Category: Audiobooks

Audiobooks 10/21

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date October 20, 2020

New Releases – Week of October 20 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

plain bad heroines by emily a danforth cover

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

You may recognize Emily M. Danforth as the author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post! Plain Bad Heroines is her adult debut, a Victorian gothic horror-comedy centered around a cursed New England boarding school for girls (you know I love me a boarding school book!). It’s a story within a story told in multiple timelines full of queer romance and Hollywood satire, and includes black-and-white period-inspired illustrations in the print version. Xe Sands was a phenomenal choice for narration: she lends that slow, haunted quality to her performances that’s so well suited for this kind of story.

Read by Xe Sands (Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, Wanderers by Chuck Wendig, The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro)

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

You know Lindy, I know Lindy. We all know and love Lindy! In her latest, West goes back to her movie critic roots to reexamine—and this part I’ve got to quote—”beloved and iconic movies from the past 40 years with an eye toward the big questions of our time: Is Twilight the horniest movie in history? Why do the zebras in The Lion King trust Mufasa – who is a lion – to look out for their best interests? Why did anyone bother making any more movies after The Fugitive achieved perfection? And, my god, why don’t any of the women in Love, Actually ever f–king talk?” I can’t wait to read this one—I’m in the mood for Lindy West’s brand of funny.

Read by the author.

Snapped by Alexa Martin

What if Colin Kaepernick had been assigned a hottie to manage him right when he took that knee, and then he fell for her and she fell for him and both love and activism prevailed? Alexa Martin allows us to imagine this very scenario with the fourth book in The Playbook series. Elliot Reed had landed her dream job as Strategic Communications Manager for the Denver Mustangs, and things are going well— that is until star quarterback Quinton Howard Jr. uses his platform to make a statement and takes a knee during the national anthem. Their initial meeting doesn’t quite go smoothly, but as they spend more time together…. ya know.

Read by Soneela Nankani (The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey, Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev) and Cary Hite (Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by Marvel Press)

Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity by Paola Ramos

Journalist and activist Paola Ramos takes us on a cross-country road trip as she explores the communities defining the controversial term Latinx. “She introduces us to the indigenous Oaxacans who rebuilt the main street in a post-industrial town in upstate New York, the ‘Las Poderosas’ who fight for reproductive rights in Texas, the musicians in Milwaukee whose beats reassure others of their belonging, as well as drag queens, environmental activists, farmworkers, and the migrants detained at our border.” I have seen so much discussion around the term Latinx, a word that’s meant to be more inclusive that has somehow caused a lot of debate within the community it’s supposed to describe. I can’t wait to dive into this exploration.

Read by the author.

Latest Listens

cover image of This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident by Adam Kay

I didn’t do much new audiobooking this weekend on account of my little vacation, but I thought of this awesome book as I was rewatching old episodes of Grey’s Anatomy while packing for said trip. Reading this was basically Grey’s Anatomy in book form if the show took place in England instead. In the US edition of his international bestseller, comedian and former medical resident Adam Kay recounts his experience as a first year doctor, and why he eventually left the profession altogether.

Some of the anecdotes he shares from his time as an OB-GYN doctor really do sound like they were dreamt up by Shonda Rhimes: working 97-hour work weeks, being exhausted out of his mind, rushing to answer a series of urgent pages and treat all kinds of cases. One moment you’re laughing hysterically at the outright hilarity of some of those patient interactions, and then ten minutes later your eyes are fogging up when you’re hit with a heartbreaking loss. It’s a very honest account of one man’s time in a profession that, while ultimately noble, comes with its fair share of devastation, one that wraps up with a call to acknowledge the work that the NHS does. If you’re in the mood for a lot of laughs plus a call to action with a lot of heart woven into the wry humor, pick this one up.

Read by the author.

From the Internets

at Audible: 4 Imaginative First-Contact Tales That Will Make You Wonder if We’re Alone in the Universe

Audiofile’s list of October Audiobook Mysteries: Ghosts, Vampires, and Viruses reminds me: I really need to pick up The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

at Libro.fm: the audiobooks booksellers are loving this month.

Over at the Riot

10 Free Audiobooks You Probably Didn’t Know Were in the Public Domain

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with all things audiobook or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.

Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks 10/15

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date October 14, 2020

The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

In a magical world reminiscent of Regency England, Beatrice Claybourn wants nothing more than to be practice magic as a profession. But in this society, women are fitted with a collar that will cut off their powers as soon as they’re wed—and wed thus must. When Beatrice locates a rare grimoire that will help grant her wish to do magic, another sorceress swoops in and take the book right out from under her. Beatrice strikes a bargain with a spirit to get the grimoire back, one that ends with her kissing the stealing sorceress’ very attractive brother. Beatrice is faced with an impossible choice: does she give into love, wed this lovely man, and in doing so safe her family from penury at the cost of her hopes and dreams? Or does she follow her heart and turn her back on everyone she loves?

Read by Moira Quirk (The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley, Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir)

The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow

I had to sneak in at least *once* witchy read, and this one comes to us from the author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January (go read that one too!). It’s 1893 in New Salem and witchcraft is a thing of the past. But when the Eastwood sisters join a group of local suffragists, they find themselves tapping into the old ways to change the course of history.

Read by Gabra Zackman (I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, Sadie by Courtney Summers, Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage)

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

This dark fantasy historical novella puts a supernatural twist on the Ku Klux Klan, as if it weren’t already scary enough! The regular ol’ awful human racists are known as “Klans,” and hiding among them are literal, actual demons known as “Ku Kluxes” who ride across the nation spewing fear and violence. Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters are on a mission to hunt those that hunt them armed with blade, bullet, and bomb. Then Maryse senses something awful brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to reach a whole new level of terror.

Read by Channie Waites (The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel Jose Older)

Latest Listens

Notes From A Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

Some know Kwame Onwuachi as a contestant on Top Chef, but there is so much more to his fascinating story. By age 27, he’d both opened and closed Shaw Bijou, one of the buzziest fine-dining establishments in America. This restaurant was the embodiment of his culinary vision. From the flavors on his menu to the lighting fixtures and the diversity of his kitchen staff, Onwuachi poured his very soul into executing every element of that vision to perfection. And just like that, it was gone.

To get to that moment in Onwuachi’s journey, he takes us back to his childhood in the Bronx where he learned to cook in his mother’s kitchen. We follow him when he’s sent to Nigeria to “earn respect,” and when he returns to the US and succumbs to the allure of the streets. Even in his lowest moments—blaming himself for his parents’ separation, enduring his father’s violent temper, dealing and spiraling in his drug use—food remains a constant. It is eventually the thing that pulls him out of his haze and redirects the course of his life as a truly talented and intuitive chef.

His food is a mouth-watering mix of familiar and inventive (do not read this while hungry), from his mother’s étouffée to his gourmet riff on steak and eggs (several recipes are included much to my delight). But it’s Onwuachi’s resilience in the face of so much adversity, some of his own creation and a lot of it systemic, that leaps off the page. He is honest with himself and us as readers about his mistakes and shortcomings while also confronting the racism pervasive in the restaurant space. You might go into the book expecting to grieve the loss of his restaurant, and you will for a moment. But you’ll also recognize that Onwuachi is the definition of hustle, that the closing of one door was indeed the opening of another.

This very candid memoir wasn’t just a breath of fresh air and an explosion of flavor, it was a state of the union of sorts regarding the culinary world’s treatment of people of color and a call for the industry to change. It’s read by Onwuachi, which you already know I’m here for; his narration was so natural, and filled with the care you just know he puts into his food.

TW: child abuse

From the Internets

Parade shares their top audiobook pics for 2020. You know I stay audio booking, and I’ve only read two of these!

BuzzFeed’s picks for horror audiobooks that will haunt you for weeks. There are a lot of these lists right now, but this one really is hot fire! I added 85% of them to my TBR.

Over at the Riot

Appalachian Audiobooks That Taught Me How to Say Goodbye

Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with with all things audiobook or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.

Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks 10/08

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date October 8, 2020

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (fiction)

If you’ve been rocking with me for a minute, you know that I only just read Practical Magic last year. I was immediately obsessed and saved Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic for this year’s October witch reading, inhaled that, and am now elbow deep in this prequel to both of those reads. Here we go way way back and learn the story of the OG Owens witch Maria, and find out what the deal really is with the Owens curse.

Read by Sutton Foster (Older: A Younger Novel by Pamela Redmond, and she’s also also the star of the Younger TV adaptation!)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (fantasy)

This book, yo! What a feat. In 1714 France, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to avoid the arranged marriage and small-town life that await her. That bargain is seemingly the answer to her prayers: she’ll live forever and on her terms—but will henceforth be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Read by Julia Whelan (Educated by Tara Westover, Beach Read by Emily Henry, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid)

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (mystery/thriller)

In a total departure from Alam’s previous work, this chilling 2020 National Book Award finalist book follows a middle-class white family on vacation in a remote part of Long Island. Their plan to relax and escape both the city and their problems is disrupted when the owners of the rental, an older Black couple, come knocking in the middle of the night after a massive blackout has left the city in the lurch. There’s no cell phone service, no updates, and the two families are forced to navigate the crisis together. But can they trust each other?

Read by Marin Ireland (Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman and my latest listen, too!)

Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas (historical mystery/thriller)

Lady Sherlock is my favorite Sherlock! In this fifth book in the Lady Sherlock series, Charlotte Holmes investigates a murder case that implicates Scotland Yard inspector Robert Treadles. I inhaled this book in two days: I’ll take any excuse to read a mystery set in Victorian England, especially when the protagonist is an empowered woman living on her terms and who never, ever turns down a slice of delicious cake.

Read by Kate Reading (A Study in Scarlet Women and the rest of the book in the Lady Sherlock series, The Witching Hour by Anne Rice)

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade (romance)

Can I get an amen for fat positive romance?? This is a rom-com set in the world of TV fanfic. April Whittier is a a scientist who writes fan fiction of her favorite show and cosplays in her free time. When she goes on an unexpected date with Marcus, the show’s star and her celebrity crush, she has no idea that he secretly posts fanfiction of his own.

Read by Isabelle Ruther (Vampire Valentine by Lynsay Sands, Another by Fiona Cole)

White Tears /Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad (nonfiction, essays)

This feels like an excellent companion read for Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism in its examination of the ways in which modern feminism movements have excluded women of color. “Discussing subjects as varied as The Hunger Games, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the viral BBQ Becky video, and 19th-century lynchings of Mexicans in the American Southwest, Ruby Hamad undertakes a new investigation of gender and race. She shows how the division between innocent White women and racialized, sexualized women of color was created and why this division is crucial to confront.” Time to do some examination.

Read by Mozhan Marnò (The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd, The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali)

Latest Listens

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

I went from never having read Alice Hoffman to fangirling her unapologetically in the course of a year. This book was added to my TBR the very day I finished Practical Magic, but something made me wait to read it until this year and it was such perfect timing.

The Rules of Magic is sandwiched between Magic Lessons and Practical Magic with a setting at the cusp of the 60s in New York. Susanna Owens has three children and it’s clear from the very beginning that they’re very, very unique. There’s headstrong and difficult Franny; shy, beautiful, romantic Jet; and Vincent, a charismatic trouble seeker. Susanna has set down rules for her children from the get-go: “No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And, most importantly, never, ever fall in love.” But when the siblings visit their aunt Isabelle for the summer in in the small Massachusetts town where she lives, they finally begin to understand the truth of who they are and the stock them come from.

I went into the book expecting fall and witchy vibes, and I got all of that in droves. I also got an enchanting, heartbreaking, and inspiring story full of fierce and complicated women, the unshakeable bonds of sisterhood (and siblinghood in general), plus that deep, deep kind of love that follows you even when you try to deny it, and of course: magic. I am diving right into Magic Lessons right away, I just must have more of this story.

As I teased earlier, this one is read by Marin Ireland. She does a phenomenal job at voicing each of the characters. She gave me chills in the quiet moments of sadness and grief, then gave me courage when she embodied the bravery and resilience of the Owens women.

From the Internets

at Audible: baseball listens to get you pumped for the World Series (Go Dodgers!)

at Audiofile: favorite male narrators reading mysteries and more (the female edition will follow), plus audiobooks set in other worlds

Libro.fm has shared a database of crowdfunding for independent bookstores. For the billionth time, this pandemic really @%#! sucks.

Over at the Riot

6 Audiobooks to Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.

Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks – 10/01

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date September 30, 2020

Sponsored by the audiobook edition of Overstated by Colin Quinn, read by the author.

In Colin Quinn’s Overstated, the comedian and star of Red State Blue State and Unconstitutional, calls us out state-by-state, from Connecticut to Hawaii. He identifies the hypocrisies inherent in what we claim to believe and what we actually do. Overstated skewers us all: red, blue, and purple. The audiobook, read by the author, is ultimately infused with the same blend of optimism and practicality that sparked the US into being.

Hola Audiophiles!

Welcome to October! It’s the spookiest month, the scariest month, and not just because it’s when yours truly was born. I don’t know about you, but I’m officially starting to read and watch all of the witch things. Mwahahaha! I love this time of year.

Ready? Let’s audio.

New Releases – Week of September 29 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, read by Anisha Dadia (YA fantasy) – In the first book of Novik’s brand new Scholomance series, El is a student at said Scholomance, a very unique magic school that’s always trying to kill its students in one way or another. There are no teachers, no holidays, and all friendships are strategic. El has one goal: to make it out of the school alive, a goal that’s complicated by all the monsters and cursed artifacts, plus the fact that everyone in the school thinks she’s an evil witch. They don’t even know about that pesky prophecy, the one that says she possesses a dark power that can level mountains and kill millions.

Narrator Note: I just finished this book and loved Anisha Dadia’s narration! She really leaned into the unlikable, bristly but ultimately well-meaning thing and nailed what I imagined El would sound like.

Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez, read by Sol Madariaga (contemporary YA) – Camila is living a double life in Rosario, Argentina. At home, she’s a model daughter and sister living under the weight of her family’s expectations, abuse, and double standards. On the field though? She’s La Furia, a powerhouse soccer player with mad skills. When her team makes it to a nationwide tournament, she gets the chance to really show off her talent. Her dream is to get a scholarship to play for a North American university, but a lot stands in her way. the boy she once loved is back in town and oh yeah, minor detail: her parents not only don’t know she plays fútbol, but would strictly forbid it if they did.

Narrator Note: Sol Madariaga also reads Romina Garber’s Lobizona, another buzzy 2020 YA release set partially in Argentina. Love to see it!

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell, read by Allyson Ryan (fiction) – Welp, this sure doesn’t help my insomnia-related anxiety! Karen Russell has dreamt up (ha) a world plagued by lethal insomnia. Trish Edgewater, whose sister Dora was one of the plague’s first victims, is a top recruiter for the Slumber Corps where she convinces people to donate their sleep to an insomniac in crisis (ummm, call me?). Slumber Corps is supposed to be at the forefront of the fight against this disease, but are they really? “When Trish is confronted by ‘Baby A,’ the first universal sleep donor, and the mysterious ‘Donor Y,’ whose horrific infectious nightmares are threatening to sweep through the precious sleep supply,” Trish’s faith in the organization is put to the test. The book even comes with a Nightmare Appendix!

Narrator Note: You know Allyson Ryan: her most recent work includes Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Long Bright River by Liz Moore.

Latest Listens

I am dead, gone, and shooketh by my latest listen. That listen is Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching and lemme tell you: believe the hype.

The thing is: it’s best enjoyed if you go in knowing as little as possible. I know I teased the plot in this very newsletter last month when it released, but picture me in a black suit donning some shades and pretend I’ve just done a Men in Black on you. Poof! Your memory is gone. Now go forth, listen, and be wowed.

What I will do is discuss the narration by Susan Dalian and Jay Aaseng. I absolutely loved both of their performances! Susan Dalian is so natural; I believed the fear and paranoia in her narration so much that I wanted to reach out and be like, “Hey friend, you okay?” She gave her characters warmth, charm, and “try me again” energy as appropriate and then turned around with the biiiiiig Karen vibes when needed, too. Jay Aeseng’s voice is rull, rull nice, and thank you sweet baby cheeses because he did not once speak in “Black voice.” Their combined performances, though they never once interacted with one another (each chapter is told from one of two character’s perspectives) somehow still conveyed such chemistry. Best of all: the tension. Oooh the tension! It takes skill to make tense moments feel real in audiobook narration and they both nailed it.

Go forth, and yell “howdy doody” at folks who are doing the most (you’ll see!).

From the Internets

Over at Get Literary: What’s That Audiobook?: Watch Your Favorite Authors Play the Audiobook Guessing Game – I love Ruth Ware sharing her deductive reasoning and Tembi Locke’s many facial expressions (relatable). That reminds me: I need to read From Scratch!

What audiobook should you read next for Hispanic Heritage Month? Libro.fm has a quiz to help you decide.

Audible rounded up audiobooks featuring unlikely heroines.

Audiofile suggests some cozy romances for fall and how glad am I that my hold on You Had Me at Hola just came in?! ALSO it must be said: 1) That yellow book you may have scrolled right past is the follow-up to Book Riot faveThe Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, and 2) pretty please and por favor: look past that… questionable cover.

Over at the Riot

You need to keep learning, I need to keep learning. Let’s all keep learning with these nonfiction audiobooks to teach us some things. I recently talked about Amanda Leduc’s Disfigured, I want to hand that book out to people on the street!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.

—Vanessa, Queen of the Pumpkin Domain

Audiobooks

Audiobooks – 09/24

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date September 24, 2020

Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin.

Condom dresses and space helmets have debuted on fashion runways. A dead body becomes the trend when a coat made of human skin saunters down fashion’s biggest stage. The body is identified as Annabelle Leigh, the teenager who famously disappeared over a decade ago from her boyfriend’s New York City mansion. This new evidence casts suspicion back on the former boyfriend, Cecil LeClaire. Now a monk, he is forced to return to his dark and absurd childhood home to clear his name. He teams up with Ava Germaine, a renegade ex-model. And together, they investigate the depraved and lawless modeling industry behind Cecil’s family fortune.

Hola Audiophiles! Portland finally got that rain we were promised and it’s been glorious to breathe clean air again. Fall is my absolute favorite and I’m digging the atmospheric weather! I am relishing the soothing sounds of rain coming in through my window.

Before we dive into new releases and such, I have to take a moment to honor Breonna Taylor. The news of that terrible decision should not have surprised me, but I really did hope this time might be different. If you’re looking for ways to help, here’s a link to the Louisville Community Bail Fund.

Ready? Let’s audio.

New Releases – Week of September 22 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall, read by Je Nie Fleming (mystery/thriller) – “Isabel Lincoln is gone. But is she missing? It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family.” I’ve waited far too long to read Rachel Howzell Hall, going to have to remedy that very soon!

Narrator Note: Didn’t I *just* say that Je Nie Fleming is a narrator I want to get to know more after reading and loving The Boyfriend Project? The universe is listening. That sample sounds so good!

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, read by Marisa Calin (YA mystery/thriller) – I only just read my first Garth nix this year (Sabriel, it was so good!) and immediately placed this new book on my TBR when I was done. In an alternate 1983 London, Susan Arkshaw is searching for father, a man she’s never met. She thinks a local crime boss might have the answers she needs, but before she can get any info out of him, she’s turned to dust by a young left-handed bookseller named Merlin. That’s right, the booksellers of London don’t just sell books: they’re also magical beings who protect the Old World magic ways! Booksellers Merlin and Vivien happen to be looking for the person responsible for their mother’s murder, and it turns out their search overlaps with Susan’s.

Narrator Note: Marisa Calin’s audiobooks include Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller, The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, and the Shadow Chronicles series by Paula Brackston.

Miss Meteor by Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia, read by Kyla Garcia, Almarie Guerra (YA science fiction/fantasy) – Lita Perez wants to enter the Miss Meteor beauty pageant and her ex-best friend Chicky Quintanilla wants to help her, and not just because there’s never been a winner who looks like either of them in the pageant’s history. “So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough – they are everything.”

Narrator Note: Kyla Garcia and Almarie Guerra sound like the perfect combo for this book. Kyla is no stranger to Tehlor Kay Mejia’s work as she read both of the books in the We Set the Dark on Fire series, and we love Almarie Guerra from books like Zoraida Cordova’s Labyrinth Lost.

The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi, read by Laurie Catherine Winkel and P.J. Ochlan (YA fantasy) – Yesss the band is getting back together! The follow-up to The Gilded Wolves is here to take us right back into Chokshi’s dark and glamorous imagining of 19th century Europe. Séverin and his motley crew might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but that win came with a terrible price. “Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long-lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God. Their hunt lures them far from Paris and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.” I want it, I want it now.

Narrator Note: Laurie Catherine Winkel and P.J. Ochlan are back reprise their roles! I know I poked fun at some of the accent work in The Gilded Wolves, but you know what, it’s 2020. Bring on the silly. I love the silly. I’ll take aaaall the silly.

Latest Listens

No new listens this week, mostly because all the books I’ve listened to lately don’t come out for at least another month! So instead I’ll do a backlist bump and recommend a favorite from a couple of years ago: Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.

When Patricia Lockwood was 30 years old, a crushing amount of medical debt forced her and her husband to move back in with her parents. Living with your parents as a married couple might be interesting enough for the average person, but Lockwood’s case is unique: her dad is a Catholic priest, a role he took on after getting married and having kids thanks to a super obscure loophole. I don’t know quite how to describe this man to you: he’s quirky and loud and kind of a scene-stealer, a man whose convictions are at once comically admirable and maddening in their rigidity.

All this talk of religion might put some of you off, but I encourage you to keep going. Lockwood reflects on her complicated relationship with her family, reflections on father and early life in the church, and her decision to leave the community with thoughtful reflection and care. Then on the next page, she’s poking fun at the whole experience with some of the most hilarious writing I’ve read in years. She narrates the book herself and thank sweet baby cheeses for that: I can’t imagine anyone else reading the parts of her parents just so. I hear her take on her Southern mom’s voice in my head every time I talk about this memoir and it is gold.

Warning: there is discussion of Lockwood’s sexual assault in the book (her poem “Rape Joke” went viral in 2013 and is many people’s introduction to her writing). Her experience isn’t documented in graphic detail, but the discussion she has with her parents about the assault is heartbreaking and cracked me wide open.

From the Internets

at Audiofile: Turning to Historical Mystery Audiobooks to Help Us Keep Perspective in These Historic Times

at Audiobooks.com: 5 Fall Activities to Pair with Audiobooks (Is 2020 the year I finally learn how to knit?!?)

Over at the Riot

Six Audiobooks Written and Read by Latinx Authors

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks 09/17

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date September 16, 2020

Audiobooks 09/10

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date September 10, 2020

Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin

Hola Audiophiles! How’s your week? I’m feeling a little bit like the dog in that “this is fine meme” right now! The view outside my window has been eerie and smokey for three days as fires rage in California and Oregon. The winds got so bad on Sunday that I went out for a beer and came back looking like a tumbleweed.

All joking aside, I hope all those in impacted areas are staying safe. My most heartfelt thanks go out to firefighters and to essential workers still holding it down in this pandemic. Let’s also not forget that Black people are doing the daily work of just existing on top of dealing with the rest of this mess. The work is far from over.

Okay. Let’s audio.

New Releases – Week of September 8, 2020

One by One by Ruth Ware, read by Imogen Church (mystery/thriller) – Oh friends, this might be my favorite Ruth Ware yet! It’s a lock-room thriller set at a lux ski chalet in the French Alps where the founders of Snoop, a London-based tech startup, have organized a weeklong company retreat. Everything starts off normal enough, as normal as it can be when you stick a bunch of big personalities with ridiculous titles and secret motivations together in a secluded location (seriously, the job description section at the beginning took me out!). Then some explosive company news, a ski accident, and a devastating avalanche change everything overnight. Cut off from the world without signs of help on the way, this friendly retreat quickly becomes a cutthroat game of survival and a race to find out who the killer is among them. Side note: you’ll figure out who it is and it will not matter. Those last few chapters are sooooo tight and tense!

Narrator Note: Imogen Church has read all of Ruth Ware’s English language audiobooks with the exception of some Audible original content. I can see why, they’re very well matched. I’ve listened to In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 on audio and wow, Imogen sure knows how to build panic and suspense.

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart, read by Natalie Naudus, Feodor Chin, Emily Woo Zeller (fantasy) – The emperor has reigned for decades through the mastery of bone shard magic, a reign marked by animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. As his rule begins to wane and revolution sweeps across the empire, the emperor’s daughter Lin remains locked in the palace and is denied her right to the throne. She vows to get what’s owed to her by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic herself. When the revolution makes its way to the palace gates, Lin must weigh the price of claiming her birthright and saving her people.

Narrator Note: What a team of narrators! All have standout performances to their names, but make sure to check out this listening pathway if you’ve never experienced an Emily Woo Zeller production.

Prime Deceptions by Valerie Valdes, read by Almarie Guerra (science fiction) – The first book in this series (Chilling Effect) had me before I’d read a single page: Cuban descendants, a very sweary spaceship captain, interspecies romance, and psychic cats in space?? Add! to! cart! In Prime Deceptions, Captain Eva Inoocente finds herself on a mission to hep bring back a missing scientist, a job with a fat paycheck and noble enough cause attached. But this mission means working with her sister who she’s still not super sure she trusts, and will bring Eva back to the site of her most tragic and painful failure. More psychic cats, more Spanish swear words, more space opera.

Narrator Note: I just talked about Almarie Guerra last week and here we are again! She was fantastic in Chilling Effect and I’m sure she’ll knock it out of the park once more.

Latest Listens

Hello, this is now a newsletter of books I read because Amanda Nelson recommended them. Lucky for us both, she has really great taste! That is how I came to read The Switch by Beth O’Leary.

When Leena Cotton has a panic attack in the middle of a high profile client meeting, she’s sent on a mandatory paid holiday for two months. Leena realizes she has a lot of unprocessed grief to confront after losing her sister to cancer, so she leaves London and escapes to Yorkshire to visit her grandmother Eileen. Eileen is newly divorced from Leena’s philandering grandfather and in the mood for adventure, so Leena helps her set up a dating app profile to help her find love. When they discover the dating pool in the countryside ain’t exactly poppin’, they come up with a plan.They’ll switch places for two months: Leena will live in Eileen’s home in the country sans smart phone or laptop and assume her grandmother’s daily duties therein, and Eileen will stay at Leena’s flat in London and dive headfirst into London’s dating scene.

You might not think that an almost-octagenuarian and a twenty-something would be good candidates for a life swap, but it’s just perfect. Of course, both women find the adjustment a little rocky at first: Leena isn’t used to being disconnected or dealing with nosy neighbors, and Eileen finds the hustle and bustle of London to be cold and inhospitable. But each of them finds their way in their own space and time. Their stories are heartwarming and hilarious with a dose of sexy. When this COVID thing is finally under control (sob), someone put me in touch with their English grandma if she feels like switching lives with a 30-something Latina in the states.

This one is read by Alison Steadman and Daisy Edgar-Jones and both performances were just delightful. I saw several reviews ragging on Alison Steadman’s portions for excessive mouth/smacking sounds and I admit I got very defensive on behalf of my adopted English grandma. Thinking back, I suppose there was some of that, so if it bothers you, now you know. It never bothered me once, it felt authentic. If you need a cozy and hopeful read to warm your heart, you know what to do.

From the Internets

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month! Audiofile Magazine suggests these five audiobooks for after you’re done signing up.

POPSUGAR came in hot with some truth: Those Who Don’t Count Audiobooks as Reading Can Kindly GTFO

Over at the Riot

This list of 6 of the Best Memoirs on Audio contains one I’ve been raving about all over the place this week, and that’s We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib, read by Parmida Vand. So good!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks 09/02

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date September 2, 2020

Sponsored by The audiobook edition of Don't Look For Me written by Wendy Walker & read by Therese Plummer.

In Wendy Walker’s thrilling audiobook, Don’t Look for Me, the greatest risk isn’t running away. It’s running out of time. One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life. She doesn’t want to be found. Or at least, that’s the story. It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over. But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke? Listen to Therese Plummer’s narration of the Don’t Look For Me audiobook to find out.

Hola Audiophiles! Welcome back to Audiolandia. I have been looking forward to a lot of today’s new releases for some time now so let’s get straight to it! Like I said before: this fall is going to be quite the ride.

Ready? Let’s audio.

New Releases – week of September 1st

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole, read by Susan Dalian, Jay Aaseng (mystery/thriller) – My Riot buddy Jamie Canavés has given this book an absolutely glowing review and says it’s best to go into it knowing as little as possible. So I’ll say just give you this: a young woman in Brooklyn is doing her best to keep (get?) her life and neighborhood in order. When she begins to research the neighborhood’s history, strange things start happening… Props to Alyssa Cole for killing the romance game and now hitting us with this magnificent work of suspense!

Narrator Note: Susan Dalian is the voice of Haku in the first season of Naruto, as well as Storm in Wolverine and the X-Men and Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. Jay Aeseng is a writer/actor/producer who you may know from the Twin Peaks TV series.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, read by Bahni Turpin (fiction) – This book sounds like it is going to slap me in the face and I will take that slap with a smile. Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at Stanford studying depression and addiction. After an ankle injury leaves her athlete brother hooked on Oxy and he dies of a heroin overdose, Gifty turns to science to understand the depth of her family’s loss. But she also finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and the evangelical church in which she was raised, where the promise of salvation is tempting, but elusive.

Narrator Note: I’m not even going to say anything about Bahni Turpin anymore. Just going to drop her name and the mic.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, read by Avi Roque (YA fantasy) – I love this book! Aiden Thomas is a delightful queer trans Latinx human and this is their debut paranormal queer romantic YA fantasy (it’s adjective day!). It’s about a trans boy who wants more than anything for his traditional Latinx family to accept his true gender. To prove that he’s a brujo, he performs a death day ritual with the help of his badass BFF to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. Pero…the ghost he summons a) isn’t his cousin and b) kind of refuses to leave, and c) is also kind of dreamy? This book is full of Latinx references and non-italicized Spanish and is inspired by lots of different Dia de los Muertos rituals. Mi corazon is just fit to burst!

Narrator Note: Avi Roque is an actor whose most recent work includes the show Chicago Med. They are also queer, trans, and Latinx which I really appreciate as a choice for this book. I love the humor, the drama, and the tenderness they lend to the words from what I’ve sampled so far.

Wayward Witch by Zoraida Cordova, read by Almarie Guerra (YA fantasy) – 🎶Although we’ve come *snap* to the eeeeend ooooh the road… I am both very ready and wholly unprepared to read this last installment of the Brooklyn Brujas series by my fave Zoraida Córdova. This part mythical/part urban fantasy series has followed the three Mortiz sisters as they come into their powers and battle magic in both the real world and worlds beyond. Wayward Witch is told from Rose’s perspective and kicks off with a huge revelation on her Deathday ceremony, which leads to an adventure in the Caribbean Sea. Apparently today’s newsletter is dedicated to witchy Latinx death day stuff and I am very okay with that.

Narrator Note: Almarie Guerra did a fantastic job with Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal and is such a great choice to voice the youngest Mortiz sister! Her body of work includes Valerie Valdes’ Chilling Effect, The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera, and Wendy Heard’s The Kill Club.

Latest Listens

Heyyyyy it’s more (sorta) witchy Latinx death stuff! I wrapped up my listen of Tehlor Kay Mejia’s Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, a middle grade fantasy adventure inspired by the legend of La Llorona. Before I tell you about the book, let me tell you a little more about The Weeping (or Crying or Wailing) Woman.

I’m fairly positive that La Llorona began as a Mexican folk tale, though I’m sure she’s been an equal opportunist in terrifying children of numerous Latin American backgrounds. The legend varies a little, but the general idea is that long ago before La Llorona was La Llorona, she was a woman who married a rich man and had a couple of kids. The husband was rarely home and on the rare occasion in which he was, the guy ignore his wife and focused all his attention on the kids. Sh*t really hit the fan when Not-Yet-La Llorona caught her man with another woman, and that is when it’s said she drowned her children in a jealous rage. In some versions of the story, she also drowned herself and was then turned away from the pearly gates, banished to purgatory on Earth to spend her days in search of her lost children. It’s said she continues to lurk near bodies of water in her funereal gown waiting to attack or kidnap children. Might this story terrify a kid who lives in mother&@%^# coastal San Diego? Me. That kid was me, and the answer is yes.

Back to the book! Paola Santiago and the River of Tears is part of the Rick Riordan Presents line and the titular character is a science and space-obsessed 12-year-old. Pao and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know they must abide by one rule: stay away from the river. It’s all they’ve heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned in the Gila a year ago, and Pao resents her mom’s insistence that La Llorona is to blame.

In spite of all the risk and warnings, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope in a stargazing spot by the river. But Emma never shows and remains missing the next day, and Pao begins to wonder if her mom was maybe, possibly a little bit right. She and Dante will have to brave a world of unnatural mist, monsters of lore, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying unknown force. Could that force be… nah, it couldn’t. Or can it? Maybe. You’ll see.

Between the use of a magical chancla and the presence of chupacabras, I again wish I could hop in the spaceship and gift this literary treat to my younger self. What fun to see the mythologies I grew up with brought to such magical and adventurous light! It takes a careful hand to take a pretty dark and terrifying story like that of La Llorona and calibrate the creepy down to a level that works for a middle grade audience. Tehlor Kay Mejia is that very hand and I’m glad this generation of kids will get to devour her work.

Narration gets five stars from Frankie Corzo for well-paced, suspenseful narration and for getting the voices of twelve year olds just right.

From the Internets

Check out Libro.fm’s Independent Bookstore Day wrap-up, including video submissions just dripping in indie bookstore love.

at AudioFile: 5 New Enemies-to-Lovers Romances on Audio – This is quickly becoming one of my favorite tropes!

Over at the Riot

7 Literary Authors Who Read Their Own Audiobooks– Ta-Nehisi Coates’s voice has stayed with me all these years, what a performance.

Traversing World of Warcraft Armed with Audiobooks

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks

Audiobooks 08/27

Post author By Vanessa Diaz
Post date August 27, 2020

Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin.

Hola Audiophiles! How goes it on this fine (hahahah, “fine”) Thursday? Let’s get right to the audiobook thing before thinking too hard about anything else makes my blood pressure spike.

Let’s audio.

New Releases – week of August 25 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram, read by Michael Levi Harris (contemporary YA fiction) – This is the sequel to Darius the Great is Not Okay. Darius is back home in the U.S., playing soccer, dating his very first boyfriend, and maintaining a long distance friendship with Sohrab. Then things sort of fall apart: his new internship at a tea shop doesn’t go according to plan, Sohrab sort of ghosts him, and both of Darius’ grandmothers are in town. Darius has to decide whether to accept that this is just how life goes, or if he perhaps deserves better,

Narrator Note: Michael Levi Harris is back! If you enjoyed his reading of Darius the Great Is Not Okay, you’re back in good hands for the sequel.

Useless Vanessa Note: There’s such a thing as a tea shop internship??? Why wasn’t I informed?!

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, read by Darrell Dennis (mystery/thriller) – Virgil Wounded Horse lives on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where he’s basically an enforcer; when the American legal system or the tribal council fail to being about justice, people come to him for help of a certain kind. “But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s own nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal.”

Narrator Note: You may recognize Darrell Dennis as one of the narrators of Tommy Orange’s There There.

Desperate Plea from Vanessa Note: Can we, maybe… call Rosebud? I need someone to enforce on 2020’s ass.

The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veselka, read by Xe Sands (fiction) – It’s been years since half sisters Cheyenne and Livy have seen each other, but Cheyenne is back in Seattle and crashing on Livy’s couch after a failed marriage. Livy restores boats for a living and is beginning to resent Cheyenne for her free-loading ways when they get in the way of plans to fish off the coast of Alaska. The light at the end of the tunnel for everyone is the promise of financial security: on the day of their estranged father’s wedding, the sisters set out to claim their inheritance. Plot twist! Their father gives them not money, but a name, a name that leads to the unearthing of a wild family secret.

Narrator Note: Xe Sands has a lot of audiobooks under her belt, and I personally cosign her performance of Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars. Magic school! Noir! A hardened P.I. jealous of her magical sister! TEENAGERS! She does it all so well.

Latest Listens

I am about to dive into Tehlor Kay Mejia’s River of Tears, a middle grade fantasy adventure based on the Mexican legend of La Llorona (the crying woman, aka the source of many Mexican children’s nightmares). This latest book from the Rick Riordan Presents line is everything Little Vanessita would have wanted way back when! Adult Vanessa will read it gleefully on her behalf.

In the meantime, let me dig into some backlist and recommend The Cutting Season by Attica Locke, read by Quincy Tyler Bernstine. Before I go any further, please be advised that this book takes place on a plantation in modern day and contains discussions of slavery and related violence. It’s been some time since I read it so I don’t recollect how detailed or graphic those scenes are; I can tell you that I am very sensitive to violence and sexual assault and was still able to enjoy the story.

The plot: Caren Gray is a young black single mother who manages Belle Vie, a massive antebellum plantation in Louisiana where the past and the present bleed into one another most creepily. Belle Vie has been turned into a ridiculous tourist attraction featuring full-dress re-enactments and fully restored slave quarters (why yes, now would be a good time to scream). Caren is caught up in her own issues—the challenges of raising a daughter on her own, questioning her life choices and career trajectory—when she discovers the body of a migrant worker on the plantation grounds. The search to find the killer unearths another mystery from the plantation’s past.

I was reminded just how much I love this book after talking about Bluebird, Bluebird on the latest episode of the Read Harder Podcast. Like Locke’s Highway 59 series, The Cutting Season is a riveting mystery paired with discussions of race in America as well as motherhood, the complicated legacy of the South, and human nature’s darkest proclivities. Quincy Tyler Bernstine, who was part of the ensemble cast of Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone, delivers a wonderful performance. Her voice is rich, warm, and a little bit breathy, all in perfect measure based on the intensity of the scene. Pick this one up if you’re in the mood for a thrilling read that examines this country’s ugly history of racial violence. Also, plantations: PORQUE?

From the Internets

Audible has unveiled a new subscription plan structure.

Libro.fm has released its list of Fall’s Most Anticipated Audiobooks (or as they call it, their TBLT—to be listened to, I presume?). It features titles by (deep breath) Walter Mosley, Lindy West, David Sedaris, Dolly Parton, Megan Rapinoe, Rebecca Roanhorse, Desus & Mero, Elena Ferrante and okay I’m out of breath now but there are so many more.

File this BuzzFeed piece under “relatable content:” Audiobooks Are — And I Can’t Stress This Enough — Saving My Sanity During COVID-19

Over at the Riot

I love when I find an entire audiobook series to really sink my teeth (ears?) into, don’t you? Here’s a list of juicy series to keep you busy for days.

On audiobooking while you sleep – I’m so curious to know how many people do this!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Audiobooks