Cookbooks as Audiobooks…? Yes, of course.

When I’m not creating bookish content, I’m usually cooking, reading about cooking, or watching food TV. I’ve collected cookbooks and books about food for over a decade now, filling shelves and shelves of my library. I used to pour over them, rereading my favorite sections and revisiting my favorite recipes.

But when I lost my ability to read print a couple years ago due to migraines, one of the losses that hit hardest was when I realized that most cookbooks didn’t have audiobook editions. I’ve still faithfully collected cookbooks, handing them over to visiting friends, my spouse—anyone who was around, really—to read the recipes to me.

A couple years ago, I picked up Salt Fat Acid Heat at my local indie, wandered onto my favorite audiobook app, and realized that Samin Nosrat had made an audiobook for it. I remember being in tears that this incredible, one-of-a-kind cookbook was accessible to me in the author’s own words. It felt like a miracle.

Salt Fat Acid Heat is as amazing as I’d hoped. Her prose is clear and precise, and her performance feels so warm and inviting as she reads the audiobook. Nosrat doesn’t ask you to cook like her. She comes alongside you and encourages you to make your food the best it can be. She doesn’t just show you great recipes. She teaches you HOW to cook the food that you want to eat. That’s what makes this book special. 

And I got to experience it just like everyone else, all because of audiobooks. I hope more cookbooks come out on audio in the future, because finally being able to read one again is a wonderful feeling.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers is back with a new novel, Bewilderment, that has already been longlisted for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel follows a young widower, Theo Byrne, who’s struggling to handle being a single parent to his nine-year-old son and working at his job as an astrobiologist. His son is on the verge of being expelled after pummeling a fellow student with a metal thermos. All told, it’s sure to be an interesting take on single parenthood. 

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini (Exhalation by Ted Chiang & Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter)

Three Dark Crowns author Kendare Blake introduces us to a new, fantastical version of the United States where it’s just been reported that a serial killer has been making their way across the Midwest, draining their victims of blood. Marie Catherine Hale is arrested in connection with the murders, and Michael Johnson is an aspiring journalist who is the only person to whom she says she’ll share her confession.

Narrated by Matt Godfrey (The Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2021 edited by Lee Child)

I’m obsessed with middle grade novels, and Front Desk by Kelly Yang stole the hearts of so many of us. Yang is back with Room to Dream, her latest installment of the series. This time, Mia Tang and her family are going on vacation to China! She can’t wait to see her extended family again!

Narrated by Sunny Lu (Front Desk by Kelly Yang & Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao)

Winston Barnes, a Sheriff in a small North Carolina town, discovers a crashed plane and a murdered man near the crash site. Almost as soon as he begins the investigation, the townspeople start pointing fingers. Barnes is back up for election, and his long lost daughter returns home after a devastating loss. When Ghosts Come Home is sure to be full of all of the small town-drama perfect for a Saturday afternoon listen.

Narrated by JD Jackson (The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead & A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib)

Set in a world where women can become concubine-pilots of giant robots, Iron Widow tells the story of Zetian, a 18-year-old woman who’s determined to go undercover as one of these women so she can assassinate the man who killed her sister. This wild story is sure to be a fast-paced, action story with a side of the fantastical.

Narrated by Rong Fu