Author: Katie MacBride

Back-to-School Audiobooks

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date September 20, 2017

Hey there, audiobook lovers!

I love summer as much as the next gal but early fall always inspires a little school-related nostalgia. This year it’s particularly intense, as I just visited my alma mater (Oberlin College! woo woo!!) for the first time since my graduation ten years ago. I wandered through Tappan Square, browsed books and school supplies at the Oberlin College Bookstore, and felt very, very old. So this week, we’ve got a list of books set at college or boarding school. These are just a few of my favorites but if you’ve got additional suggestions, hit me up on Twitter and tell me what to read (or listen to!) next.

Free Audiobooks!

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date September 14, 2017

Hey there, audiobook fans,

I love free and/or heavily discounted things. Love love love them. So much, in fact, that an ex-boyfriend used to call me “Bargain Bin MacBride” because if I see something that’s free, odds are I’m coming home with it. (You got a bunch of ugly refrigerator magnets at some work conference? Yes, I would love to take those off your hands.) Perhaps it makes sense that I gravitated towards a career in libraries–-they’re the OG free factory. (Yeah, ultimately you have to return stuff, but it’s still mostly free!). So this week, I thought it might be nice to review all the ways you can get your hands on (ears on?) free audiobooks.

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio.

Listen to your book club’s next pick. Visit TryAudiobooks.com/bookclub for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of The Knockoff!

With fall ramping up, it’s back to juggling busy school and work schedules with social engagements like date nights, yoga with friends, and book club. Luckily, you can listen to your book club’s next pick so you can stay on top of it all.

First up: Your public library:

Most libraries I have encountered use Overdrive. Overdrive’s platform is pretty straightforward, you just download the app or go to the website and create an account using your public library card. After that, you can download to your heart’s content (or, to whatever your library’s limit is—I think my library has a limit of 10.)

Hoopla is another service your library might be able to hook you up with—it’s a streaming service, so you’ll won’t actually be downloading the books, but if you’ve got an internet connection in your home or office or other boring places where you’d benefit from some story time, it’s definitely worth seeing if your library has access to Hoopla. (Hoopla also offers streaming music and movies, so if your library does subscribe, you’ll have endless hours of entertainment at your disposal.)

Librivox: Librivox is awesome because it offers free audiobooks that are in the public domain, all read by volunteers. It’s kind of like a giant, digital web of audiobook lovers reading their favorite books to each other. Want to volunteer to read one of your favorite books?

Audiobooky websites

Mind Webs is an awesome site that provides “perfectly-executed, haunting old-time radio dramatization of over 150 of the most classic science fiction short stories.” Rioter Nikki wrote about it in this post, and I am so glad she did.

Open Culture: Open Culture is a great site to find audiobooks of the classics and often really neat recordings of authors reading their own work or actors reading famous works of literature. For example, you can listen to Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” read by Christopher Walken and/or James Earl Jones. There are plenty of complete audiobooks to choose from, but I’m also very partial to the author-read short stories they have as well. In general, Open Culture is a hub of interesting and informative delights. I subscribe to the newsletter and it’s lovely to not just wake up to BREAKING NEWS: THE WORLD IS 10 SECONDS AWAY FROM ENDING emails, but also have a “hey The Getty just added 77000 images to its open content archive” email. You know, something to look at before we all go up in flames.

Scribl (formerly known as Podiobooks):

Podiobooks has merged with Scribl. You can still get free audiobook content in a serialized (podcast) form (you just have to put up with some ads) as well as ad-free audiobooks you can purchase, based on their crowd pricing system. Here’s the coolest part: every audiobook you purchase comes with the free ebook edition. DREAMS COME TRUE.

If none of the above strike your fancy, check out Rioter Ashley’s post about everything audiobook app-related. She talks about free and subscription services, so you’re almost guaranteed to find one that works for you. (If I am wrong and you still haven’t found an audiobook delivery method that works for you, you can tweet mean things at me at @msmacb).

New Release of the Week (publisher description in quotes)

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

So I didn’t just pick this because I happen to be visiting Cleveland at the moment and the book is set in Shaker Heights, but that does add to the fun of listening to it right now. But I was interested in this title because Ng’s previous book, Everything I Never Told You, was such a powerful debut. Ng explores similar themes of family and identity here: Mia, a single mother, and her daughter move to the quiet Cleveland suburb. Mia rents a room from Elena Richardson, a steadfast rule follower.

“When old family friends of the Richardson’s attempt to adopt a Chinese American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town – and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.”

Links for Your Ears:

Netflix Hack Day Creates Audiobook Version

Apparently Netflix has a “hack” day where the employees “take a break from everyday work, have fun, experiment with new technologies, and collaborate with new people.” Some genius (I’m not being sarcastic) came up with the idea for an “audiobooks” feature, in which one could click icon while watching a show on Netflix and get narration, as though one is listening to an audiobook of their favorite show. There’s a demo here.

I CANNOT OVERSTATE HOW BADLY I WANT THIS TO BE REAL. It likely never will be, for a million logistical reasons but oh man, I want audiobook Netflix!

Rosario Dawson narrates audiobook for The Martian follow-up Artemis

Count me in.

