Sponsored by audiobook edition of The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, read by Richard Armitage.
Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable. One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now, it’s home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen’s legacy threatened, a group comes together to preserve both Jane Austen’s home and her legacy. The audiobook is read by the award-winning narrator, Richard Armitage, and includes a bonus interview with the author.
Hola Audiophiles,
I don’t have it in me to be funny in any way today. This moment in time feels so heavy, so exhausting. Every statement I can think of to describe what I can only imagine the Black community is feeling feels trite and inadequate. So I will just say that Black lives matter and flood your ears with new releases by Black authors and antiracism reads that examine the history and effects of racism and white supremacy.
Let’s audio.
New Releases – June 2nd (publisher descriptions in quotes)
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, read by Jordan Cobb, A. J. Beckles (fantasy) – When Malik and his sisters flee their war-torn home to start a new life in Ziran, a vengeful spirit abducts his youngest sister as payment to enter the prosperous desert city. Malik agrees to kill Crown Princess Karina in exchange for Nadia’s freedom. Princess Karina is busy using ancient magic to resurrect her assassinated mother and needs the beating heart of a king to complete the ritual. She plans to offer her hand in marriage to the victor of a giant competition that Malik, of course, has entered to get close to her. So he wants to kill her, she wants to kill him. Problem! They’re each super attracted to the person they’re trying to kill.
Narrator Note: Jordan Cobb read with Bahni Turpin for Justina Ireland’s Deathless Divide, and this is A.J. Beckles’ audiobook debut!
The Dragons, the Giant, the Women by Wayétu Moore, read by Tovah Ott (memoir) – Wayétu Moore was five years old when war broke out in Liberia, forcing her and her family to flee their home on foot and hide for weeks before arriving at the village of Lai. From there, the family was smuggled into to Sierra Leone by a rebel soldier before embarking on another harrowing journey to the United States. Wayétu Moore shares this experience along with her years adjusting to life in Texas as a black woman and an immigrant, and her eventual return to Liberia.
Narrator Note: Tovah Ott is another newish narrator who I want to read me sleep stories. Check the sample to see what I’m talking about; I hope we get lots more work from her in the future!
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, read by Shayna Small (fiction) – In this multi-generational story that takes up from the Deep South to California from the 50s to the 90s, we meet identical twin sisters who are inseparable at birth but go on to lead entirely different lives. One sister eventually goes on to live with her Black daughter in that same town she tried to escape, and the other is passing as white and married to a white man who has no idea that she is Black.They’re separated by many miles and many lies, but their fates intertwine again when their daughters’ own storylines intersect.
Narrator Note: Shayna Small is part of the phenomenal ensemble casts for books like Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone and N.K. Jemisin’s How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, read by Alaska Jackson (YA contemporary fiction) – Liz has always felt too black, too poor, too awkward for her small, rich Midwestern town. But she has a plan that will get her the heck out of Campbell, Indiana: she’ll attend an uber-elite college, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor. Bye, haters! When the financial aid she was counting on falls through and her plans come crashing down, Liz remembers her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. If she can just endure the trolling and cattiness of the competition, she might still have a shot. But Mack is also in the running for queen, the new girl that Liz is increasingly drawn to. “Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams…or make them come true?”
Narrator Note: I believe this is Alaska Jackson’s first audiobook performance as well! Love all the new narrator energy.
Latest Listens Need to Listens
Today I’m switching up the program to putting the focus on audiobooks to read in your antiracist education and in support of Black authors (though there are a few titles by non-Black authors too). Going with a straight list format in the interest of getting more titles on the page. Lots of these are titles you’re seeing everywhere, others less so. These are listens for listening, if you feel me. Listening it the very least we can do.
Nonfiction:
How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi (the latter of which is available for free on Spotify right now).
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo & Michael Eric Dyson
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Men We Reaped and The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Blood at the Root by Patrick Phillips
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Compton Cowboys by Walter Thompson-Hernandez
The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahisi Coates
Fiction:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Nickel Boys by by Colson Whitehead
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Poetry:
Homie and Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
The Tradition Jericho Brown by Jericho Brown
Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
From the Internets
Check out Libro.fm’s How to Be an Antiracist reading list
Over at the Riot
15 Compelling Historical Fictional Audiobooks
6 of the Best Audiobooks by Women for Caribbean Heritage Month
Thanks for hanging with me today. Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with your burning book club questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the Audiobooks newsletter, catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast, and watch me ramble about even more new books every Tuesday on our YouTube channel.
Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa