the audio book even better than reading it visually would be. Her voice adds to the magic. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kate
- 08-21-12
Great!
I've been a fan of Patti Smith's music for years, but initially hesitated to listen to this book because I thought it might be mainly about the relationship between two people, one of whom died tragically young, and therefore a bit depressing. I'm so glad I did listen to it, because it's very much a portrait of a time and place (the late 1960s and the 1970s in New York). It is also about the relationship between Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe, which is handled in a delicate and not at all maudlin way. I gained a lot of insight into all of the participants and their artistic milieu, making me curious to know more about some aspects of the latter, even though I'd already read a fair bit about the topic. The book is read very well by Patti Smith in her distinctive way, which somehow manages to combine directness and deceptive simplicity with emotional complexity and surprising ideas, just like her music. This is a well-crafted and sensitive book that impresses me with Patti Smith's writing.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lea Joos
- 03-17-23
brilliant
breathtakingly beautiful story. i cried.
thank you patti smith for sharing your life with the world.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AF
- 09-12-22
Magical journey
This was one of those books you cannot put down, I was totally transported back in time to the Chelsea Hotel with the essence of being a struggling artist, poet and creative. And to have Patti read it, beautiful, raw and touching living memories… brilliant!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ray Hecht
- 12-14-20
She is a legend, so full of heart
Patti Smith is a legend.
This memoir is a delight. Absolutely crucial for anyone interested in New York, the 60s and 70s, punk, art, music, poetry, and life.
I had previously read the punk oral history tome of Please Kill Me, which had many interviews with Patti Smith about her seminal time at Max's Kansas City and CBGB's, and I thought I had a decent impression of her. I was aware of her music, and that she came from a poetry background. Little did I know how much heart and talent in writing she held.
While Please Kill Me often aimed to shock, her own memoir Just Kids is full of soul and beauty. It is unapologetically sentimental, nothing wrong with that at all. There is the gay sex and occasional drugs and that sort of thing, but it's all told in such beautiful prose as simple parts of life. It's not about extremes, just getting at the root of what truly happens in one's love-filled memories...
Costar of this memoir is photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. They were famously friends, starving artists together struggling (and by struggling it was really bad in those early years indeed) in New York until they made it big. Their first meet-cute as she was running away from an older man trying to take advantage, their shy courtship, adventures at the Chelsea Hotel, the path he took as he explored BDSM and became such a controversial artist which she wasn't even into. Though ultimately he wasn't her orientation, they truly seemed to be soulmates throughout their lives.
The story jumps around, filled with so many precious details about New York in the 60s. When the punk era 70s come around, and Patti finds success, the stories then rush on by. Aside from a few excellent vignettes about how her most memorable songs were written, this particular part of her life is not really the point. She relishes in what made her an artist in the first place, rather than reliving the whole rock star life. In fact, the story if anything then kind of skips far away to the late 80s when Robert sadly contracted HIV and eventually passed. It's not fun, but it is what happened and that's the story to focus upon. These deep truths are what it's all about.
This is the Patti Smith aesthetic, her writing craft, and it is a valid powerful work of art.
Note: I listened to the audiobook edition, read by the author, which leaves me with such an impression.
So anyway, throughout it all, from beginning to end, they were ultimately just that: Just Kids
And as so eloquently said, one hopes, Paths That Cross Will Cross Again...
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ben Vella
- 12-10-20
The Artist’s World
Amazing journey into the lives of two soul mates and how they evolved. Beautifully written and the narration at first felt slow but then apt.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mathabatha
- 08-27-19
This is love
In so many words, events, creations, lives, places, people, songs and memories. This is love.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-08-19
Already loved both Robert and Patti
and this made me love them more than before, with extra insight into how they were when they worked and into their dynamic as people
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Liam K
- 09-04-17
Incredible, beautiful book
I highly recommend this book! The fact that it is read by Patti Smith makes it even that much more powerful!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- malcolm larri
- 04-26-17
So beautiful
I didn't want it to end...magical and engaging and Patti's voice is hypnotic.
Moving straight on to her next book
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Emma
- 12-01-15
The most spectacular experience
What made the experience of listening to Just Kids the most enjoyable?
The narration and the beauty of the language, harmonising fully with the story, made this my most enjoyable audiobook experience for me to date. I was not into Patti Smith nor very fascinated by the age or Chelsea Hotel before but needed to start going through her work afterwards. And felt an extreme urge to quit my job, sit on a floor and create, and just listen to this over and over (I just barely manage to refrain though)
What was one of the most memorable moments of Just Kids?
The story in itself is not really what makes this book. All the moments where Patti Smith lets us peak below her skin, the vulnerable moments, the moments of sheer joy, the uncertainties of life- those are why this book is such a treasure.
Which character – as performed by Patti Smith – was your favourite?
The story is read with one voice, not portraying the people she has met in her life by different voices, but rather as personal recollections of events.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
There were occasions of tears running down my cheeks, despite sitting on the commuter train. And episodes where I giggled. But which of all the reflections and events that will move the listener are probably different for every person. Just be prepared to be emotionally involved at some level.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Shi Shu Li
- 05-19-16
Mild-mannered woman goes through life. The end.
What didn’t you like about Patti Smith’s performance?
The woman cannot pronounce 'drawing' to save her life. And she says 'drawing' a lot. Finding out during the book that she used to do poetry readings I'm like.... wut. Could be that her way of speaking is good for a short poem, but it's tedious for the duration of a whole book.
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
I liked the little snippets of observations about her contemporaries. But there's a long way between them.
Any additional comments?
This was just a colourless narration of stuff that happened. I didn't feel close to the people in it, or drawn in by her journey, but I might just not be into this kind of stuff.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nadia
- 05-19-15
Great book v interesting and moving
great book makes you think about your life as ana artist and the infinite connection to God. Inspiring and moving and engaging!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- woodwild
- 11-25-15
Wow
As good as it gets, funny, sad, insightful, tragic, rocking and told with honest warmth that you hear rising from the words and the authors own reading.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 02-09-17
I was immersed in Just Kids
It's a fascinating story, whether you are fan of Patti Smiths' music or not. It's beautifully written in such poetic way. It transported me to exciting NYC in the 60s and 70s, about the struggle and drive of two people to make it as artists, and their love, relationship and admiration for one another. It's full of poetry, I absolutely loved it.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Bad Dad
- 02-09-16
Oh yes! Now I remember why I liked the Ramones...
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Along with the Velvets, Television, New York Dolls, Ramones, Jonathan Richman, and Iggy Pop, Patti Smith played as the American part of background music to my late teen years. I didn't quite 'get' her then, and after listening to this I have to admit that I'd she just ain't to my taste. My partner was less generous and asserted 'Up herself! Wannabe Bloomsbury in NYC with all the snobbery and less of the humour.' Possibly too harsh?
The narration is Patti Smith (fairly monotone), the words quite poetical, the story unsurprising, and just occasionally touching. It is informative, and helps fill out the picture of the times, the NY scene, and some insight into Maplethorpe... but ultimately left me cold and unmoved.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
A few recipes or how to cook with one ring at the Chelsea Hotel? Perhaps a Blue Peter like guide to necklace making with Robert?
Did the narration match the pace of the story?
Perfectly 1.75mph
Was Just Kids worth the listening time?
if you'd rather visit a poets graveyard in Paris than pogo in the pub.
Any additional comments?
Bet she doesn't have a guilty pleasure in her whole album collection, a P.G Wodehouse on her shelves, or a copy of Hello in the bog. But hey! Gabba gabba hey!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ben Denison
- 01-04-16
Just Beautiful
Just beautiful from start to finish. Can't wait to find out all about her work now.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- P
- 11-11-15
Love and Art
A story of love and art. A story worth telling. A story of a time.
Beautiful.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- BenGee333
- 09-20-15
a very beautiful , romantic , sad book
about a very beautiful , romantic , happy life
i knew nor thought about patti smith , a friend urged me to read this book , i am so glad i did
i read [ on kindle ] while She read to me on audio book , She has a beautiful voice and a wonderful way of saying ' drawings ' [ which to me sounds like ' DRAWLings ' ]
i experience [ the tiniest part of the life of an artist ] and have lived off the power and energy that experience infused in my soul , this book spoke to that part [ and others ]
it's better to have loved and lost ...
knowing love [ art , work , people , inspiration , romance ] like that one can live [ and mourn ] a lifetime more ...
patti you wrote a lovely book , thank you for your honesty in sharing stories of your life
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Gargamel
- 07-09-15
The greatest love story I've ever come across
Calling this a love story might be underselling it, but in the broader sense it is a love story. Perhaps an unconventional one, but most probably the greatest one I've ever come across.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 05-15-23
Life changing
This is a story about how determination and love change your life.
Worth all the awards and accolades.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nadia Rao
- 03-20-23
Portrait of an artist as a young woman
Patti Smith narrates her own tale of her life & art with photographer Robert Maplethorpe. A meditative memoir of two young artists making their way through the gritty NYC of the late 60s & early 70s. Their love of art as lifeline & way of understanding the world is developed through a strict work ethic. Smith details the small rituals of everyday life & the large names of some of the icons if the era. She lands in the creative whirlpool of the great city in a transformative age, she is the child of right person/right place synchronicity. Just Kids outlines the beginnings of an artistic journey that lasts to this day. We owe Smith so much, and she gifts us further with this searing recount of how to make good art in a life well-lived. Highly recommended.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 05-15-22
Really really good
A very moving story with very emotive narration by the author. Definitely worth listening to!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- bilhag2008
- 04-11-22
Brilliant
I got distracted by work a lot and it made me lose my artistic sense and it got me into more a consumer than a creature
But thanks to this book it awakens the art passion I had and it made me get up and make time to create and time to meditate and look around snd lose my phone
Thanks Patti
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Austen
- 04-08-22
wowzer
loved it, newfound hero in Robert Mapplethorpe (and Patti, of course). hearts break everyday, what a way to connect.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Josho
- 08-26-21
Beautiful
Just Kids is the beautiful and unique story of two artists sharing a true bond and friendship.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 08-12-21
transported me to another world
I was so sad when it ended. I felt transported into their world. loved Patti reading it. I had started reading the book but hearing patti really brought it to life
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 04-22-21
Highly recommend
I really loved this book. What a beautiful love they had for one another. True soulmates. Loved that it was narrated by Patti as well. I highly recommend this book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MISS
- 04-12-21
An enjoyable read
I really enjoyed this book, it took me back to the era. It was very insightful into the life of both Patti Smith and Robert Maplethorpe.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 01-14-21
Descriptive and raw
Beautiful to hear Patti Smiths own voice narrating, deeply personal, a story of two lovers and lifelong friends.
Related to this topic
-
Can't Hurt Me
- Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
- By: David Goggins
- Narrated by: David Goggins, Adam Skolnick
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare--poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force tactical air controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events.
-
-
Not for me
- By kindleuser on 10-05-19
By: David Goggins
-
The Debutante
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
-
-
Interesting but not compelling
- By Gail Jester on 04-15-23
By: Jon Ronson
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By Marilyn Armstrong on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
-
-
It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: Lori Gottlieb
-
I Can't Make This Up
- Life Lessons
- By: Neil Strauss - contributor, Kevin Hart
- Narrated by: Kevin Hart
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
-
-
Best Audiobook I Ever Listened To
- By Sam Clear on 07-13-17
By: Neil Strauss - contributor, and others
-
Something Ain't Right
- By: Roger Stringer, Zachary Stringer
- Narrated by: Roger Stringer, Zachary Stringer
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roger Stringer grew up in rural Mississippi, hunting and eating everything from deer to rabbits. When he had two sons, Zac and Justin, he gave them guns and took them to the woods as well. Then one day when the boys were home alone, he got a call from Zac that Justin had been shot. What follows is an intimate and gripping memoir about the shooting’s aftermath. The story moves between the perspectives of Roger and Zac as they take us through their journey of betrayal, redemption, and ultimately confrontation with a company that had kept its corruption a secret for decades.
-
-
The Journey for Truth
- By samsararose on 05-19-23
By: Roger Stringer, and others
-
Can't Hurt Me
- Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
- By: David Goggins
- Narrated by: David Goggins, Adam Skolnick
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare--poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force tactical air controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events.
-
-
Not for me
- By kindleuser on 10-05-19
By: David Goggins
-
The Debutante
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thirty years ago, award-winning journalist Jon Ronson stumbled on the mystery of Carol Howe—a charismatic, wealthy former debutante turned white supremacist spokeswoman turned undercover informant. In 1995, Carol was spying on Oklahoma’s neo-Nazis for the government just when Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
-
-
Interesting but not compelling
- By Gail Jester on 04-15-23
By: Jon Ronson
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By Marilyn Armstrong on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
-
-
It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: Lori Gottlieb
-
I Can't Make This Up
- Life Lessons
- By: Neil Strauss - contributor, Kevin Hart
- Narrated by: Kevin Hart
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
-
-
Best Audiobook I Ever Listened To
- By Sam Clear on 07-13-17
By: Neil Strauss - contributor, and others
-
Something Ain't Right
- By: Roger Stringer, Zachary Stringer
- Narrated by: Roger Stringer, Zachary Stringer
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Roger Stringer grew up in rural Mississippi, hunting and eating everything from deer to rabbits. When he had two sons, Zac and Justin, he gave them guns and took them to the woods as well. Then one day when the boys were home alone, he got a call from Zac that Justin had been shot. What follows is an intimate and gripping memoir about the shooting’s aftermath. The story moves between the perspectives of Roger and Zac as they take us through their journey of betrayal, redemption, and ultimately confrontation with a company that had kept its corruption a secret for decades.
-
-
The Journey for Truth
- By samsararose on 05-19-23
By: Roger Stringer, and others
-
The Psychopath Test
- A Journey Through the Madness Industry
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Psychopath Test is a fascinating journey through the minds of madness. Jon Ronson's exploration of a potential hoax being played on the world's top neurologists takes him, unexpectedly, into the heart of the madness industry. An influential psychologist who is convinced that many important CEOs and politicians are, in fact, psychopaths teaches Ronson how to spot these high-flying individuals by looking out for little telltale verbal and nonverbal clues. And so Ronson, armed with his new psychopath-spotting abilities, enters the corridors of power.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Anthony on 06-04-23
By: Jon Ronson
-
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- As Told to Alex Haley
- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
-
-
Audible Masterpiece
- By Phoenician on 09-10-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
-
A Dangerously High Threshold for Pain
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: Imani Perry
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imani Perry’s Audible Original A Dangerously High Threshold for Pain tells the dramatic story of her ongoing struggle with lupus—an autoimmune disease that attacks multiple organ systems—and what we can all learn from those who are grappling with chronic illness. It’s a powerful and poetic story that evokes the works of Susan Sontag, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Audre Lorde.
-
-
Outstanding reflection on life with chronic disease/disability
- By tinuviel moore on 03-04-23
By: Imani Perry
-
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
-
-
Golden Horde/Platinum Listen
- By Cynthia on 12-11-13
By: Jack Weatherford
-
The Demon Next Door
- By: Bryan Burrough
- Narrated by: Steve White
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Bryan Burrough recently made a shocking discovery: The small town of Temple, Texas, where he had grown up, had harbored a dark secret. One of his high school classmates, Danny Corwin, was a vicious serial killer. In this chilling tale, Burrough raises important questions of whether serial killers can be recognized before they kill or rehabilitated after they do. It is also a story of Texas politics and power that led the good citizens of the town of Temple to enable a demon who was their worst nightmare.
-
-
Odd narration choice
- By Amanda Fredericks on 03-08-19
By: Bryan Burrough
-
Please Tell My Brothers
- Words + Music | Vol. 35
- By: Jeff Tweedy
- Narrated by: Jeff Tweedy
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A leading light on the alternative and indie music scene for nearly 40 years, Jeff Tweedy is a master of the art in the artifice of songwriting. In this volume, Tweedy introduces listeners to the people, occasions, and frames of mind that have inspired but don’t necessarily populate the iconic songbooks of bands Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, and Tweedy.
-
-
JT & Wilco
- By kutzkai on 03-07-23
By: Jeff Tweedy
-
Finding Tamika
- By: Erika Alexander, Kevin Hart, Charlamagne Tha God, and others
- Narrated by: Erika Alexander
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Black girls and women disappear every day, but not without a trace. Join actress and activist Erika Alexander in a neo-noir, true crime drama as she searches for Tamika Huston, a 24-year-old Black woman from Spartanburg, SC who went missing in 2004. Her case became a rallying cry for other missing Black women in America and led to a growing demand to expose a system that ignores missing girls and women of color.
-
-
Cynical conflation of two tragedies
- By Buretto on 03-26-22
By: Erika Alexander, and others
-
The Year of Magical Thinking
- By: Joan Didion
- Narrated by: Vanessa Redgrave
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When celebrated writer Joan Didion’s life was altered forever, she wrote a new chapter. In this adaptation of her iconic memoir, Didion transforms the story of the shattering loss of her husband and their daughter into a one-woman play performed by Tony Award winner Vanessa Redgrave, who originated the role on Broadway in 2007.
-
-
Difficult story, but worth it
- By Maya on 08-07-20
By: Joan Didion
-
Evil Has a Name
- The Untold Story of the Golden State Killer Investigation
- By: Paul Holes, Jim Clemente, Peter McDonnell
- Narrated by: Paul Holes, Jim Clemente
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For his victims, for their families and for the investigators tasked with finding him, the senselessness and brutality of the Golden State Killer's acts were matched only by the powerlessness they felt at failing to uncover his identity. Then, on April 24, 2018, authorities arrested 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo at his home in Citrus Heights, Calif., based on DNA evidence linked to the crimes. Amazingly, it seemed, evil finally had a name. Please note: This work contains descriptions of violent crime and sexual assault and may not be suitable for all listeners.
-
-
Much respect for the Victims and the Families
- By Amazon Customer on 11-16-18
By: Paul Holes, and others
-
A Land So Strange
- The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca
- By: Andres Resendez
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the 300 men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived - three Spaniards and an African slave.
-
-
A worthwhile listen
- By Blake on 07-10-13
By: Andres Resendez
-
Memories, Dreams, Reflections
- By: Carl Jung
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1957, four years before his death, Carl Gustav Jung, psychiatrist and psychologist, began writing his life story. But what started as an exercise in autobiography soon morphed into an altogether more profound undertaking.
-
-
Dr. Jung's Life Would Make A Good Movie
- By M. Clarke on 05-17-16
By: Carl Jung
-
Chase Darkness with Me
- How One True Crime Writer Started Solving Murders
- By: Billy Jensen, Karen Kilgariff - foreword
- Narrated by: Karen Kilgariff, Billy Jensen
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Chase Darkness with Me, you’ll ride shotgun as journalist Billy Jensen identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You’ll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle’s pursuit of the Golden State Killer which is chronicled in I’ll Be Gone In The Dark which Billy helped finish after Michelle’s passing, and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown 4 family.
-
-
COULD NOT STOP
- By KK on 04-14-19
By: Billy Jensen, and others