Kobo takes on Audible with its own audiobook subscription service.

via GIPHY

Until next week!

~Katie

Audiobooks

Audiobooks for People Who Believe in Science

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date September 6, 2017

The devastation climate change can bring shouldn’t be any surprise by now. The pictures of what Harvey did to Houston are heartbreaking and by the time y’all get this, Irma will have made landfall over Florida. Unfortunately, certain individuals (pretend to) believe that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese government (how powerful that government must be! What with the ability to direct hurricanes and all). So this week, we’re taking an educational perspective. Here are a few books about climate change based on, you know, science.

Badass Women in Politics

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date August 30, 2017

Hello audiobook friends!

Last week was *very* exciting for me. WHY, you ask? Because two excerpts of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s new audiobook, What Happened, (WHICH SHE NARRATES) were released. I have been an HRC superfan for a very, very long time. (I get it, not everyone agrees with me, I don’t wanna fight, I just want to say HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THIS BOOK). If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the excerpts, you can do that here.

Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Help your children keep up with their reading by listening to audiobooks. Visit TryAudiobooks.com/Family-Travel for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of MY FATHER’s DRAGON!

In the meantime, I’ve put together a list of badass women politicians. (No, I don’t agree with all of these women on everything, but they’re all accomplished and impressive, all the more so because of the heavily male political scene).

There are several women I wanted to include on this list, but their books don’t have audio versions. Specifically, Shirley Chisholm, Kamala Harris, and Cynthia McKinney. All of these successful Black women have books that haven’t made it to audio. Perhaps that needs to change, like, yesterday.

Awesome Women Politician Book List

(*Publishers’ description in quotes)

Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright

The first woman secretary of state takes the reader from “from the Bohemian capital’s thousand-year-old castle to the bomb shelters of London, from the desolate prison ghetto of TerezÍn to the highest councils of European and American government.” Through her memories of her family and childhood, Albright tells a story of grave struggles and fierce perseverance.

Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House by Donna Brazile

This is kind of mean of me because this book won’t be out until November 7th. But damn if I am not dying to read it. Not just because Brazile herself was a casualty of the DNC email hack but also because she’s a brilliant political mind.

It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton

The OG HRC book. Clinton has long been an advocate for children, specifically in the areas of healthcare and education. From the publisher: “Her long experience has strengthened her conviction that how children develop and what they need to succeed are inextricably entwined with the society in which they live and how well it sustains and supports its families and individuals. In other words, it takes a village to raise a child.” Not from the publisher, from Katie, “Love you forever Hillz! If you’re looking for a best friend I *am* available.”

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Technically Supreme Court justices aren’t politicians, but they exist in the political realm and there are a couple of badass justices I’m just not going to leave off of the list. RBG is the very top of that list. Even if I didn’t personally admire her (which I do), her story is really impressive. Additionally, if you want some short but informative background info on RBG, check out this episode of the Baby Geniuses podcast. It features comedian Guy Branum, who gives an entertaining summary of Ginsburg’s’ rise to Supreme Court Justice-hood.

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

The third woman appointed to the Supreme Court (and the first Hispanic person) she “recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.” Winner of several Audie awards, My Beloved World is narrated by the great Rita Moreno.

Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court by Sandra Day O’Connor

This was a really excellent listen–-for precisely the same reason I was hesitant to listen to it. Sandra Day O’Connor’s name has always been synonymous with “deciding vote in Bush v. Gore” in my mind. The decision process (and her thoughts about it some 10 years after the fact) was fascinating to hear. Though the other stories O’Connor recounts are less controversial than Bush v. Gore, the whole book is worth a listen if you are a politics and law nerd.

Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom by Condoleezza Rice

Unlike many of the other books on this list, this title is more about politics than it is about the politician. Rice explores the various struggles for democracy across the globe and draws on her experience as a policymaker when offering her insights.

Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt by Eleanor Roosevelt

You know, Eleanor Roosevelt…of every inspirational quote ever? An advocate for human rights and those in need, Roosevelt had a distinguished legacy during her husband’s life and after. Following her husband’s death, “she became a U.N. Delegate, chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, a newspaper columnist, Democratic party activist, world-traveler, and diplomat devoted to the ideas of liberty and human rights.”

This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America’s Middle Class by Elizabeth Warren

The fact that Warren spent years writing and lecturing persuasively as a professor might have something to with how well researched and articulate this book is. Warren describes how the middle class flourished in the wake of the New Deal and began to shrink during the Reagan years. “Now, with the election of Donald Trump–a con artist who promised to drain the swamp of special interests and then surrounded himself with billionaires and lobbyists–the middle class is being pushed ever closer to collapse.”

New Release of the Week

How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb

This book sounds excellent but even if it didn’t, all I would have to tell you is J.K Rowling said the following, “Quite simply brilliant. I (genuinely) cried. I (genuinely) laughed out loud. It’s profound, touching, personal yet universal. I loved it.” and you’d be sold, right? Me too. Here’s what the publisher said, “Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert Webb considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of life. Hilarious and heartbreaking, How Not to Be a Boy explores the relationships that made Robert who he is as a man, the lessons we learn as sons and daughters, and the understanding that sometimes you aren’t the Luke Skywalker of your life – you’re actually Darth Vader.”

Links for Your Ears from Book Riot:

How Audiobooks Made Me Appreciate Nonfiction

One reader was skeptical about audiobooks until she tried listening to nonfiction. (I definitely relate to this. I’ve always enjoyed both fiction and nonfiction on audio but I realized how much more information I retain when I listen to NF on audio as opposed to reading it.)

The 25 Best Children’s Audiobooks

Looking for audiobooks for kids? Look no further than this list of 25 of the best children’s audiobooks out there, including classic and contemporary books!

Thoughts? Feelings? Hit me up on Twitter at msmacb.

Until next week,

~Katie

Audiobooks

Boo White Nationalism!

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date August 23, 2017

Hello audiobook lovers, how’s your week going? Last week, I was still reeling from the tragedy in Charlottesville and subsequent appalling, dangerous rhetoric from that guy who had a really small crowd at his inauguration. So this week I did what I always do when I’m feeling angry and sad: I turned to books. Because, despite what those khaki wearing, tiki torch wielding, hate spouting individuals were shouting, there’s ample textual evidence that reflects the inherent cruelty and racism of white nationalist movements. So this week, I’m giving y’all a list of books I call BOO WHITE NATIONALISM!

Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Help your children keep up with their reading by listening to audiobooks. Visit TryAudiobooks.com/Family-Travel for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of MY FATHER’s DRAGON!

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

I’ve often spoken about this book and how it’s one of the titles that has a permanent place in my collection. This short book, written as a letter to his son, is an incisive commentary on race in America and how it’s been used to enslave, exploit, and marginalize black Americans. It’s painful but essential reading (and listening).

Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America by Patrick Phillips

I love when authors narrate their own audiobooks *if* they can pull it off. Phillips’ book is a winner, both in terms of content and his narration. National Book Award finalist Patrick Phillips’ book centers around Georgia in 1912, when “three young black laborers were accused of raping and murdering a white girl. One man was dragged from a jail cell and lynched on the town square, two teenagers were hung after a one-day trial, and soon bands of white ‘night riders’ launched a coordinated campaign of arson and terror, driving all 1,098 black citizens out of the county.” Phillips weaves this into his own memories of growing up in the 1970s and ’80s and the history of racialized violence that endures in the United States.

A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes

I’ve long been a fan of Chris Hayes’ show on MSNBC but I was still skeptical about the idea of a white cable news host penning a book about race relations in the U.S. Maybe that makes me a jerk, I don’t know. I do know that my skepticism was unwarranted. The short book is incisive, well-researched, and thought provoking. Hayes sounds just as comfortable in the recording booth as he is in front of a camera; his narration of the book is excellent.

The Diary of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Because it’s 2017 and Nazis are still a thing. Selma Blair narrates (!).

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Honestly, this book is a must-read (or listen) no matter what the list. Starr Carter is 16 years old and bounces back and forth between two worlds: the poor neighborhood she’s lived her whole life, and the fancy prep school she attends during the day. She’s managed to keep her two worlds separate from each other, but that changes after her best friend from childhood is shot and killed by a police officer. Starr is the only witness to the shooting. This book appropriately has rave reviews from pretty much everyone who has read it. I read the print version but I’ve heard excellent things about the audiobook and might listen to it because the book is just that good (and sadly, just that relevant).

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Alexander describes how the legacy of the Jim Crow era is perpetuated in our current criminal justice system. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the U.S.A.’s penal system and the notion of a “post-racial” era of colorblindness is more rhetoric than reality. A difficult, but important listen.

They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery

Washington Post reporter Lowery travels to neighborhoods and communities which have been disproportionately impacted by racially biased policing. He looks at the communities as a whole–-how they’ve have been neglected in so many crucial ways and suffered enormous tragedy as a result.

They Called Themselves the KKK: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Combing through oral histories, Congressional reports, and news reports, Bartoletti describes how the Ku Klux Klan went from six racist dudes to one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the United States.

Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy

“The true story of two African-American brothers who were kidnapped and displayed as circus freaks, and whose mother endured a 28-year struggle to get them back.”

Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File by John Edgar Wideman

“John Edgar Wideman searches for Louis Till, a silent victim of American injustice. Wideman’s personal interaction with the story began when he learned of Emmett’s murder in 1955; Wideman was also 14 years old. After reading decades later about Louis’ execution, he couldn’t escape the twin tragedies of father and son, and tells their stories together for the first time.”

New Release of the Week

Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams

The New Release of the Week is a twofer for me: I love when comedians narrate their audiobooks, and I love books about people with tough childhoods who break a destructive cycle. Patricia Williams offers up both in her new book. One of five children being raised by an alcoholic mom, Williams was “targeted for sex by an older man when she was 12.” By the time she was fifteen, she was a mother of two. With only an eighth grade education, Williams had to learn skills that would allow her to build a life and survive. The best weapons at her disposal? Humor, and a fierce determination to build a life for herself.

Book Riot Audiobooky Post Round-up

40+ of Your Recommended Audiobooks for Kids

Got kids? Read this.

My unexpected journey to a happier life

Be still my heart! One rioter talks about how audiobooks made her a happier person

Links for Your Ears

Books Where Eclipses Loom Large

Can’t get enough of that eclipse? Audible’s got you covered.

The “rock star” of audiobooks

I just really love the idea that there’s a rock star of audiobooks.

Audiobooks

Secrets of Audible Badges, Unlocked!

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date August 16, 2017

If you’re an Audible listener, you know the little surge of joy that happens when you’re listening to an audiobook and suddenly there’s a notification that you’ve unlocked a new badge. But those badges are mysterious little buggers and it’s hard to find a description for each badge. Until now! Below, I have outlined each badge and what it takes to get it. (I’ll also pop this in a Book Riot post in the near future for reference). Huge thanks to Shelly Willis on Quora, who answered a question about Audible badges with all of this information (which is really hard to find on the actual Audible site…at least it was for me). So, thank you, Shelly!

Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Help your children keep up with their reading by listening to audiobooks. Visit TryAudiobooks.com/Family-Travel for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of MY FATHER’s DRAGON!

I’ll admit, I didn’t even know about Audible badges until someone mentioned them during the Book Riot Insiders Audiobooks chat. But as soon as I knew they existed, I wanted them all (well done, Audible marketing, well done).

If you have an Audible account, you can see which badges you have by going to the “me” tab under “more” on the bottom of your Audible app. (I don’t think you can see which badges you have by viewing your Audible account on a regular web browser, I’m pretty sure you have to use the app, but correct me if I’m wrong and I’ll mea culpa all over the next newsletter).

There are 15 total badges; within each category, you can obtain the Silver, Gold, and Diamond levels. There are cute little poems that sort of sound like Harry Potter spells when you click on each badge you DON’T have. If you click on a badge you do have, it just tells you what you did to earn that badge.

Without further ado….

Stenographer

This one is all about bookmarks. The more bookmarks you place in your Audible books, the higher level you’ll attain.

Silver: 10 Bookmarks

Gold: 40 Bookmarks
Diamond: 125 Bookmarks

Social Butterfly

The more you share your Audible achievements with your social media followers, the higher you’ll go with this badge.

Silver: shared 5x
Gold: shared 25x
Diamond: shared 100x

Audible Obsessed (Daily Dipper)

Silver: Listening every day for 7 days
Gold: Listening every day for 30 days
Diamond: Listening every day for 90 days

Weekend Warrior

Silver: 5 hours in one weekend
Gold: 10 hours in one weekend
Diamond: 24 hours in one weekend

Repeat Listener

Silver: same audio book 3x
Gold: same audio book 10x
Diamond: same audio book 20x

All Nighter (Night Owl)

Silver: listen to 4 hrs at night
Gold: listen to 6 hrs at night
Diamond: listen to 8 hrs at night

Marathoner

Silver: listening 16 hours straight
Gold: listening 18 hours straight
Diamond: listening 24 hours straight

Watchtower

Silver: look at your stats 50x
Gold: look at your stats 200x
Diamond: look at your stats 500x

High Noon

Silver: 2 hrs during lunchtime
Gold: 3 hrs during lunchtime
Diamond: 4 hrs during lunchtime

The Closer

Silver: 1 complete book start to finish
Gold: 5 complete books start to finish
Diamond: 10 books start to finish

7 day stretch

Silver: Completed 7 books in a single week
Gold: Completed 15 books in a single week
Diamond: Completed 50 books in a single week

Procrastinator

Silver: 10 unfinished books in your library
Gold: 20 unfinished books in your library
Diamond: 75 unfinished books in your library

The Stack

Silver: having 50 books in your library
Gold: having 200 books in your library
Diamond: having 500 books in your library

Mount Everest

Silver: completing a title that is 30 hours long
Gold: completing a title that is 60 hours long
Diamond: completing a title that is 78 hours long

These last two are a little confusing. I don’t have either of them so here’s what the poems say for each:

Nibbler: “Entertain several books, though none of them stay, we’ll be calling you Nibbler by the end of the day.”

Dabbler: “Nobody says your library’s diminished; it’s teeming with books! (just a few of them finished.)”

I think think Nibbler badge used to be called the Undecider. If so, here’s the criteria for the Nibbler and Dabbler badges:

Undecider (Nibbler)

Silver listen to 3 different titles in one day
Gold: listen to 15 different titles in one day
Diamond: listen to 40 different titles in one day

The Dabbler:

Silver: listening to parts of 3 different titles in one day
Gold: listening to parts of 15 different titles in one day
Diamond: listening to parts of 40 different titles in one day

New Release of the Week:

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson (narrated by Fajer Al-Kaisi)

It took Eden Robinson (author of Monkey Beach) eight years to write Son of a Trickster–-a surprising outcome for a piece that began as a 10 page short story. A trickster in her Haisla (Indigenous British Columbia) culture is a mythologised figure, also called a Wee’git.” This mythological figure, Robinson explains, is used to teach children “about protocol, or nuyum. But he teaches people this protocol by breaking all the rules.”

Son of a Trickster, as the title suggests, focuses on the teenage son of Trickster, Jared. Jared is kind of a slacker–-he smokes too much pot and drinks too much. His mom is busy dealing with her own substance abuse and mental health issues and his dad can’t be relied on to pay the bills. Still, Jared’s doing his best to keep things together for himself and his family. But with a grandmother who says he isn’t human, ravens who speak to him, and his blackouts, keeping things together is a pretty tall order.

Links for Your Ears!

Jane Austen thanks busy readers for ‘finally listening’ in audiobook campaign for Audible

I mean, some of us a) read Austen in print and/or b) listened to non-Audible audiobooks of Austen’s work but okay, I hear ya, Audible. (PUNZ!)

Why Tor Books’ first podcast drama Steal the Stars should steal your attention

Audio dramas like Welcome to NightVale aren’t exactly audiobooks but they come pretty close. If you’re looking for something to scratch the audiobook itch, Arts Technica suggests Tor’s new podcast drama.

HarperCollins is Experiencing a Huge Demand for Audiobooks

More good news for audiobooks! Not surprising at this point, but it’s always good to hear.

Hope that’s helpful, audiobook fans! As always, you can find me on Twitter @msmacb.

Until next week,

~Katie

Audiobooks

Secret Identity Audiobooks

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date August 9, 2017

Good morning, audiobook fans!

Quick reminder if you are a Book Riot Insiders subscriber–-I’ll be hosting an audiobooks chat on the Insiders Slack today and every second Thursday of the month at 1 PM (10 AM, if you’re a West Coastie like me).

Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

Help your children keep up with their reading by listening to audiobooks. Visit TryAudiobooks.com/Family-Travel for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of MY FATHER’s DRAGON!

This week is all about secret identities! Why? Cuz they’re awesome and intriguing. I’ve talked about my love of Lisa Lutz’s The Passenger in this newsletter before and one of the many reasons I love that book is because it’s so fun to watch the protagonist slip from one persona to the next. So here’s a list of books where folks have secret identities or are pretending to be someone they’re not. (For whatever reason, a lot of these are YA–-probably because I read a ton of it. But if there are other secret identity-ish books I should know about–-hit me up on twitter @msmacb!)

Secret Identities and other You’re-Not-Who-I-Thought-You -Were Books

(publisher descriptions in quotes)

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

Fictional stories about characters with secret identities are cool but what’s even cooler are these women who went undercover during the Civil War. From Bella Boyd, who became a Confederate spy after shooting a Union soldier to Elizabeth Van Lew, a rich abolitionist in Virginia who “hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring,” these women weren’t messing around. With NYT bestselling author Karen Abbott behind the wheel, you can bet this book is a pretty fun ride.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

“When Henry Day is seven years old, he is kidnapped by ageless beings called changelings, who leave another child in Henry’s place, a boy who will be his duplicate. Haunted by memories, both boys are driven to search for the keys to whom they once were before they switched places.”

Fake ID by Lamar Giles

Nick Pearson isn’t really Nick Pearson, which is kind of the point. “Nick” is in the Witness Protection Program and is supposed to be keeping a low profile. But when his new friend Eli turns up dead, Nick feels compelled to find out what really happened. And that puts Nick and his family in serious jeopardy.

Ghost Flower by Michele Jaffe

Eva’s just taken a new job at a coffee shop when she;s approached by two wealthy teens who claim Eva looks just like their missing cousin, Aurora. Eva’s a runaway with no money and Aurora apparently has a large inheritance to her name. Eva gets roped into a scheme to get the inheritance but when a ghost shows up, the situation becomes much more frightening for everyone involved.

A Study in Scarlet Women Sherry Thomas

“With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper-class society. But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London.

When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old, but in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

OK, I’m a cheater. But this book is so good and kind of works for the subject. The first surprise single mother and lawyer Kate Baron received was when her teenage daughter’s private school called to tell her Amelia had been caught cheating. Upon arriving at the school, Kate was informed of something far worse: her daughter had committed suicide by jumping off the top of a school building. Shocked and grief-stricken, Kate receives a text message with just three words: “She didn’t jump.” Through emails, texts, and social media, Kate struggles to figure out who her daughter really was and why she ended her life. I started by reading the print book and then got my hands on the audio when I couldn’t bear to leave the story on my commute.

Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra

Similar to Ghost Flower, Only Daughter is about a young woman who assumes a missing girl’s identity. The imposter in Only Daughter does it to escape her desperate situation and likely incarceration. She pretends to be Bec, a girl who went missing 11 years early, to whom she bears a striking resemblance. The point of view switches back and forth between 11 years prior, just before she went missing, and the imposter’s present day account. Unfortunately for the imposter (whose name is never revealed), Bec went missing for a reason. And that reason isn’t real excited about her being “back.”

Hush by Jacqueline Woodson

The inimitable Jacqueline Woodson followed up Miracle Boys with this 2002 novel about Evie Thomas. Evie “used to live in a beautiful house with a breathtaking view of the mountains. She felt happy and safe with her policeman father, her schoolteacher mother and her popular cheerleading older sister. Her name used to Toswiah Green.” But then her family ends up in the witness protection program and they have to flip their lives upside down into the unknown.

New Release of the Week:

Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope by John Saunders

I don’t know much sports/football, but I do know about mental illness. And I know that it’s pretty rare for a “leading figure the sports world” to talk about their constant battle with depression. In Playing Hurt, that’s what the longtime ESPN commentator does in this book. He talks about the root causes of his depression, including an abusive father. He talks honestly about his various treatments for the illness as well as how it impacted his relationships. Unfortunately, Saunders died (of natural causes) before the book’s publication but one hopes his message of reducing the stigma about mental illness will spread far and wide.

Book Riot Audiobooks Round-up:

LEARNING TO LISTEN: TIPS TO HELP YOU GET INTO AUDIOBOOKS

Rioter Carina shares how she got into audiobooks after being a skeptic.

A NEW KIND OF BESTSELLER: WE ARE LEGION (WE ARE BOB)

Can Audible determine a book’s success?

Links For Your Ears:

Great Rexpectations: Audible sells audiobooks to dogs

I can attest to the fact that my dog completely mellows out when I have audiobooks going on in the background. I’ve listened to Harry Potter in the car so much that I think my dog has a Pavolvian response to Jim Dale’s voice and just falls asleep as soon as she hears it. (Shameless insertion of a picture of my dog, Sally, isn’t she the cutest in the whole world?)

Why most books need to be rewritten for audio

Huh. A’ight.

Until next week!

~Katie

Audiobooks

Celebrating Trans Voices (Literally! Because Audiobooks!)

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date August 2, 2017

Happy Thursday, audiobook lovers!

This week is all about celebrating the great works of trans and gender non-conforming authors! See, some folks in positions of power (*rhymes with Dump*) seem to think that trans people aren’t, like actual people? I don’t know. Because it doesn’t make any sense. Instead of trying to rationalize bigotry, let’s celebrate trans voices!

Southwestern Audiobooks Part 2: The Return Trip

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date July 26, 2017

Ahoy, Audiobook fans!

I’m back back in Cali Cali, with the rest of my list of Southwestern audiobooks.

Here are books from the states I visited on the way back from Oklahoma to California (If there’s a duplicate state it’s because I stopped there on the California to Oklahoma stretch as well as the journey from OK-CA).

Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

The summer months are a great time for road trips with the whole family, but the car ride can get old…quick. Listen to an audiobook the whole family can enjoy and your destination will arrive in no time! Visit TryAudiobooks.com/Family-Travel for suggested listens and for a free audiobook download of MY FATHER’s DRAGON!

New Mexico Redux:

Death Comes From the Archbishop by Willa Cather

“Willa Cather’s story of the missionary priest Father Jean Marie Latour and his work of faith in the wilderness of the Southwest is told with a spare but sensuous directness and profound artistry. When Latour arrives in 1851 in the territory of New Mexico, newly acquired by the United States, what he finds is a vast desert region of red hills and tortured arroyos that is American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. Over the next four decades, Latour works gently and tirelessly to spread his faith and to build a soaring cathedral out of the local golden rock—while contending with unforgiving terrain, derelict and sometimes rebellious priests, and his own loneliness.

Death Comes From the Archbishop shares a limitless, craggy beauty with the New Mexico landscape of desert, mountain, and canyon in which its central action takes place, and its evocations of that landscape and those who are drawn to it suggest why Cather is acknowledged without question as the most poetically exact chronicler of the American frontier.”

Colorado:

Our Souls at Night by Ken Haruf

I actually listened to this book on a different road trip and never paid much attention to the fact that it took place in Colorado. I wasn’t thinking much about the setting because the story is sweet and moving and, frankly, not the kind of thing I usually read. From the publisher, “In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf’s inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis’s wife. His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Their brave adventures – their pleasures and their difficulties – are hugely involving and truly resonant, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer’s enduring contribution to American literature.”

Utah:

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Apologies, Utah, I know this book is not representative of your entire state and I don’t mean to imply otherwise. But this book does take place in Utah, and it’s a fascinating story. Krakauer is a talented investigative reporter who tells the story of the Lafferty brothers, who committed a double murder and claimed they were ordered to do so by God. The story doesn’t stop there, however, and Krakauer “constructs a multilayered narrative of polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way, he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.” Under the Banner of Heaven is vivid, disturbing as hell, and whatever the audio equivalent of a “page-turner” is.

Nevada Redux:

Dragonfish by Vu Tran

“Robert, an Oakland cop, still can’t let go of Suzy, the enigmatic Vietnamese wife who left him two years ago. Now she’s disappeared from her new husband, Sonny, a violent Vietnamese smuggler and gambler who’s blackmailing Robert into finding her for him. As he pursues her through the sleek and seamy gambling dens of Las Vegas, shadowed by Sonny’s sadistic son, ‘Junior,’ and assisted by unexpected and reluctant allies, Robert learns more about his ex-wife than he ever did during their marriage. He finds himself chasing the ghosts of her past, one that reaches back to a refugee camp in Malaysia after the fall of Saigon, as his investigation soon uncovers the existence of an elusive packet of her secret letters to someone she left behind long ago. Although Robert starts illuminating the dark corners of Suzy’s life, the legacy of her sins threatens to immolate them all.”

New Books:

Ghost Country by Sara Paretsky

“Ghost Country is a powerful, haunting novel of magic and miracles, of four troubled people who meet beneath Chicago’s shadowy streets – and of the woman whose mysterious appearance changes all of their lives forever.

They come from different worlds and meet at a time of crisis for all of them. Luisa, a drunken diva fallen on hard times, discovers on Chicago’s streets a drama greater than any she has experienced onstage. Madeleine, a homeless woman, sees the Virgin Mary’s blood seeping through a concrete wall beneath a luxury hotel. Mara, a rebellious adolescent cast out by her wealthy grandfather, becomes the catalyst for a war between the haves and have-nots as she searches among society’s castoffs for the mother she never knew.

As the three women fight for their right to live and worship beneath the hotel, they find an ally in Hector Tammuz, an idealistic young psychiatrist risking his career to treat the homeless regardless of the cost. Tensions in the city are escalating when a mysterious woman appears during a violent storm. Erotic to some, repellent to others, she never speaks; the street people call her Starr. And as she slowly transforms their lives, miracles begin to happen in a city completely unprepared for the outcome.”

Beast: Werewolves, Serial Killers, and Man-Eaters: The Mystery of the Monsters of the Gévaudan by Gustavo Sanchez Romero

“Something unimaginable occurred from 1764 to 1767 in the remote highlands of south-central France. For three years, a real-life monster, or monsters, ravaged the region, slaughtering by some accounts more than 100 people, mostly women and children, and inflicting severe injuries upon many others. Alarmed rural communities – and their economies – were virtually held hostage by the marauder, and local officials and Louis XV deployed dragoons and crack wolf hunters from far-off Normandy and the King’s own court to destroy the menace. And with the creature’s reign of terror occurring at the advent of the modern newspaper, it can be said the ferocious attacks in the Gévaudan region were one of the world’s first media sensations.

Despite extensive historical documentation about this awesome predator, no one seemed to know exactly what it was. Theories abounded: Was it an exotic animal, such as a hyena, that had escaped from a menagerie? A werewolf? A wolf-dog hybrid? A new species? Some kind of conspiracy? Or, as was proposed by the local bishop, was it a scourge of God? To this day, debates on the true nature of La Bête, “The Beast,” continue.

Beast takes a fascinating look at all the evidence, using a mix of history and modern biology to advance a theory that could solve one of the most bizarre and unexplained killing sprees of all time: France’s infamous Beast of the Gévaudan.”

Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health, and Society by A. Breeze Harper

“Sistah Vegan is a series of narratives, critical essays, poems, and reflections from a diverse community of North American black-identified vegans. Collectively, these activists are de-colonizing their bodies and minds via whole-foods veganism. By kicking junk-food habits, the more than 30 contributors all show the way toward longer, stronger, and healthier lives. Suffering from type-2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and overweight need not be the way women of color are doomed to be victimized and live out their mature lives. There are healthy alternatives. Sistah Vegan is not about preaching veganism or vegan fundamentalism. Rather, the book is about how a group of black-identified female vegans perceive nutrition, food, ecological sustainability, health and healing, animal rights, parenting, social justice, spirituality, hair care, race, gender identification, womanism, and liberation that all go against the (refined and bleached) grain of our dysfunctional society.”

Links for Your Ears:

One of Book Riot’s fearless leaders, Amanda, talks about her love of a good audio thriller and lists ten of her favorite titles here. 10 EXCELLENT MYSTERY/THRILLERS ON AUDIO. (I’ve already added all the ones I haven’t read to my list).

Comic book nerds rejoice! Stan Lee Lends His Voice to New Superhero Audiobook Project.

AudioFile Magazine spoke to Thérèse Plummer about her narration of Kevin Wilson’s Perfect Little World: Behind the Mic: Perfect Little World.

Until next week, listeners,

~Katie

@msmacb

Audiobooks

Audiobooks To Listen to on a Southwestern Road Trip!

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date July 19, 2017

Hello from beautiful Colorado, audiobooky friends,

This road trip has been quite the experience. I’ve driven through some of the most beautiful parts of the country and, honestly, I’m enamored. Well, I’m not enamored with the BUDBUGS that attacked me in a hotel in Santa Fe. Those little shits can suck it. (Please do not tweet your bedbug horror stories at me. I’m so paranoid about bringing them home. I’ve done all the things I’m supposed to do but I’m still scared. You may, however, tweet me reassuring pictures of puppies at any time. Also, you may tweet me other kinds of reassuring stories. Like, say, you went on a road trip once and then you slept in a bed-buggy bed and then everyone told you that you were definitely going to bring bedbugs home with you BUT YOU DIDN’T, feel free to tweet that story at me. Cuz I need it.)

Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

BUT I’m trying to focus on the positive. And I have seen some truly beautiful places in the southwest. So for this week’s newsletter, I’m doing something a little different. I’m going to pick one book from each state I visited on the way to Oklahoma, and next week I’ll pick a book from each state on the way back.

What prompted this, aside from the beauty of the state I have traveled through, is a new (print) book purchase I made in New Mexico: Mary Miller’s new collection of short stories, Always Happy Hour. Which reminded me how much I enjoyed my first exposure to Mary Miller, which was the audio version of The Last Days of California. So without further ado:

California:

The Last Days of California by Mary Miller

This story about a 15-year-old girl with evangelical parents, a secretly pregnant sister and a road trip in anticipation of the End Days isn’t YA, but it accomplishes what all good novels about teenagers should: it makes you remember being 15. It makes you remember that strange space where you’re trying to understand the big, incomprehensible things adults do and the realizations that happen once you figure out adults are pretty much as clueless as anyone else. More than anything, though, it is a story of a family–-one that loves each other but is complicated and confused, just trying to make it through to the end of their journey.

Nevada:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

I challenge you to drive through the Nevada desert and not think about at least a few of the hallucinogenic scenes from Thompson’s classic novel. Via the publisher: “In Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, Raoul Duke (Thompson) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (inspired by a friend of Thompson) are quickly diverted to search for the American dream. Their quest is fueled by nearly every drug imaginable and quickly becomes a surreal experience that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. But there is more to this hilarious tale than reckless behavior, for underneath the hallucinogenic facade is a stinging criticism of American greed and consumerism.”

Arizona:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

I read this book Freshman year of high school and I fell in love with Kingsolver’s rich prose.

“Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity of putting down roots.”

New Mexico:

The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob

I haven’t listened to this one personally but it comes highly recommended by Rioter Jess and it’s read by the author (something Jess noted the author does very well). Here’s what the publisher had to say:

“Celebrated brain surgeon Thomas Eapen has been sitting on his porch, talking to dead relatives. At least that is the story his wife, Kamala, prone to exaggeration, tells their daughter, Amina, a photographer living in Seattle.

Reluctantly, Amina returns home and finds a situation that is far more complicated than her mother let on, with roots in a trip the family, including Amina’s rebellious brother Akhil, took to India 20 years earlier. Confronted by Thomas’s unwillingness to explain himself, strange looks from the hospital staff, and a series of puzzling items buried in her mother’s garden, Amina soon realizes that the only way she can help her father is by coming to terms with her family’s painful past. In doing so, she must reckon with the ghosts that haunt all of the Eapens.”

Oklahoma:

Paradise by Toni Morrison

It was harder to find an Oklahoma-based book, so this is an official call out to share any OK-based books you think are great. And you can’t go wrong with Toni Morrison in the meantime. This is an abridged version of the book (boo!) but it’s read by Toni Morrison (yay!) so maybe it evens out? “In Paradise, Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of ‘the one all-black town worth the pain’, assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town’s ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void ‘Out There…where random and organized evil erupted when and where it chose.’”

New Books:

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing by Jen Waite

“What do you do when you discover that the person you’ve built your life around never existed? When “it could never happen to me” does happen to you?

These are the questions facing Jen Waite when she begins to realize that her loving husband – the father of her infant daughter, her best friend, the love of her life – fits the textbook definition of psychopath. In a raw, first-person account, Waite recounts each heartbreaking discovery, every life-destroying lie, and reveals what happens once the dust finally settles on her demolished marriage.

After a disturbing email sparks Waite’s suspicion that her husband is having an affair, she tries to uncover the truth and rebuild trust in her marriage. Instead, she finds more lies, infidelity, and betrayal than she could have imagined. Waite obsessively analyzes her relationship, trying to find a single moment from the last five years that isn’t part of the long con of lies and manipulation. With a dual time line narrative structure, we see Waite’s romance bud, bloom, and wither simultaneously, making the heartbreak and disbelief even more affecting.”

Collared by David Rosenfelt:

A MYSTERY IN WHICH RESCUE DOGS ARE SAVED?! SIGN ME UP (unless something terrible happens to the rescue dogs, in which case I will have nothing to do with this book).

“Lawyer Andy Carpenter’s true passion is the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization he runs with his friend Willie Miller. All kinds of dogs make their way to the foundation, and it isn’t that surprising to find a dog abandoned at the shelter one morning, though it was accompanied by a mysterious anonymous note. But they are quite surprised when they scan the dog’s embedded chip and discover that they know this dog. He is the “DNA dog”.

Two and a half years ago, Jill Hickman was a single mother of an adopted baby. Her baby and dog were kidnapped in broad daylight in Eastside Park, and they haven’t been seen since. A tip came in that ID’d a former boyfriend of Hickman’s, Keith Wachtel, as the kidnapper. A search of his house showed no sign of the child but did uncover more incriminating evidence, and the clincher that generated Wachtel’s arrest was some dog hair, notable since Wachtel did not have a dog. DNA tests showed conclusively that the hair belonged to Hickman’s dog. Wachtel was convicted of kidnapping, but the dog and baby were never found.

Now, with the reappearance of the dog, the case is brought back to light and the search for the child renewed. Goaded by his wife’s desire to help a friend and fellow mother and Andy’s desire to make sure the real kidnapper is in jail, Andy and his team enter the case. But what they start to uncover is far more complicated and dangerous than they ever expected.”