Category: Audiobooks

Hola Audiophiles! Welcome to another week of audio love. I’ve been over here preparing for the snow that was promised never really came this week in Portland, which is probs for the best since I probably would have embarrassed myself if it had. But enough about me; let’s dive into this week’s new releases and notes on my latest listen.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – January 14, 2019

A World Without Work: Technology and Automation and How We Should Respond by Daniel Susskind, narrated by the author – For as long as technology has been a thing, humans have been filled with a certain level of “it’s going to overrun our lives!” angst. Susskind’s argues that a) this time is different because A.I. has arrived, b) this can actually be a good thing and solve an age-old economic problem, but c) the good can only happen if we first confront the economic disruption it will cause. Eek/yikes/okay great.

Narrator Note: I know Daniel Susskind from a TED talk and love his style. Look it up if you want more of this sort of tech talk.

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey, narrated by Charlotte North – Rosie and Dominic are high school sweethearts whose marriage is perfect until it isn’t. Rosie decides she wants to realize a dream of opening a restaurant, but first: she wants to go to marriage boot camp. She suggests her plan to Dominic, assuming the ex-soldier and very “manly man” type will turn her down. He shocks her when he’s not only into the idea but jumps in with both feet, completing every hilarious task suggested by a weed-smoking hippie (lol). Rosie will have to confront her role in the breakdown of the marriage, as well as a secret that Dominic is keeping…

Narrator Note: Charlotte North has narrated other Tessa Bailey books from her Hot & Hammered series, works by Maya Rodale, and more.

Night Theater by Vikram Paralkar, narrated by Raj Ghatak – A surgeon flees the city when a scandal ruins his medical career and accepts a job in a remote village’s clinic. One night, a teacher, his pregnant wife, and their young son walk into the clinic asking for his help. The twist? They’re all dead (but not dead?), and say an angel will give them a second chance at life if the surgeon can heal their wounds by sunrise. Author Vikram Paralkar is a doctor himself and “takes on the practice of medicine in a time when the right to health care is frequently challenged. Engaging earthly injustice and imaginaries of the afterlife, he asks how we might navigate corrupt institutions to find a moral center.”

Narrator Note: You may recognize Raj Ghatak from books by Amitav Ghosh and sooooo many of James Patterson’s titles!

The Better Liar by Tanen Jones, narrated by Lisa Flanagan, Karissa Vacker, and Kristen Sieh – Robin and Leslie’s recently deceased father left them a big, fat inheritance, one that Leslie could really super very much use right about now. The problem? The inheritance will be disbursed to both sisters or not at all and Robin was just found dead. Then Leslie meets Mary, a woman with a striking resemblance to Robin who has nothing to lose. They concoct one of those “how could this possibly go wrong??” plans: Mary will pretend to be Robin so they can claim the money. But then! Secrets.

Narrator Note: All three of these narrators were part of ensemble cast for Sara Shepard’s Reputation and have a ton of narration credit to their names individually as well; Lisa Flanagan is known for thrillers by Liz Moore and Lisa Lutz; Karissa Vacker did Red Clocks by Leni Zumas and Krysten Ritter’s Bonfire; Allyson Ryan narrates Long Bright River by Liz Moore, which happens to be my latest listen!

Latest Listens

Long Bright River by Liz Moore – Set in a Philadelphia neighborhood ravaged by the opioid crisis, once inseparable sisters Kacey and Mickey are now estranged. Mickey is a cop and a single mom and Kacey is an addict who lives on the streets. Kacey goes missing, then a string of mysterious murders pops up in Mickey’s district that might explain her disappearance. Mickey becomes obsessed with solving the murders and finding Kacey, putting her job and her life in danger.

My guesses as to the culprit of the murders and Kacey’s fate kept bouncing around here. I thought I’d figured it out about 12 times but the actual end result had me going, “Oh word??” I mentioned previously how Allyson Ryan’s voice has a certain apathetic tone and I stand by that as being a good thing! It’s very measured when it needs to be, especially in this book where the first person narrator has been hardened by life and has issues with feelings. She is also really great and dialects and accents, and making a kids’ voice charming and not gimmicky. I really enjoyed this one! Tip: I think this one reads best at 1.25 speed.

From the Internets

The first batch of Marvel original audiobooks is here with more to come later in 2020.

Laura Linney’s performance of My Name Is Lucy Barton, a monologue play by Rona Munro adapted from Elizabeth Strout’s best-selling novel, will soon be an audiobook.

Remember that Amazon copyright lawsuit? Looks like they’ve settled.

AudioFile’s interviewed narrator powerhouse Robin Miles. If you have managed not to know her work yet, consider this a homework assignment!

Over at the Riot

A really cool list of audiobooks by Native, First Nations, or Indigenous authors

A listening pathway to narrator Dion Graham, who I absolutely loved in several of Nic Stone’s books and Dave Eggers’ The Monk of Mokha

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Tuesday and Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles! Bienvenidos once again to the land of audio love. I hope you all had some time to relax and unwind over the last few weeks and maybe even sneak in some quality audio time! It’s a new year, and that means lot of new books to get after. Let’s talk about some of those new releases and one of my favorite recent listens.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – January 7, 2020

Boys & Sex by Peggy Orenstein, narrated by the author – Peggy Orenstein has written extensively about girls in books like Girls & Sex and Cinderella Ate My Daughter, advocating for their right to pleasure and agency in sexual relationships and breaking down gender stereotypes. She realized that she was missing half the equation in only focusing on girls and now examines how we raise boys, addressing issues like consent and toxic masculinity.

Don’t Believe a Word by David Shariatmadari, narrated by Damian Lynch – This book sounds like language-nerd candy! It breaks down nine common myths about language with lots of science and insights into modern linguistics.

Narrator Note: Damian Lynch is the voice behind the Mycroft Holmes series by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His accent is very posh English and pleasant if you’re into that sort of thing (and I so am).

Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton, narrated by Jessica Hayles – Shakespeare made gayer is a thing I am very into and Tessa Gratton is too! This is her take on Henry IV, Part I in which Princes Mora and Hal are both women caught in a battle of succession. Lady Hotspur is “the fiery and bold knight whose support will turn the tides of the coming war.” Gimme.

Narrator Note: This is the first audiobook credit I found for Jessica Hayles, an English actress with experience performing Shakespeare. Some of you may recognize her from a 2005 role on Doctor Who.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore, narrated by Allyson Ryan – In a Philadelphia neighborhood ravaged by the opioid crisis, once inseparable sisters Kacey and Mickey are estranged. Kacey is an addict who lives on the streets while Mickey walks a police beat. When Kacey goes missing just as a strange of mysterious murders pops up in Mickey’s district, Mickey becomes obsessed with solving the murders and finding her missing sister.

Narrator Note: Allyson Ryan’s voice is so awesome because it sounds like she doesn’t give a crap and cares a lot at the same time? That sounds like a diss, but I really enjoy it. She’s narrated works like The Fifth Trimester and Fleishman is in Trouble.

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez, narrated by Ana Osorio – This book sounds so good! The usurper Atoc has driven the Illustrian royal family from La Ciudad using an ancient magical relic; all but one Illustrian, that is. Condesa is the last remaining survivor and Atoc has the nerve to ask for her hand in marriage! She sends her decoy Ximena to him in her place, giving Ximena the chance at the revenge that she craves. It’s inspired by Bolivian politics and history (yessss), with a little bit of magic sprinkled on top.

Narrator note: I’ve only listened to a sample of Ana’s work but I’m very interested so far. If you like her work and have been looking to incorporate more Spanish audiobooks into your listening, she’s the voice behind the Spanish versions of Jojo Moyes and Kristin Hannahs books and more.

Latest Listens

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, narrated by Nicole Lewis – Oh my gatos, y’all: this was so fantastic. I wasn’t all that excited about this for whatever reason and it blew me away! Nicole Lewis as a narrator gets all the gold stars; anyone who can transition that smoothly from a mid-30s Karen type to a young, semi-apathetic twenty-something and then a quirky toddler and back again is someone I want to know more about.

The book is about Emira, a young black babysitter, and Alix, her well-intentioned employer (and professional Karen, sort of?). Emira cares for Alix’ toddler Briar three days a week while Alix does her internet influencer thing. Their relationship has always been cordial, but changes for good one evening when Emira is falsely accused of kidnapping Briar at a high-end grocery store while on the job. That evening blows over at first, but will come back to reveal a surprising connection between Alix’s past and Emira’s present that threatens to undo them both. It’s a brilliant and witty examination of class, race, and privilege that would be perfect for book club. It forces you to examine your own biases and contains a whole cast of characters whose intentions might just be a little polarizing.

From the Internets

Ok, I sort of hate the title of this article because it’s just begging for the “audiobooks aren’t books” trolls to pile on. That being said, yes: audiobooks are having a moment.

Elizabeth Warren loves long walk with her audiobooks. Same, Liz.

Over at the Riot

You love Robin, we love Robin, or maybe you don’t yet but are about to love Robin: a roundup of some of the best audiobooks narrated by the wonderfully talented Robin Miles.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Tuesday and Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles! Can you believe this is the last Audiobooks newsletter of the year and decade? I thought about writing a missive on Song of Achilles and all the ways in which it wrecked me, but instead went with a roundup of my favorite audio releases from 2019. I’ll be back in 2020 with more audio love in your inbox and hopefully won’t start the year with Swine Flu this time. In the meantime, may your earholes be blessed with happy listening! Thanks for being swell.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo, narrated by the author – This mythical, sumptuous read set in 1930s Malaysia is about a young woman working at a dance hall and a house boy whose dying master gives him a task to complete. Their paths collide when they each embark on separate and dangerous missions involving a mysterious severed finger in a glass vial. Beautiful narration and amazing descriptions of food and landscapes.

Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi, narrated by the author – English schoolgirl Perdita appears to have died by ingesting poisoned gingerbread, but wait! Her mum finds a note that’s like, “BRB! Not really deadsies, just popped out to find your long-lost friend!” That friend is Gretel and the mythical place Perdita has gone off in search of is Druhástrana, the faraway place where Harriet spent her youth. The thing is, most people don’t believe that place exists, and the story Perdita has to tell when she wakes up is bananas. Helen Oyeyemi’s voice is just so charming!

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams, narrated by Shvorne Marks – Queenie is a Jamaican British twenty-something Londoner and a mess: she’s going through a breakup, she’s broke AF, and she’s slacking at a job she can’t afford to lose. Queenie continually self destructs until she’s finally forced to confront her demons. I had some small issues with the book (Queenie is told to tone to tone it down at work with the Black Lives Matter talk and it’s never quite resolved?). Overall, this is a hilarious and thoughtful listen with several timely messages about identity politics, unprocessed trauma, how mental illness is treated in communities of color, and racism.

Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl, narrated by the author – Foodie goddess Ruth Reichl did not disappoint! This memoir from her time at Gourmet magazine chronicles her complete revamping of the publication, it’s eventual demise, and what it was like to experience that whole arc while trying to be a wife and mother. Oh, and tasty recipes throughout!

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, narrated by the author – Emoni is a teen mom working hard to raise her young daughter and take care of her abuela. She can cook her face off and dreams of being a chef, dreams that seems more feasible when she enrolls in her high school’s new culinary arts course. The class challenges her though, makes her doubt her potential and worth. It also forces her to examine her future, her parenting, her relationships, and allows her to want and to dream more freely. Elizabeth Acevedo, yo. That swag, that tone, that unapologetic pride in her people: perfection.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey, narrated by Xe Sands – Private detective Ivy Gamble is just sort of getting by when the headmaster at a fancy magic school hires her to solve a grizzly murder. Her estranged twin Tabitha happens to teach at the school, the magically gifted sister of whom she’s always been a lil (read: a lot) jealous. Ivy will have to sift through secrets, lies, prophecies, and teenagers to determine who killed a teacher with dark magic. Xe Sands does such a great job of nailing both adult and teen voices here without going all over-the-top.

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small, Bahni Turpin – How does an audiobook not even four hours long leave you in a puddle of tears?? Two families from different social classes are brought together by an unexpected pregnancy in a story that flashes back and forth between the past and the present. There is this scene involving 9/11 where Bahni Turpin DESTROYED me with her narration and I haven’t forgiven her for it yet!

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White, narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden – Arthurian retelling? Yessss. Guinevere as a changeling? Double yes! She’s come to Camelot to wed King Arthur in a plot devised by Merlin to protect him from dark magical forces. Maybe? I love when a story you think you know still manages to make you go, “Oh no she did not!!!” It’s the first in White’s new Camelot Rising trilogy, the narration iss flawless, and it left me real mad that I couldn’t immediately move on to the next book.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, narrated by Marin Ireland – Lillian and Madison are boarding school BFFs until Lillian gets screwed over and is expelled. Years later, Lillian’s life is sort of whatever while Madison’s a wealthy politician’s wife. Madison rings Lillian out of the blue to beg her come be a (very well paid) nanny to her husband’s ten-year-old twins from a previous marriage. Oh and one small thing: they spontaneously combust from time to time. Marin Ireland does a Southern Accent as well as deadpan humor so. damn. well. I’m still laughing!

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado – Break my heart, why don’t you!! This genre-defying memoir of Carmen Maria Machado’s time in a psychologically abusive relationship is everything you’ve heard it is. It’s raw, it’s honest, it will squeeze your heart and kick you in the teeth. The deep, uncomfortable dive into the “mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse” is not an easy read, but it’s worth it in every way.

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From the Internets

Tor rounded up some SFF listens for holiday travels.

Paste suggests these festive audiobooks for the holiday season and they all sound so fun!

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And that’s a 2019 wrap! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends. See ya next year!
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles! This is one of our last newsletters together in 2019! I’m getting ready to fly south for the winter like a little Mexican mallard duck. I don’t know if that metaphor works, I just really love mallard ducks and alliteration. Before I get back to packing for the holidays in San Diego, let me tell you about December’s new releases and lots of great “best of” stuff.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – December 2019 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi, narrated by Bahni Turpin (December 3)- YASSS the sequel to that lil’ ol book that barely any people read called Children of Blood and Bone. We return to Orïsha with Zélie and Amari where magic has been restored, but the bad guys are just as powerful as the good guys and civil war is on the horizon. “Zelie must fight to secure Amari’s right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy’s wrath.”

Narrator Note: BAH *claps* NI *claps* TUR *claps* PIN.

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld (December 3)- I’ve had various Nalini Singh works on my TBR for way too long! Maybe I’ll start with this thriller set in a remote town on the West Coast of New Zealand, “where even the blinding brightness of the sun can’t mask the darkness that lies deep within a killer….”

Narrator Note: Where do I start? She’s narrated both The Huntress and The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin, all of Deborah Harkness’ work, and much, much more.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, narrated by the author (December 19) – I just started an audiobook ARC of this one, and even at just over five hours, I know it’s going to punch me in the gut. It’s Machado’s memoir, an “engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. ”

Narrator Note: You know what I’m going to say: I love when authors narrate their own work. This is a stellar example of getting it right: it sort of feels like I’m listening to slam poetry, and at other times like I’m just listening to a friend tell me about her most precious pain.

The Wicked Redhead by Beatriz Williams, narrated by Dara Rosenberg and Julie McKay (December 10) – Beatriz Williams is on a roll these days! This is, what, her third book in a couple of years? This one is a “Jazz Age tale of rumrunners, double crosses, and true love, spanning the Eastern seaboard from Florida to Long Island to Halifax, Nova Scotia.”

Narrator Note: I loved Dara Rosenberg’s narration of Louisa Morgan’s The Witch’s Kind, and just saw she’s also credited with narrating something called Assault and Pepper. That tickles me.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, narrated by Nicole Lewis (December 31)- This one comes with muppet-arm praise from Liberty (who read it in print), a “compelling and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.”

Narrator Note: Nicole Lewis does great work! Some of her notables include What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons and Gayle Forman’s I Have Lost My Way.

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher, narrated by Lauren Fortgang (December 30)- Oh boy, this thriller sounds like a doozy. A woman has an arrangement with her husband wherein he has two other wives. She thinks she’s ok with it, but what had happened was… she befriends one of the wives without telling her who she is and discovers in the process that maybe her husband (their husband) isn’t who she thinks he is.

Narrator Note: Lauren Fortgang has narrated several Leigh Bardugo books, including her smash hit The Ninth House.

Latest Listens

Welp, I am deceased, and Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson with narration by Marin Ireland is the cause. No one told me what the hell this thing was about (I love when that happens), but you’d think that cover would have given it away…

The gist: Lillian and Madison were boarding school BFFs, but that all changed when a scandal (AAAH I want to tell you what happens so bad!) forced Lillian to leave school. Years later, Lillian’s life is sort of whatever while Madison is now a wealthy politician’s wife. After years of barely speaking, Madison sends Lillian a letter that’s like, “Hey girl, I need your help. Will you pop by the ol’ mansion? K thanks.”

What Madison needs is for Lillian to be her nanny, but there’s a liiiiitle catch. The kids she’ll be watching are her husband’s ten-year-old twins from a previous marriage. And oh yeah: they spontaneously combust when they get mad or agitated. No big deal! The narration is SO fantastic, lots of great Nashville accents that don’t feel gimmicky, and a perfect cadence. All that is paired with a hilarious story about kids on fire and rich people problems and Privilege with a capital P that’s also heartwarming in the end.

Proppiest of props to Contributing Editor Jamie for recommending it to me AND to the several of you who emailed me to say, “YES. Do it. Read that!” Good job, audiofiles.

From the Internets

Libro.fm just released their gift guide and I’m living for these categories! Fave is probably “For that friend who thinks they want to be a nanny” and the accompanying rec for Nothing to See Here for reasons listed above. Bahahaha.

Best audiobooks of the year lists from Libro.fm, Wired, Overdrive, Paste, and Audible.

Some excellent small press audiobooks to give as gifts this year

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles! I’m still not quite over the fact that it’s already December. There’s less than one month left until the end of the year and the decade! Since publishing slows way the heck down this time of year, I’m switching things up and doing one batch of December releases next week. Today, in the spirit of the season, let’s talk gifting for audiobook lovers like you and I.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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This “I Paused My Audiobook To Be Here” t-shirt comes in lots of different colors. $22

Your favorite audiophile can sip their coffee, tea, hot buttered rum, etc from this Audiobook Worm mug. $21

This All Books Count book enamel pin doubles as a cute little weapon for when the book snobs come calling. Just kidding, I’m totally not encouraging violence. $11

For the coffee-lovin’ audiophile, this super soft “Audiobooks & Coffee” t-shirt. $24

For those souls brave enough to use AirPods (I *would* lose them and cry), customize a case to put those bad boys in. $17

These little leather earphone cases are great for regular ol’ earphone users like me. Might cop that green one for myself! $23

Personalize one of these mini bluetooth speakers for easy listening. $25

And of course, give the gift of audiobooks! Most audiobook retailers offer one month, three month, six month, and twelve month varieties. Choose from companies like Audible, Audiobooks.com, Scribd or Libro.fm.

Bonus! For all my fellow Libro.fm faithful, gift any three-month tier membership or higher and you’ll get the audiobook of Circe by Madeline for free! Plus you get to support indie bookshops. Everybody wins.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles! How are all you lovelies doing on this fine fall day? I’m celebrating being able to breathe from both nostrils after another annoying cold attacked my face this week. It wasn’t fun blowing my nose every ten minutes, but I got a lot of reading in! It’s all about silver linings.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – November 19 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black, narrated by Caitlyn Kelly – Why haven’t I read this series yet?! This is the finale in the Folk of the Air trilogy, wherein “Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court,” and confront some lingering feelings for the wicked king Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister’s mortal life.

• Narrator Note: Caitlyn Kelly does a lot of Audible Originals work and has narrated the rest of the books in this beloved series.

The Crown: The Official Companion, Volume 2 by Robert Lacey, narrated by Alex Jennings – Is anyone else obsessed with The Crown like I am?! I can’t help myself! This volume accompanies Seasons 2 and 3 of the hit show, documenting the political scandals and personal struggles of Elizabeth II from 1956-1977.

• Narrator Note: Alex Jennings also narrates the first volume in this series as well as a ton of works by authors like C.S. Lewis, Jeffrey Archer, Kate Atkinson, and John le Carré. His English accent sounds like the kind you might hear in an audio recording of a self-guided museum tour, in a good way.

Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller – This debut is a magical retelling about lost Romanov princess Anastasia. It’s “the first book in an epic new series about a princess hiding a dark secret and the con man she must trust to clear her name for her father’s murder.”

Note: This book was initially scheduled for publication in January but was bumped when it came under fire online for its treatment of enslavement. Amélie Wen Zhao issued an apology and revised the book; this modified version is the one that hit shelves this week.

• Narrator Note: Tirzah Price recently recommended Emily Woo Zeller as a go-to audiobook narrator; if you enjoy this listen, here are five other faves from her catalog.

Impossible Causes by Julie Mayhew, narrated by Lissa Berry and Lauren Cornelius – “Four elements. Four seasons. Four points on the compass. Four teenage girls. And one dead body.” It’s pitched as The Craft meets The Crucible: yep, adding that to cart.

• Narrator Note: Both of the narrators appear to be pretty new to the audiobook market (at least in the US), but I really enjoyed the sample of this title! I’m not sure which of the narrators I was listening to in said sample, but that particular English accent (can’t quite pin down the region) is one I tend to enjoy.

Latest Listens

I owe a giant shout out, thank you, copious hugs, and a few cafe con leches to my girl Jamie Canaves: Contributing Editor extraordinaire, writer of our Unusual Suspects newsletter, and general doer of all the things. She recommended Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet, narrated by Marisol Ramirez and Y’ALL. It was chicken soup for my Latina soul.

Where do I start? Lizet is the daughter of Cuban immigrants, the first in her family to graduate from high school. She defies her family by enrolling in an upstate New York liberal arts college, leaving Miami, her boyfriend, newly separated parents, and sister—a new single mom—behind. She begins the school year with high hopes, but soon learns just how literally and figuratively far Upstate New York is from her Hialeah neighborhood. She struggles both socially and academically, torn between longing for home and feeling embarrassed by her humble roots in the midst of so much affluence and privilege.

It takes place in the early 2000s when I first went off to college, and the Elian Gonzalez storyline running in the background was a blast from the past! The little things gave me the feely feels: mentions of Vanidades Magazine, quinceañera courts, the elaborate Nochebuena celebrations where you get all dressed up to sit in your abuela’s living room. The part that took me all the way down was how perfectly it captures that fish-out-of-water feeling so many first gen Americans feel in institutions of higher learning: your culture, the food you eat, the music you listen to, and the way you move in general is worlds different than that of most everyone you meet. I found myself tearing up at points that weren’t even particularly emotional because I just felt so dang seen! Please give this a read and bask in its glory with me.

Listens on Deck

I mean I’m basically just going to ask Jamie what she thinks I should listen to next after this excellent rec! She suggested Nothing to See Here, I’ll report back next week.

From the Internets

These business audiobooks for your morning commute come courtesy of Entrepreneur.com.

The secret life of the audiobook star – how the booming audiobooks business has voice actors out here grinding!

Here are Paste Magazine’s picks for this month’s best audiobooks.

From Audiofile Magazine: Some thankful reflections on some of this year’s audiobook experiences.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles!

This newsletter is coming to you from a blanket fort because this San Diegan is back in Portland! I’ve been on an audiobook kick on account of all my travels – let’s get to this week’s new releases so I can tell you about some of my favorites.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – November 12 (publisher descriptions in quotes)

Queen of the Conquered: Islands of Blood and Storm, Book 1  by Kacen Callender, narrated by Krystel Roche – The cover of this Caribbean fantasy is gorgeous! An ambitious young woman with the power of mind control is out for revenge against the royals who murdered her family.

Narrator Note: Haitian actress and model Krystel Roche narrated Kacen (formerly Kheryn)’s first book Hurricane Child and has a beautiful accent that I could listen to all day! I wish all audiobooks were narrated in authentic accents. Maybe someday!

No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg, read by Greta Thunberg and Saskia Maarleveld – Remember the young climate activist who read the United Nations to filth over their response to climate change? Here is a collection of her speeches made around the world, newly available on audio.

Narrator Note: The passion in Thunberg’s voice is hard to ignore and gives me such chills!

All American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney, narrated by Priya Ayyar – Allie Abraham is a straight-A student and all around “good girl” from a close-knit family, and she’s dating the very popular Wells Henderson. Problem! Why? Because Wells’ dad is a “Conservative shock jock” (I’m imagining a Sean Hannity/Bill O-Reilly/Tucker Carlson mashup and I’m terrified). Allie will have to decide whether to keep her faith to herself like her family has told her to, or embrace it out loud and face the Islamophobia that is sure to follow.

Narrator Note: Priya Ayyar is on a roll right now! I mentioned her narration of I Hope You Get This Message last month as well as other works like Roshani Chokshi’s The Star Touched Queen and Tahereh Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse of Sea. Lots to listen to if you’re a fan!

Latest Listens

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West, narrated by the author – Lindy West, I heart thee. Thank you for being the smart, witty, and hilarious fat-positive feminist of my dreams. She takes on everything from rape culture and toxic masculinity in comedy (and *gestures wildly at everything* everywhere else) to the Very White World of Goop and what it was like to bring Shrill to the big screen. She does this all with a healthy portion of self-examination and a call to action, and one of my favorite lines of all time: “This is a witch hunt. We’re witches, and we’re hunting you.” I’m so glad she narrates it herself: it feels like a take-down + pep talk from a friend.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes, narrated by Daveed Diggs – In this quick listen (four hours and one lonely little minute), pregnant African women tossed overboard from slave ships give birth to a nation of water-breathing “men, women, both, and neither.” Every generation of this underwater utopia designates one individual their historian, whose lot it is to hold the entire history—all memories both good and bad—of their people so no one else has to. When the latest historian decides this burden is too much to bear, they escape only to discover that the memories of the past, even the most painful, are the key to shaping the future.

Daveed Diggs as narrator is perfect, brilliant, wonderful, especially since the book was inspired by a song of the same name by Digg’s experimental hip hop group clipping. Listen to this now!

Listens on Deck

Thinking of listening to The Starless Sea even though that sucker is 18+ hours (that length of audiobook often makes it hard for me to focus), but then I feel guilty about not yet reading The Night Circus YES I KNOW STOP YELLING AT ME. What to do, what to do….

From the Internets

This list of audiobooks that inspire lives of service comes to us from Audiofile Magazine

26.2 Audiobooks to Push You Through Your Marathon Training. LOL marathons. I will leave the running to you!

Over at the Riot

On this week’s episode of SFF Yeah: Backlist to the Future, Sharifah talks about audiobooks good for road trips, especially all those long holiday drives. Tis the season!

On the decline of abridged audiobooks.

Do you re-read? I re-read. Here’s a piece on the joy of doing so with audiobooks.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles! It’s my cousin’s wedding week and things are un poquito hectic right now! What is sleep?! Before I descend into a cloud of hairspray, bobby pins, and chiffon, let me tell you about some of the audiobooks I’m most jazzed about this week.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – November 7 (publisher’s descriptions in quotes)

The fall book deluge continues! There are too many new releases to cover here, so here are a few buzzy titles out this week that probs don’t need an introduction:

• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, narrated by Dominic Hoffman, full cast
• The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West, narrated by the author
• Little Weirds by Jenny Slate, narrated by the author

Now here are some others that may or may not be on your radar, but should be.

On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl, narrated by Cassandra Campbell and MacLeod Andrews – This suburban western has a special place in my heart; it’s based in part in San Diego and Tijuana, my hometown and the border town where I still spend a lot of my time. “A lonely newlywed and her wayward brother-in-law follow divergent and dangerous paths through the postwar American West.” Real talk: I didn’t think this sounded very interesting when I first read the blurb, and that was short-sighted of me. It’s a beautiful read!

• Narrator Note: I really like Cassandra Campbell! I know her from The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, but she has a lot more in her repertoire: Where the Crawdads Sing, When Breath Becomes Air, and Everything I Never Told You to name a few.

The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel Jose Older, narrated by Sofia Quintero – EEK I’ve never read Daniel Jose Older but I’ve been meaning to for such a long time! This “evocative multigenerational Cuban-American family story of revolution, loss, and family bonds” rings so many of my bells, y’all! The ghost of a woman who went missing during the Cuban Revolution comes back to haunt her nephew in present-day Jersey in the hopes that she can guide him to unearth their panful family history.

• Narrator Note: I don’t know much about Sofia Quintero, or whether this narrator is the same Sofia Quintero who’s a writer, activist, educator, comedienne, and speaker. What I do know is that they got someone with the perfect accent to read a book about Cubanos (Quintero may not or may not be Cuban, of course, but it works). Authenticity!

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes, narrated by Daveed Diggs – This novella was inspired by the song “The Deep” by David Digg’s rap group clipping. In it, “water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future.” Yep, gonna need that in my life.

• Narrator note. Daveed! Diggs!

The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan, narrated by Christie Moreau, Susannah Cahalan – This history of our handling of mental illness starts with a dive into a decades-long mystery that dates back to 1970: a Stanford psychologist and seven other “sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society” went undercover into asylums around the country to investigate the quality and legitimacy of the psychiatric care given therein. “Forced to remain inside until they’d ‘proven’ themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment.” WHAT?!

• Narrator Note: When I hear Christie Moreau’s voice, I keep thinking of the word “fresh.” It’s clear, upbeat… ya know, fresh!
• Related: If you haven’t read Brain on Fire, that is worth a read, too. You’ll understand why this subject matter is of particular interest to Susan Cahalan.

Latest Listens

I’ve been all over the place with my audio habits this week and haven’t finished any of the four books I have going, so I’m going to tell you about a title I read earlier this year. If you’re in the mood for a literary murder mystery, let me sell you on Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tocarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, narrated by Beata Pozniak.

Our main character and narrator is Janina, a reclusive woman in a remote Polish village who minds the homes of bougie, well-to-do Polish residents when she’s not translating poetry or studying astrology. When a neighbor’s suspicious death is followed by several equally suspicious deaths, Janina is convinced that the killings are the handiwork of animals enacting vigilante justice on the vile men who hunted them. The book asks not so much who dunnit but why; it’s a real study in empathy, ageism, and man’s impact on the natural world.

I sampled it on audio this month and I’m now rereading it as a result. Hearing this story told in an authentic Polish accent is a treat on its own, but the best part is how Beata Pozniak takes such great pains to match her pitch and pace to the story. Her voice is a low and breathy whisper when a body is found and an angry, indignant yell when Janina is dismissed by the locals time and again. My only reservation here is that the narration is so slow, for me at least! I’ve sped up my listening speed to 1.5 and that seems to be the perfect fit.

From the Internets

Sometimes the audiobook experience is even better than the print/digital version! Here are some examples from Esquire.

Vulture rounds up the best Stephen King audiobooks

Over at the Riot

A roundup of the best Android apps for DRM-free audiobooks

My Read Harder buddy Tirzah put together this awesome piece on audiobooks narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. I love when you find a narrator you can depend on time and again!

A reminder that audiobooks make great gifts.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Happy Halloween, Audiophiles! I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to October, my favorite month of the year! I’ll tell you one thing: if the universe thinks I’m going to stop reading witchy things now, it has another thing coming.

This week I’ve got some new releases, deets on my latest witchy listen, and of course audiobook news from around the web. If you’re the costume type and dress up today, send me pics of you, your pets, your tiny humans. I’ll take all the joy!

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – October 29 (publisher’s descriptions in quotes)

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay, narrated by the author – I wasn’t familiar with the term “junior doctor” and thought this was going to be a Doogie Howser memoir situation. I now realize that junior doctors are more or less the British equivalent of medical residents, and that this book has already won all kinds of awards across the pond. It’s described as painful funny and feels perfect for my Grey’s Anatomy obsessed self.

Find Me by André Aciman, narrated by Michael Stuhlbarg – In this follow-up to Call Me By Your Name, Aciman revisits the characters of his 2007 bestseller decades after it left off. “In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio’s father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train with a beautiful young woman upends Sami’s plans and changes his life forever.”

• Narrator note: Michael Stuhlbarg has narrated a lot of work for James Patterson. If you do a lot of Jimmy’s stuff on audio, you’ll recognize his building-suspense style

The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna by Mira Ptacin, narrated by Chloe Cannon – Liberty totally sold me on this one in her latest New Books newsletter: “There have been a lot of books recently where weird things happen in the Maine woods – and with good reason. Weird things DO go on in the Maine woods. In Ptacin’s latest book she investigates Camp Etna, a community in the Maine woods started in 1848 by two sisters who claimed they could speak to the dead.” Yes, give it to me.

• Narrator note: I enjoyed Chloe Cannon’s narration of Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand, mostly; pacing was good, but there was something about her tone that sometimes sounded like a little like Siri. I’ve since sampled more of her work and really enjoy it even though I still get a little Siri at certain registers. Someone listen and tell me if it’s just me!

The Beautiful Ones by Prince, narrated by Esperanza Spalding, Adepero Oduye, Dan Piepenbring – I don’t think there’s anything to say here but, “It’s Prince.” He was in the process of writing this when he died and I wish so bad that he’d recorded some of the audio before he passed.

• Narrator Note: Adepero Oduye did the uh-mazing audiobook of My Sister, the Serial Killer, Esperanza Spalding is a ridiculously talented singer and jazz bassist, and Dan Piepenbring is a writer for The New Yorker. That’ll work!

Latest Listens (TW for violence against women)

Remember when I said I was reading The Witches of New York by Ami McKay? Wow. Just… wow, and I *just* found out there’s a sequel called Half Spent Was the Night: A Witches’ Yuletide.

The book takes place in Gilded Age New New York and opens with a line from an advertisement in the paper that reads: “Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply.” Young Beatrice Dunn isn’t just not averse, she’s quite interested to learn whether magic exists. When she shows up to Tea & Sympathy, a tea shop in the city run by witches Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair, she’s unaware that she possesses “the gift” (she can see and speak with the deceased) herself.

Beatrice gets the job and shadows Eleanor as she gets more familiar with her powers, observing as Adelaide and Eleanor assist the many women who seek out their services: help with illness, getting pregnant, not getting pregnant, matters of the heart. Enter some seriously angry men, including one very deranged priest, each hell-bent on rooting witchcraft out root & stem and watching these women perish at all costs.

I love the three protagonists so hard. They’re smart, witty, talented, strong, and unwilling to take anybody’s sh*t even in the face of danger. Julia Whelan gets the pacing of the plot just right in her narration and does accents that don’t feel forced, and the dialogue feels so natural that I almost forgot it was just one person doing all the work.

If you’re in the mood for a magical listen, some witchy feminism, and a plot that will suck you in, I recommend.

Listens on Deck

Because I don’t want Managing Editor Sharifah to stop being my friend, I’m finally going to remedy a giant hole in my reading life and read some Terry Pratchett (stop gasping, I hear you! I know!). Small Gods is where I’ll start as soon as I can get the audiobook from Libby. In the meantime, I’m thinking it’s time for a spooky listen that isn’t necessarily about witches. Hmm… possibilities…

From the Internets

Esquire has a list of audiobooks for readers on the move.

I know today is Halloween, but here are some audiobooks for kiddos who like their spooky listens all year round.

Over at the Riot

Do you Libby? Because I Libby (a lot). Here are some handy hacks for doing the audiobook thang on the Libby app.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me booktube every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa

Hola Audiophiles!

I hope this week is treating all of you well and that great listens fill your ears. This week I lost myself in a pretty delightful book and have already started on another one, both of which I ramble about below. Thank you for all of your kinds words regarding the passing of my grandfather – your words and the ones read aloud to me have helped make each day a little brighter.

Ready? Let’s audio.

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New Releases – to be continued!

I’m skipping this week’s new release section and resuming next week so that I’m telling you about the week’s releases in the week of their release and not a week ahead of time. Cool? Cool.

Latest Listens

Practical Magic whaaaat?!? Why did I wait so long to read this!? If you too have managed to avoid this book for decades: Sally and Gillian Owens are beautiful, precocious sisters who’ve been raised by their two aunts since their parents’ tragic deaths. The aunts are witches with powers that both terrify and fascinate the girls, powers they soon develop themselves. Though close, they drift apart when Gillian decides she wants to be as far away from home as possible for a chance at some kind of normalcy. She returns eventually when she finds herself in a pickle, one that changes the sisters’ lives and buys them a not-so-friendly ghostly companion.

I love the generational magic, the heartbreaking romance, the complicated relationship between careful rule-following Sally and flighty, self-absorbed Gillian. If you love magical books that explore familial ties in all of their complicated and sometimes inconvenient glory, this is a bewitching (heh) treat.

As for Christina Moore’s narration, she has a really great storyteller voice, both neutral and spirited where it needed to be. Her Gillian voice was the only one that sometimes felt forcibly baritone, but I think I may have been comparing it to Nicole Kidman’s breathy and higher pitch (she plays Gillian in the movie adaptation).

P.S. It bears repeating that this is SO different from the movie, which I watched seconds after completing the audiobook. Not an unforgivable departure plot-wise, but it is much darker in language and tone. Lots of f-bombs and a trigger warning for an attempted sexual assault (a chase scene involving a minor with some vulgar language) and domestic abuse.

Listens on Deck

Guess what? It’s witches. More witches, many witches, all of the witches!!! Though I may work in some vampires and ghosts at some point too.  Don’t want them feeling left out.

I’ve now moved on to The Witches of New York by Ami McKay which is SO EXTREMELY MY SH*T. It’s about a trio of witches who run a tea shop in late 1800s New York called Tea & Sympathy. There’s a talking raven and lots of tea and a crusade to eradicate witches that harkens back to the original witch trials. If my bells were real and not metaphorical, you’d hear a cacophony of ringing from miles away.

From the Internets

Uber is allowing riders to listen to short stories on Audible in the UK.

Need a spine-tingling mystery for your ear holes? AudioFile to the rescue.

Someone went and wrote a piece breaking down the hilarious accents in Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill. Actual LOL! Again, Farrow’s work here is brave and invaluable, but those accents are so extra.

Over at the Riot

I joined Liberty on All the Books this week to talk this week’s new releases where I talk about revisiting God Save the Queens by Kathy Iandoli and other great new releases.

Wondering how to score audiobook ARCs? Here’s the skinny for all your blogging needs.

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That’s all I got today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with audiobook feedback & questions or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter, peep the Read Harder podcast, and watch me and my hair on the Book Riot YouTube channel every Friday too!

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa