Category: Audiobooks

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

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

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

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Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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

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

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

A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes

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

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

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

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

New Release of the Week

Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams

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

Book Riot Audiobooky Post Round-up

40+ of Your Recommended Audiobooks for Kids

Got kids? Read this.

My unexpected journey to a happier life

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

Links for Your Ears

Books Where Eclipses Loom Large

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

The “rock star” of audiobooks

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

 

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

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

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

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

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

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

Without further ado….

Stenographer

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

• Silver: 10 Bookmarks

• Gold: 40 Bookmarks
• Diamond: 125 Bookmarks

 

 

 

 

Social Butterfly

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

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

Audible Obsessed (Daily Dipper)

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

Weekend Warrior

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

Repeat Listener

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

All Nighter (Night Owl)

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

Marathoner

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

Watchtower

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

High Noon

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

The Closer

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

7 day stretch

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

Procrastinator

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

The Stack

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

Mount Everest

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

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

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

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

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

Undecider (Nibbler)

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

The Dabbler:

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

New Release of the Week:

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

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

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

Links for Your Ears!

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

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

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

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

HarperCollins is Experiencing a Huge Demand for Audiobooks

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

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

Until next week,

~Katie

Good morning, audiobook fans!

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

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

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

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

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

(publisher descriptions in quotes)

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

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

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue

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

Fake ID by Lamar Giles

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

Ghost Flower by Michele Jaffe

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

A Study in Scarlet Women Sherry Thomas

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

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

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

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

Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra

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

Hush by Jacqueline Woodson

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

New Release of the Week:

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

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

 

Book Riot Audiobooks Round-up:

LEARNING TO LISTEN: TIPS TO HELP YOU GET INTO AUDIOBOOKS

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

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

Can Audible determine a book’s success?

Links For Your Ears:

Great Rexpectations: Audible sells audiobooks to dogs

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

Why most books need to be rewritten for audio

Huh. A’ight.

Until next week!

~Katie

 

Happy Thursday, audiobook lovers!

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

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Sponsored by Flatiron Books.

The New York Times bestseller from Stephanie Garber follows two sisters as they take part of a legendary competition, not knowing what is real and what is magic. With adventure, romance, and suspense, you’ll have a hard time not getting caught up in this game…!

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One way you can do this is by supporting this campaign: it’s for We’re Still Here a new anthology containing only trans creators and stories is being funded on Kickstarter. You can read more about it here or go straight to the Kickstarter and donate.

Now, back to audiobooks! On this list, we’ve got memoir, science-fiction, YA, and more.

Surpassing Certainty by Janet Mock

Janet Mock might be among the most well-known contemporary trans authors and for good reason: namely both she and her books are awesome. Her first book, Redefining Realness was called “A Fiery Success” by The Atlantic. Surpassing Certainty focuses on Mock’s 20s–-beginning just a few days before her 20th birthday. Kirkus calls Surpassing Certainty “Brimming with liberated self-discovery, Mock’s conversational memoir is smoothly written with plenty of insight and personal perspective….A defining chronicle of strength and spirit particularly remarkable for younger readers, both in transition or questioning.”

Being Jazz: My Life as A Transgender Teen by Jazz Jennings

Jennings rose to fame on the hit TLC show Being Jazz. Her legions of fans follow her YouTube channel, a documentary, a children’s book, and this title for young adults and adults. If Jazz has a “brand,” it’s rooted in tolerance, open-mindedness, and equality. Which is a pretty awesome brand, if you’re gonna have one. It’s no wonder Time named her one of “25 Most Influential Teens.”

A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology, and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today by Kate Bornstein

I love Kate Bornstein. My first exposure to her was through the book Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlaws, which I bought for the teen section of my library when I was the Young Adult librarian. Then, realizing that even though I wasn’t a teen, I was, as Bornstein might say, a freak or outlaw. In all of her works, Bornstein is refreshingly honest (and hilarious!) about identity, mental health, and all the bullshit that life throws at us. In Queer and Present Danger, we get to see how Bornstein became the inspiring human being she is. I mean, with a subtitle like “The true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology, and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today” how can you NOT want to read it?

Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz

“Fifteen-year-old bender Kivali has had a rough time in a gender-rigid culture. Abandoned as a baby and raised by Sheila, an ardent nonconformist, Kivali has always been surrounded by uncertainty. Where did she come from? Is it true what Sheila says, that she was deposited on Earth by the mysterious saurians? What are you? people ask, and Kivali isn’t sure. Boy/girl? Human/lizard? Both/neither? Now she’s in CropCamp, with all of its schedules and regs, and the first real friends she’s ever had. Strange occurrences and complicated relationships raise questions Kivali has never before had to consider. But she has a gift—the power to enter a trancelike state to harness the “knowings” inside her. She has Lizard Radio. Will it be enough to save her?”

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

Using material from her journal entries, Tranny recounts the challenges that Laura Jane Grace, the lead singer of the cult punk rock band Against Me!  experienced through her childhood and adolescence. “Grappling with everything from sex, drugs, and failed marriages to the music and soul of a punk rock star, this memoir paints a vivid portrait of one of the most revolutionary transgender icons of our time.”

The Unintentional Time Traveler by Everett Maroon

This book about a 15-year-old with epilepsy is what many consider to be the first YA book about a trans character written by a trans author. When Jack undergoes an experimental treatment for his epilepsy, he finds himself in the body of Jacqueline–-a girl Jack’s age. Mysteries of time travel and gender identity ensue.

Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

In 1980, six friends break into an abandoned prison, looking for a little excitement. What results is a terrifying, tragic night with consequences that remain decades into the future. When new evidence of that tragic night appears, the detective in charge of the case renews his pursuit. When one of the friends is charged with murder for what occurred that evening, there’s only one person who can exonerate him: Judith Carrigan. But Judith has secrets of her own that she’s desperate to keep away from her husband and child. Can she save one life without destroying her own?

Whipping Girl by Julia Serrano

Serrano is a lesbian transgender activist, professional biologist, and prolific writer. In this book, she “shares her powerful experiences and observations…to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our societal attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole.”

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

“Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.

But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won’t be able to see past it.”

George by Alex Gino

I dare you to read the description of this book and not find it so freaking charming (and important!) you could just die. “When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl. George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part . . . because she’s a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.”

FURTHER READING FOR FURTHER READING

Highlighting the Trans Authors Nominated for the 2016 Lambda Literary Awards

Rioter Constance takes us through the works by trans authors nominated for the 2016 Lambda Literary awards and discusses the potentially hopefully signs of expanding categories for trans authors.

Finding Trans Writers in Your Favorite Genres

Shockingly (#sarcasm) trans writers write books in all genres, not just memoir or about “trans issues.” This list will help you find books by trans authors in whatever genre strikes your fancy.

HELPFUL LINKS

While writing this newsletter, I had to look up more terms than I usually do. The subtitle of Whipping Girl, for example, uses the term “transsexual” which I thought was an outdated/not entirely accurate term. Serano has a helpful glossary here in which she explains why she uses the word in relation to herself. In addition to Serano’s site, here are a few other neato resources.

Some basic definitions: http://www.transstudent.org/definitions

And for writer/media types like myself, both the Daily Dot and Glaad have excellent resources about how to cover transgender issues responsibly.

Did I miss your favorite book written by a trans author? Any other resources I should know about? Let me know,  or just say hello on Twitter @msmacb or just shoot me a note at katie@riotnewmedia.com

Until next week,

~Katie

Ahoy, Audiobook fans!

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

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

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

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

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New Mexico Redux:

Death Comes From the Archbishop by Willa Cather

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

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

Colorado:

Our Souls at Night by Ken Haruf

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

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

Utah:

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

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

Nevada Redux:

Dragonfish by Vu Tran

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

New Books:

Ghost Country by Sara Paretsky

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links for Your Ears:

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

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

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

Until next week, listeners,

~Katie

@msmacb

Hello from beautiful Colorado, audiobooky friends,

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

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Sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio

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

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

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

California:

The Last Days of California by Mary Miller

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

Nevada:

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

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

Arizona:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

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

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

New Mexico:

The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob

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

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

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

Oklahoma:

Paradise by Toni Morrison

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

New Books:

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing by Jen Waite

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

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

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

Collared by David Rosenfelt:

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

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

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

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

In Case You Missed It on Book Riot:

A guest post from Carina Pereira making “THE CASE FOR REREADING ON AUDIO”

Audiobooks aren’t cheating; in fact, they add extra dimension to already beloved favorites.

Until next week, I’m your itchy pal,

~Katie

@msmacb

Hello again, listeners,

Here’s a riddle: How do you make a drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas (7-8 hours) fly by? You listen to Al Franken’s new audiobook, Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. Granted, there are a lot of ways in which this book is tailor-made for me (thanks, Al! How’d you know?). I grew up following politics and that fascination has only increased in my adulthood. I also really love comedy. So a book about how a comedian got into the Senate is kind of a no-brainer.

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Sponsored by The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy, a HMH Book for Young Readers.

Every seven years something disappears in the town of Sterling: reflections…dreams…colors. When Aila arrives, she learns the town is cursed to lose experiences that weave life together…and the theory is that Aila’s deceased mother, Juliet, is to blame.

Aila sets out to clear her mother’s name with the help of George, whose goofy charm makes him a fast friend; Beas, the enigmatic violinist who writes poetry on her knees; and William, whose pull on Aila’s heart terrifies her.

The Disappearances is a bewitching tale full of intrigue and dread that will leave you entranced.

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That said, there are tons of elements that make this book above and beyond the average book by a comedian or a senator. And make it so good on audio. First, Franken’s first Senate campaign and election were bananas. I won’t spoil it and some folks may remember it but either way, it’s a helluva story. More than that, however, is the amount of behind-the-scenes detail Franken includes about the inner workings of the Senate. For example, Franken talks about how much work a senator’s staff does that the senators gleefully take credit for. Sure, maybe that’s something you already assumed, but the way Franken injects a sly (or sometimes not-so-sly) quip about the egos of all senators (including himself) is refreshing.

Some of the most hilarious moments of the book come when Franken describes trying to stop himself from making jokes on the otherwise humorless Senate floor. There’s a particularly excellent scene in which he recalls the arguments of the devil and angel perched on his shoulder. I can’t even remember what joke he debated saying, but both my road trip partner and I were SCREAMING with laughter.

For wonky political nerds like myself, there are many really juicy tidbits of political gossip (The Obama Campaign kind of gave the Franken campaign the cold shoulder?), as well as a healthy dose of self-awareness about the privilege of being a senator and how Sherrod Brown of Ohio told Franken “there’s no whining on the yacht” and Al Gore told Franken to “suck it up,” when he was getting raked over the coals in the press about something.

If you are, like me, the kind of person who watches Rachel Maddow every. single. night. This is the book for you. But even if you don’t, it’s probably the book for you. If you’re unsure, just read the chapter called Sophistry. If that doesn’t sell you on the book, probably nothing will. I actually listened to that chapter twice–-the second time immediately after the first–-just because it was so devilishly funny.

Franken gets serious about Trump and policy, and the policy chapters might be a bit long for those who aren’t super into this stuff. But the rest of the book will make up for it, I promise. Plus, Franken really knows what he’s talking about regarding these issues and we would all do well to listen up. So, that’s why I dedicated this week’s newsletter to Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. Give it a listen and let me know what you think at @msmacb on Twitter.

New Books:

Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap into Radical Curiosity and Solve Any Problem written and narrated by Bill Nye

“Everything All at Once is an exciting, inspiring call to unleash the power of the nerd mindset that exists within us all. Nye believes we’ll never be able to tackle our society’s biggest, most complex problems if we don’t even know how to solve the small ones. Step by step, he shows his listeners the key tools behind his everything-all-at-once approach: radical curiosity, a deep desire for a better future, and a willingness to take the actions needed to make it a reality. Problem-solving is a skill that anyone can harness to create change, and Bill Nye is here to teach us how.

Each chapter describes a principle of problem solving that Nye himself uses – methodical, fact-based approaches to life that aspires to leave no stone unturned. He explains how the nerd mindset leads to a richer and more meaningful life; far more than that, it can help address hunger, crime, poverty, pollution, and even assist the democratic process. Throughout the book, Nye draws on his own experiences – leavened with his trademark humor and self-deprecation – to show how he came to think like a Science Guy, and how you can, too. By the end, you will be ready to sort out problems, recognize solutions, and join him in changing the world.”

The X-Files: Cold Cases by Joe Harris, Chris Carter, narrated by David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson.

“Set after the events of The X-Files: I Want to Believe and providing additional backstory to the incidents that pulled Mulder and Scully out of reclusion prior to 2016’s miniseries revival, a database breach at FBI headquarters allows an unknown group to access and capitalize on those investigations left unsolved – dubbed cold cases – by the secret department once known as The X-Files. As friends and foes of the agency long thought gone begin to inexplicably reappear, former agents Mulder and Scully come out of anonymity to face a growing conspiracy that involves not only their former department but the US government and forces not of this world.

Here, fans are treated once again to Mulder and Scully’s irreplicable chemistry as only the series’ leads could deliver, Duchovny’s deadpan and cynical aloofness finding its natural counterpoint in Anderson’s unwavering intelligence and rigidity. Appearances from series regulars and the actors who made them fan favorites round out this must-listen arc: the gruff, no-BS righteousness of Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi); the distinctive click-puff of the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis); and the stooge-like hijinks of three beloved conspiracy theorists called the Lone Gunmen.”

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons
“Raised in Pennsylvania, Thandi views the world of her mother’s childhood in Johannesburg as both impossibly distant and ever present. She is an outsider wherever she goes, caught between being black and white, American and not. She tries to connect these dislocated pieces of her life, and as her mother succumbs to cancer, Thandi searches for an anchor – someone, or something, to love.

In arresting and unsettling prose, we watch Thandi’s life unfold, from losing her mother and learning to live without the person who has most profoundly shaped her existence to her own encounters with romance and unexpected motherhood. Through exquisite and emotional vignettes, Clemmons creates a stunning portrayal of what it means to choose to live after loss.

An elegiac distillation, at once intellectual and visceral, of a young woman’s understanding of absence and identity that spans continents and decades, What We Lose heralds the arrival of a virtuosic new voice in fiction.”

Book Riot Linking:

AUDIOBOOKS HELP ME COPE

Rioter Emma discusses how—and which—audiobooks have helped her during a time of emotional and literal upheaval.

3 BAD AUDIOBOOKS I LISTENED TO DURING HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

We make mistakes so you don’t have to.

WHY I DON’T LISTEN TO FICTIONAL AUDIOBOOKS NARRATED BY MEN

Narrators can make or break an audiobook, and male narrators who make female characters shrill definitely break them.

More links for your ears:

The Washington Post has a glowing review of David Sedaris’ new book–-Audiobooks: David Sedaris reads his diary with relish for the absurdity of life

A list of the audio books narrated by some of your favorite actors—EW.com

How can I check if my eBooks have matching audiobook companions?–Audible.com – Help Center

Ok, this one is only kind of audiobook related, but whatever, I think it’s cool: 4 text-to-speech apps that will read online articles to you

Former Vice President Al Gore, Shailene Woodley, Sterling K. Brown And More To Narrate The Audiobook Edition Of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power—That’s all for this week! I’ll be back in touch next week from somewhere on the road!

~Katie

Happy July, y’all!

Remember last week when I was talking about how great Do Not Be Alarmed is? BAM: here’s an interview with Meloy in which she talks about the book as well as her experience narrating the audiobook. Did anyone maybe go listen to her narration of that Laurie Colwin story, Mr. Parker? If you did will you hit me up on twitter and tell me if you liked it? I know I’m being a little obsessive; I just love that story so much.

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Sponsored by Overdrive.

Meet Libby, a new app built with love for readers to discover and enjoy eBooks and audiobooks from your library. Created by OverDrive and inspired by library users, Libby was designed to get people reading as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Libby is a one-tap reading app for your library who is a good friend always ready to go to the library with you. One-tap to borrow, one-tap to read, and one-tap to return to your library or bookshelf to begin your next great book.

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I’m really excited about the release of Alissa Nutting’s new book, Made for Love. Tampa was a disturbing, excellent read and Nutting’s collection of short stories, Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls, is among my favorite collections. Publisher’s Weekly included Made for Love on their Best Summer Books of  2017 list, saying “Nutting deftly exploits the comic potential of perverse attachments… The novel charms in its witty portrait of a woman desperate to reconnect with her humanity.”

Usually, I go for realistic fiction or nonfiction but, man, reality has been sucking recently. So I’ve been really into listening to older, favorite classics. Here are two of my standard audiobook escapes. Would love to hear yours…

The Harry Potter Series: Aside from the way Jim Dale does Hermione’s voice (it’s so breathy!), these audiobooks are perfection. Like the print books, I can start any one of the seven books and open it randomly, start reading, and be happily engaged. I have also fallen asleep to these and had the occasional Hogwarts dream which…#blessed.

Ready Player One: I could (and have!) listened to this book a million times. I’ve probably talked about it in this newsletter before. It’s just a totally engaging adventure story with corporate bad dudes, ’80s nostalgia, and a treasure hunt. The movie is coming out next year (and for Silicon Valley fans: T.J. Miller is playing iRock in the film. iRock doesn’t have a huge role in the book so…they might make him a more central character in the film? We’ll see…) and if you haven’t listened to this one yet, you’re going to want to hop on that before the movie release. 

New releases:

(publisher description in quotes)

Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco

“A young boy has fled his home. He’s pursued by dangerous forces. What lies before him is an infinite, arid plain, one he must cross in order to escape those from whom he’s fleeing. One night on the road, he meets an old goatherd, a man who lives simply but righteously, and from that moment on their paths intertwine.

Out in the Open tells the story of this journey through a drought-stricken country ruled by violence. A world where names and dates don’t matter, where morals have drained away with the water. In this landscape the boy – not yet a lost cause – has the chance to choose hope and bravery or to live forever mired in the cycle of violence in which he was raised. Carrasco has masterfully created a high-stakes world, a dystopian tale of life and death, right and wrong, terror and salvation.”

This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson 

“Lesbian. Bisexual. Queer. Transgender. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who’s ever dared to wonder. This book is for you. There’s a long-running joke that after “coming out”, a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. This is that instruction manual. You’re welcome. In it you’ll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask: from sex to politics and hooking up to stereotypes, coming out, and more. This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it’s like to grow up LGBT also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums. You will be entertained. You will be informed. But most importantly, you will know that however you identify (or don’t) and whomever you love, you are exceptional. You matter. And so does this book.”

Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner

“Detective Manon Bradshaw handles only cold cases. But when a man dies just yards from the police station where she works, Manon can’t help taking an interest. And as she sidles in on the briefing she learns that the victim, a banker from London worth millions, is more closely linked to her than she could have imagined. When the case begins to circle in on Manon’s home and her family, she finds herself pitted against the colleagues she once held dear.”

New Book Riot Podcast!

Also, if you are reading this newsletter, you probably love audiobooks. And learning more about books, reading, and language. Well, Book Riot is delighted to announce the launch of our newest podcast, Annotated! Presented by Hachette Book Group, Annotated is an audio documentary series about books, reading, and language. We’re kicking things off with a deep dive into George Orwell’s 1984: how it became stock high school reading, its CIA-supported appearance on the silver screen, its current resurgence, and more. Check it out at bookriot.com/annotated or search for Annotated in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your podcatcher of choice.

 

Links for Your Ears:

Audiobooks: Three biographies run the gamut from great to pretty bad–Winston-Salem Journal

June 2017 Audiobook Bestsellers—Libro.fm 

The Harry Potter audiobooks have a magic of their own—New Statesman

Hello again, audiobook lovers, how was your week?

In the newsletter last week, I fangirled pretty hard over Titus Welliver and his narration of the later Harry Bosch audiobooks. Bear with me, cuz I have more (but different!) fangirling to do now: this weekend, I listened to all of Maile Meloy’s new book, Do Not Become Alarmed, in a single day.

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Sponsored by Overdrive

Meet Libby, a new app built with love for readers to discover and enjoy eBooks and audiobooks from your library. Created by OverDrive and inspired by library users, Libby was designed to get people reading as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Libby is a one-tap reading app for your library who is a good friend always ready to go to the library with you. One-tap to borrow, one-tap to read, and one-tap to return to your library or bookshelf to begin your next great book.

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The first time I heard Meloy read something was in the New Yorker Fiction podcast when she read the story “Mr. Parker” by Laurie Colwin. “Mr. Parker” is one of my all-time favorite short stories; it’s about a girl on the brink of teenagehood, in that last moment of innocence before she is launched into womanhood and all the perils that come with it. Meloy’s voice is perfect for the story–-soft, but strong and clear with the self-awareness that begins to creep into the young girl’s consciousness. I highly recommend listening to it, which you can do here.  

So, I was thrilled to learn that Meloy reads the audio of Do Not Become Alarmed and, once again, her voice is perfect for the subject. It’s the story of two families who take a cruise together and on a land excursion, the children go missing. So much of the novel is about the tension between ignorance and awareness, between attitudes of those with privilege and those without. I listened to the whole book in a day; I lost of doing work but couldn’t stop without knowing how things turned out.

Star Spangled Audiobooks

One of the *few* silver linings I can see in the Trump presidency and the chaos around it is an increased conversation around how government works. Our president often seems unclear about how the three branches of government work or what the Constitution says and as a result, those issues have been discussed more widely than they have in the past. Remember that moment at the Democratic National Committee convention when gold-star father Khizr Khan offered to lend Trump a copy of his pocket Constitution? Something tells me the Trump never took him up on the offer.

Fortunately for all of us, Penguin Random House has teamed up with PEN America and the National Coalition Against Censorship to bring us free streaming audio recordings of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Narrated by Frank Langella and Boyd Gaines, these recordings will be available through the end of July. If you wanna let others know you’re brushing up on your founding documents and see what others have to say, folks will be using the #wethepeoplelisten hashtag to share their thoughts. Listen at www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/wethepeoplelisten

If you are a politics nerd like I am, you may also enjoy one of the most nerdtastic items I have ever purchased. May it Please the Court is a print book but it comes with an audio CD. The book contains the transcripts from the most seminal supreme court cases between 1955 and 2007; the audio CD has the actual recordings of those arguments. From the publisher, “May It Please the Court includes both live recordings and transcripts of oral arguments in twenty-three of the most significant cases argued before the Supreme Court in the second half of the twentieth century…through the voices of some of the nation’s most important lawyers and justices, including Thurgood Marshall, Archibald Cox, and Earl Warren, it offers a chance to hear firsthand our justice system at work, in the highest court of the land.”

Take a look at some of the cases included: Gideon v. Wainwright (right to counsel) Abington School District v. Schempp (school prayer) Miranda v. Arizona (“the right to remain silent”) Roe v. Wade (abortion rights) Edwards v. Aguillard (teaching “creationism”) Regents v. Bakke (reverse discrimination) Wisconsin v. Yoder (compulsory schooling for the Amish) Tinker v. Des Moines (Vietnam protest in schools) Texas v. Johnson (flag burning) New York Times v. United States (Pentagon Papers) Cox v. Louisiana (civil rights demonstrations) Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board (freedom of association) Terry v. Ohio (“stop and frisk” by police) Gregg v. Georgia (capital punishment) Cooper v. Aaron (Little Rock school desegregation) Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (public accommodations) Palmer v. Thompson (swimming pool integration) Loving v. Virginia (interracial marriage) San Antonio v. Rodriguez (equal funding for public schools) Bowers v. Hardwick (homosexual rights) Baker v. Carr (“one person, one vote”) United States v. Nixon (Watergate tapes) DeShaney v. Winnebago County (child abuse).

New Releases

(publisher description in quotes)

Hope and a Future: The Story of Syrian Refugees by John M. B. Balouziyeh

This is the first I have heard of the Refugee Rights series but count me in.

“This book tracks the author’s travels to Syrian refugee camps and informal tented settlements in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. Relying on his legal background, he offers an unfiltered account of the plight of Syrian refugees from a legal, political, and humanitarian perspective.

Yet this book is more than just an account of the lives of Syrian refugees; it answers that burning question on so many people’s minds: how can I help? In discussing corporate partnerships with aid organizations, civil society initiatives, humanitarian missions, volunteering and fundraising, the author shows that there is a role anyone can play in making a lasting, positive impact on Syrian refugees and restoring dignity to their lives.”

The Lost Girl by Carol Drinkwater

“Lizzie, the only daughter of celebrated war photographer Kurtiz Ross, went missing four years ago. Kurtiz and her ex-husband, Oliver, arrive in Paris following an unconfirmed sighting of their daughter.

Oliver rushes to find her while Kurtiz waits, praying for a reunion. As sirens wail, Kurtiz finds comfort in Marguerite Courtenay – a glamorous former actress. As Marguerite distracts Kurtiz with stories of her life in postwar Provence, Kurtiz must confront her own ghosts and face up to home truths.”

Use of Force by Brad Thor

“As a storm rages across the Mediterranean Sea, a terrifying distress call is made to the Italian Coast Guard. Days later, a body washes ashore.

Identified as a high-value terrorism suspect (who had disappeared three years prior), his name sends panic through the Central Intelligence Agency. Where was he headed? What was he planning? And could he be connected to the “spectacular attack” they have been fearing all summer?

In a race against time, the CIA taps an unorthodox source to get answers: Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operative, Scot Harvath. Hired on a black contract, Harvath will provide the deniability the United States needs while he breaks every rule along the way.”

Links for Your Ears

5 Audiobook Narrators Who Are Sure To Have You Falling in Love With the Format –Book Riot

How One Man Overcame Blindness and Started an Audiobook Show for New Scifi and Fantasy –Gizmodo

Samuel West to narrate new Inspector Morse audio series –The Bookseller

City seeking first poet laureate –Winnipeg Free Press

These Are The Most Popular eBooks And Audiobooks Of Summer 2017, According To Scribd –Bustle

Dear Match Book: What Audiobooks Will Liven Up My Summer Road Trips? –New York Times

Now Is a Good Time to Listen to Prodigy Tell His Life Story –SPIN

Disability Advocates Celebrate the End of Australia’s ‘Book Famine’ –Pro Bono Australia

Until next time,

~Katie

Happy Day Before Friday, audiobook lovers!

Before I get into awesome lists and new releases, I have to tell you about my exciting audiobook discovery. A few weeks ago, I found myself bingeing all of the Amazon show, Bosch. I knew Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books were popular from my time as a public librarian but never read any myself. A few weeks ago I watched *all* of Bosch and figured listening to all of the Bosch books might be a good salve in the many months before Season 4 is released. So, I went to my local library’s website and put whatever I could on hold.

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Apparently, a few other folks had the same idea. The only Bosch audiobooks I could find were the later ones and…the actor who plays Bosch in the series narrates some of the later books (like the one I am currently listening to, The Wrong Side of Goodbye)! This may only be exciting to those of us who have come to know Harry Bosch through Titus Welliver’s voice but it was fun to hear that same voice as I transitioned from show to audiobook. Also, (and let’s just pretend like this is audiobook related), LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE PICTURE OF BOSCH/WELLIVER WITH KITTENS!

Reading the Rainbow!

Pride month is coming to an end and I wanna highlight a couple of LGBTQIA+ before the month ends (though shouldn’t we just celebrate Pride year-round?). Descriptions from the publisher and/or Goodreads in quotes.

Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

This book is just an all-around winner. High school junior Simon isn’t openly gay, though privately he’s perfectly comfortable with his sexuality. “But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing with, will be compromised..”

Surpassing Certainty by Janet Mock

“The journey begins a few months before her twentieth birthday. Janet Mock is adjusting to her days as a first-generation college student at the University of Hawaii and her nights as a dancer at a strip club. Finally content in her body, she vacillates between flaunting and concealing herself as she navigates dating and disclosure, sex and intimacy, and most important, letting herself be truly seen. Under the neon lights of Club Nu, Janet meets Troy, a yeoman stationed at Pearl Harbor naval base, who becomes her first. The pleasures and perils of their union serve as a backdrop for Janet’s progression through her early twenties with all the universal growing pains-falling in and out of love, living away from home, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life.”

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 

I loved this book long before I heard the audio. Then, I fell in love with Hamilton (and Lin-Manuel Miranda). Then, I found out that LIN MANUEL MIRANDA narrates the Aristotle and Dante audiobook and my life exploded into one big ball of awesome (well, at least for the 7 hours and 32 minutes duration of the audiobook). “When Aristotle and Dante meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship-the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.”

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace and Dan Ozzi

“The provocative transgender advocate and lead singer of the punk rock band Against Me! provides a searing account of her search for identity and her true self.”

Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

This audiobook is one of those that makes you laugh while it’s punching you in the gut. Now doesn’t that sound like fun? (It actually really is). “With ribald humor, wit, and incredible insight, Alan seamlessly moves back and forth in time, integrating stories from his childhood in Scotland and his experiences today as the celebrated actor of film, television, and stage. At times suspenseful, at times deeply moving, but always incredibly brave and honest, Not My Father’s Son is a powerful story of embracing the best aspects of the past and triumphantly pushing the darkness aside.”

Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded by Hannah Hart

“By combing through the journals that Hannah has kept for much of her life, this collection of narrative essays deliver a fuller picture of her life, her experiences, and the things she’s figured out about family, faith, love, sexuality, self-worth, friendship and fame.”

Being Jazz by Jazz Jennings

“Teen advocate and trailblazer Jazz Jennings shares her very public transgender journey, as she inspires people to accept the differences in others while they embrace their own truths.”

The Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy

“Fifth-generation New Yorker, third-generation bartender, and first-generation author Tara Clancy spend her childhood scheming and gambling with her force-of-nature grandmother, brawling with eleven-year-old girls on the concrete recess battle yard of MS 172, lounging on Adirondack chairs beside an immaculate croquet lawn, holding court beside Joey O’Dirt, Goiter Eddy, and Roger the Dodger at her Dad’s local bar, Tara leapfrogs across these varied spheres, delivering stories from each world with originality, grit, and outrageous humor.”

Shadowshaper Daniel José Older

“Sierra Santiago planned an easy summer of making art and hanging out with her friends. But then a corpse crashes the first party of the season. Her stroke-ridden grandfather starts apologizing over and over. And when the murals in her neighborhood begin to weep real tears… Well, something more sinister than the usual Brooklyn ruckus is going on…”

Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

“Weaving deftly between 1980 and the present day, and told in an unforgettable voice, Long Black Veil is an intensely atmospheric thriller that explores the meaning of identity, loyalty, and love.”

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

I have loved Samantha Irby’s work for a long time. If you listen to this audiobook (and you happen to believe, as Irby and I do, that “Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when life is a dumpster fire.”) I think Irby will become one of your new favorites.

This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

“When Rosie and Penn and their four boys welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised it’s another baby boy. But Claude is not like his brothers. One day he puts on a dress and refuses to take it off. He wants to bring a purse to kindergarten. He wants hair long enough to sit on. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn aren’t panicked at first. Kids go through phases, after all, and make-believe is fun. But soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes…”

New Releases

The Gold-Son by Carrie Anne Noble

“All sixteen-year-old Tommin wants is to make beautiful shoes and care for his beloved grandmother, but his insatiable need to steal threatens to destroy everything. Driven by a curse that demands more and more gold, he’s sure to get caught eventually.

When mysterious Lorcan Reilly arrives in town with his “niece,” Eve, Tommin believes the fellow wants to help him. Instead, Lorcan whisks him off to the underground realm of the Leprechauns, where, alongside Eve, he’s forced to prepare to become one of them.

As Lorcan’s plans for his “gold-children” are slowly revealed, Tommin and Eve plan their escape. But with Tommin’s humanity slipping away, the fate-crossed pair has everything to lose unless they can find a way to outsmart a magical curse centuries in the making.”

Into The Grey Zone by Adrian Owen

“Into the Gray Zone takes listeners to the edge of a dazzling, humbling frontier in our understanding of the brain: the so-called “gray zone” between full consciousness and brain death. People in this middle place have sustained traumatic brain injuries or are the victims of stroke or degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Many are oblivious to the outside world, and their doctors believe they are incapable of thought. But a sizeable number are experiencing something different: intact minds adrift deep within damaged brains and bodies. An expert in the field, Adrian Owen led a team that, in 2006, discovered this lost population and made medical history. Scientists, physicians, and philosophers have only just begun to grapple with the implications.”

The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett

“All Jamie Allenby ever wanted was space. Even though she wasn’t forced to emigrate from Earth, she willingly left the overpopulated, claustrophobic planet. And when a long relationship devolved into silence and suffocating sadness, she found work on a frontier world on the edges of civilization. Then the virus hit.

Now Jamie finds herself dreadfully alone, with all that’s left of the dead. Until a garbled message from Earth gives her hope that someone from her past might still be alive.

Soon Jamie finds other survivors, and their ragtag group will travel through the vast reaches of space, drawn to the promise of a new beginning on Earth. But their dream will pit them against those desperately clinging to the old ways. And Jamie’s own journey home will help her close the distance between who she has become and who she is meant to be.”

Audiobooking with Book Riot

Audiobooks for the Whole Family: 5 For the Sweet Spot

What audiobooks can entertain an adult while not terrorizing the children who might be listening in the back seat? M. Lynx Qualey has five must-listens.

Best Audiobooks of 2017…so far

Jaime Canaves picks some of the best listens of the year.

Until next week, audiobookers! As always, feel free to hit me up on Twitter at @msmacb.

~Katie

P.S. SERIOUSLY THIS PICTURE