About Kylie Conner

Kylie’s favorite reads are usually horror/thrillers, which matches her taste in films as well. When she’s not cracking bad jokes she can often be found curled up with a cup of coffee and her cat, Gideon.

Top Free Audiobooks from July’s VIP Rewards

Audiobooks.com members (including free trial members) enjoy the benefits of our VIP Rewards program, which allows you to make a selection from a specially curated list of free audiobooks every month.

To browse the current month’s selection and choose your free audiobook, simply tap into the VIP Rewards section in the Audiobooks.com app or after logging into the Audiobooks.com website.

All new VIP Rewards will become available on the first day of each month. But don’t feel rushed to listen to your free audiobook every month—you can download today and listen whenever, for as long as you’re a member.

If you’re an Audiobooks.com member and are looking to make your free selection for July, we’ve got you covered! Check out this month’s top three VIP downloads below or click here to see the full list.


The Journey of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall, narrated by Joseph Marshall

Publisher Summary:

Most of the world remembers Crazy Horse as a peerless warrior who brought the U.S. Army to its knees at the Battle of Little Bighorn. But to his fellow Lakota Indians, he was a dutiful son and humble fighting man who-with valor, spirit, respect, and unparalleled leadership-fought for his people’s land, livelihood, and honor. In this fascinating biography, Joseph M. Marshall, himself a Lakota Indian, creates a vibrant portrait of the man, his times, and his legacy.

Thanks to firsthand research and his culture’s rich oral tradition (rarely shared outside the Native American community), Marshall reveals many aspects of Crazy Horse’s life, including details of the powerful vision that convinced him of his duty to help preserve the Lakota homeland-a vision that changed the course of Crazy Horse’s life and spurred him confidently into battle time and time again.

The Journey of Crazy Horse is the true story of how one man’s fight for his people’s survival roused his true genius as a strategist, commander, and trusted leader. And it is an unforgettable portrayal of a revered human being and a profound celebration of a culture, a community, and an enduring way of life

Read more and sample the audio →


A Wicked Snow by Gregg Olsen, narrated by Karen Peakes

Publisher Summary:

Hannah Griffin was a girl when tragedy struck. She still remembers the flames reflected against the newly fallen snow and the bodies the police dug up-one of them her mother’s. The killer was never found…

Twenty years later Hannah is a talented CSI investigating a case of child abuse when the past comes hurtling back. A killer with unfinished business is on the hunt. And an anonymous message turns Hannah’s blood cold:
Your Mom called…

Read more and sample the audio →


81 Days Below Zero by Toula Vlahou, Brian Murphy narrated by Richard Ferrone

Publisher Summary:

The untold story of Leon Crane, the only surviving crew member of a World War II B-24 crash on a remote mountain near the Arctic Circle, who managed to stay alive 81 days in sub-zero temperature by making peace with nature, and end his ordeal by walking along a river to safety.

Part World War II story, part Alaskan adventure story, part survival story, and even part inspirational story, this is what we call ‘a good read.’ This is the first full length retelling of Crane’ s incredible survivalist story. It has been noted in magazines and in story collections over the years: most notably, just after the war ended, Crane’s story was included in a book aptly titled, The 100 Best True Stories of World War II, and in the 1970s, the story was a part of John McPhee‘s hot-selling collection of Alaskan survival tales, Coming into the Country.

The author suggests that we think Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild ‘meets’ Alfred Lansing’s Endurance. I would suggest that we also think Dick Proenneke’s Alone in the Wilderness ‘meets’ Slavomir Rawicz’s The Long Walk. These meetings can go on and on; but there are some very impressive WWII survival stories that have become bestselling books– even with previously ‘untold’ and ‘unknown’ stories, like Crane’s

Read more and sample the audio →


Looking for Book Recommendations?

• Here are the audiobooks our members have been loving, along with our staff picks that we’ve been championing.

• Looking to share your love of books? Our handy Book Clubbin’ questions make it super easy to start a book club. Or, Netflix n’ buddy-read with this year’s book-to-screen adaptations (just be prepared for the perennial debate: is the book better than the movie/show?).

• If you’re looking for something extra, we’ve got author and narrator interviews to give you a gleam inside their worlds.

• For the curious-minded, audiobooks can teach you a thing or two, from nature therapy to personal finance. It can even keep the little ones busy so you can steal some time back for yourself.


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

8 Books We Think You Should Read At Least Once

There’s a reason some books are considered to be “classics.” They stood the test of time and deliver topics and themes that are still relevant today. And what about those buzzy books that you’ve heard everyone talk about, but just never got around to picking up? Well guess what?! Now is the time to jump into one of these books that we think you need to read at least once in your life. We’ve highlighted a few below, but you can browse the full booklist here.


1984 by George Orwell, narrated by Benjamin May 

George Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most definitive texts of modern literature. Set in Oceania, one of the three inter-continental superstate that divided the world among themselves after a global war, Orwell’s masterful critique of the political structures of the time, works itself out through the story of Winston Smith, a man caught in the webs of a dystopian future, and his clandestine love affair with Julia, a young woman he meets during the course of his work for the government.

As much as it is an entertaining read, 1984 is also a brilliant, and more importantly, a timeless satirical attack on the social and political structures of the world.

Read more and sample the audio →


Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, narrated by Barbara Caruso

Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I.

Part II, chronicles Meg’s joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo’s struggle to become a writer, Beth’s tragedy, and Amy’s artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s childhood, this lively portrait of nineteenth-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers.

Read more and sample the audio →


All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, narrated by Zach Appelman

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

All The Light We Cannot See was the winner of both the 2015 Audie Award for Fiction as well as the 2015 Pulitzer Prize.

Read more and sample the audio →


Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, narrated by Peter Noble, Colin Salmon

Obsessed with the idea of creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material with which to fashion a new being, shocking his creation to life with electricity. But this botched creature, rejected by its creator and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy Frankenstein and all that he holds dear.

Mary Shelley’s chilling gothic tale was conceived when she was only eighteen, living with her lover Percy Shelley near Lord Byron’s villa on Lake Geneva. It would become the world’s most famous work of Gothic horror, and Frankenstein’s monster an instantly-recognisable symbol of the limits of human creativity.

Read more and sample the audio →


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, narrated by Bahni Turpin

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

The Underground Railroad is both a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner and is now an original Amazon Prime Video series directed by Barry Jenkins.

Read more and sample the audio →


Lord of the Flies by William Golding, narrated by William Golding

William Golding’s classic novel of primitive savagery and survival is one of the most vividly realized and riveting works in modern fiction. The tale begins after a plane wreck deposits a group of English school boys, aged six to twelve on an isolated tropical island. Their struggle to survive and impose order quickly evolves from a battle against nature into a battle against their own primitive instincts. Golding’s portrayal of the collapse of social order into chaos draws the fine line between innocence and savagery.

Read more and sample the audio →


The Giver by Lois Lowry, narrated by Ron Rifkin

Lois Lowry’s The Giver is the quintessential dystopian novel, followed by its remarkable companions, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back

Read more and sample the audio →


Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, narrated by Kirby Heyborne, Julia Whelan

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy (Nick) parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Amy’s husband, Nick, is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Gone Girl was named the best book of the year and one of the most influential books of the decade.

Read more and sample the audio →


Looking for Book Recommendations?

• Here are the audiobooks our members have been loving, along with our staff picks that we’ve been championing.

• Looking to share your love of books? Our handy Book Clubbin’ questions make it super easy to start a book club. Or, Netflix n’ buddy-read with this year’s book-to-screen adaptations (just be prepared for the perennial debate: is the book better than the movie/show?).

• If you’re looking for something extra, we’ve got author and narrator interviews to give you a gleam inside their worlds.

• For the curious-minded, audiobooks can teach you a thing or two, from nature therapy to personal finance. It can even keep the little ones busy so you can steal some time back for yourself.


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Audiobooks to Help You Celebrate Pride Month: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Listens for Littles

This year, for Pride Month, some areas are easing back into normal life while other places are still in lockdown. So if you’re looking for a safe way to celebrate this month, why not pick up a new LGBTQIA+ audiobook! Keep reading to see some of the best listens to press play on for Pride or check out our full lists by clicking the applicable link: The Best LGBTQ+ Fiction, The Best LGBTQ+ Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Must-Listens for Kids and Teens.


Fiction

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, narrated by Renata Friedman

Publisher Summary:

Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn’t hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames isn’t happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames’s boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she’s pregnant with his baby—and that she’s not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he’s been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can’t reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Read more and sample the audio →


On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, narrated by Ocean Vuong

Publisher Summary:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born—a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam—and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

Read more and sample the audio →


Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, narrated by Ramon De Ocampo

Publisher Summary:

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius-his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.

Read more and sample the audio →


Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, narrated by Moira Quirk

Publisher Summary:

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service. Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die. Of course, some things are better left dead

Read more and sample the audio →


Non-Fiction

The Pink Line by Mark Gevisser, narrated by Vikas Adam, Mark Gevisser

Publisher Summary:

More than five years in the making, Mark Gevisser’s The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers is a globetrotting exploration of how the human rights frontier around sexual orientation and gender identity has come to divide—and describe—the world in an entirely new way over the first two decades of the twenty-first century. No social movement has brought change so quickly and with such dramatically mixed results. While same-sex marriage and gender transition is celebrated in some parts of the world, laws are being strengthened to criminalize homosexuality and gender nonconformity in others. A new Pink Line, Gevisser argues, has been drawn across the world, and he takes readers to its frontiers.

In between sharp analytical chapters about culture wars, folklore, gender ideology, and geopolitics, Gevisser provides sensitive and sometimes startling profiles of the queer folk he’s encountered on the Pink Line’s frontiers across nine countries. They include a trans Malawian refugee granted asylum in South Africa and a gay Ugandan refugee stuck in Nairobi; a lesbian couple who started a gay café in Cairo after the Arab Spring, a trans woman fighting for custody of her child in Moscow, and a community of kothis—“women’s hearts in men’s bodies”—who run a temple in an Indian fishing village.

Eye-opening, moving, and crafted with expert research, compelling narrative, and unprecedented scope, The Pink Line is a monumental—and vital—journey through the border posts of the world’s new LGBTQ+ frontiers.

Read more and sample the audio →


The Other Mothers by Jennifer Berney, narrated by Xe Sands

Publisher Summary:

Jenn Berney was one of those people who knew she was destined for motherhood-it wasn’t a question of if, but when. So when she and her wife Kelly decided to start building their family, they took the next logical step: they went to a fertility clinic. But they soon found themselves entrenched in a medical establishment that didn’t know what to do with people like them. With no man factoring into their relationship, doctors were at best embarrassed and at worst disparaging of the couple.

Soon Jenn found herself stepping outside of the system determined to disregard her. Looking into the history of fertility and the LGBTQ+ community, she saw echoes of her own struggle. For decades queer people have defied the patriarchy and redefined the nuclear family-and Jenn was walking in their footsteps.

Through the ups-and-downs of her own journey, Jenn reflects on a turbulent past that has led her to this point and a bright future worth fighting for. With clarity, determination, and hope, The Other Mothers gives us a wonderful glimpse into the many ways we can become family

Read more and sample the audio →


The Bold World by Jodie Patterson, narrated by Jodie Patterson

Publisher Summary:

In 2009, Jodie Patterson, mother of five and beauty entrepreneur, has her world turned upside down when her determined toddler, Penelope, reveals, “Mama, I’m not a girl. I am a boy.” The Pattersons are a tribe of unapologetic Black matriarchs, scholars, financiers, Southern activists, artists, musicians, and disruptors, but with Penelope’s revelation, Jodie realizes her existing definition of family isn’t wide enough for her child’s needs.
 
In The Bold World, we witness Patterson reshaping her own attitudes, beliefs, and biases, learning from her children, and a whole new community, how to meet the needs of her transgender son. In doing so, she opens the minds of those who raised and fortified her, all the while challenging cultural norms and gender expectations. Patterson finds that the fight for racial equality in which her ancestors were so prominent helped pave the way for the current gender revolution.
 
From Georgia to South Carolina, Ghana to Brooklyn, Patterson learns to remove the division between me and you, us and them, straight and queer—and she reminds us to celebrate her uncle Gil Scott Heron’s prophecy that the revolution will not be televised. It will happen deeply, unequivocally, inside each and every one of us. Transition, we learn, doesn’t just belong to the transgender person. Transition, for the sake of knowing more and becoming more, is the responsibility of and gift to all.

Read more and sample the audio →


How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones, narrated by Saeed Jones

Publisher Summary:

Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir about a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears. Through a series of vignettes that chart a course across the American landscape, Jones draws readers into his boyhood and adolescence—into tumultuous relationships with his family, into passing flings with lovers, friends, and strangers. Each piece builds into a larger examination of race and queerness, power and vulnerability, love and grief: a portrait of what we all do for one another—and to one another—as we fight to become ourselves.

An award-winning poet, Jones has developed a style that’s as beautiful as it is powerful—a voice that’s by turns a river, a blues, and a nightscape set ablaze. How We Fight for Our Lives is a one-of-a-kind memoir and a book that cements Saeed Jones as an essential writer for our time.

Read more and sample the audio →


Kids and Teens

She’s Too Pretty to Burn by Wendy Heard, narrated by Frankie CorzoBailey CarrStephen Dexter

Publisher Summary:

The summer is winding down in San Diego. Veronica is bored, caustically charismatic, and uninspired in her photography. Nico is insatiable, subversive, and obsessed with chaotic performance art. They’re artists first, best friends second. But that was before Mick. Delicate, lonely, magnetic Mick: the perfect subject, and Veronica’s dream girl. The days are long and hot—full of adventure—and soon they are falling in love. Falling so hard, they never imagine what comes next. One fire. Two murders. Three drowning bodies. One suspect… one stalker. This is a summer they won’t survive. Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, this sexy psychological thriller explores the intersections of love, art, danger, and power.

Read more and sample the audio →


Baby & Solo by Lisabeth Posthuma, narrated by Nick Walther

Publisher Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Joel Teague has a new prescription from his therapist: a part-time job, the first step toward the elusive Normal life he’s been so desperate to live ever since The Bad Thing happened. Lucky for Joel, ROYO Video is hiring. It’s the perfect fresh start-he even gets a new name. Dubbed “Solo” after his favorite Star Wars character, Joel works his way up the not-so-corporate ladder without anyone suspecting What Was Wrong With Him. That is, until he befriends Nicole “Baby” Palmer, a smart-mouthed coworker with a chip on her shoulder about… well, everything, and the two quickly develop the kind of friendship movie montages are made of. However, when Joel’s past inevitably catches up with him, he’s forced to choose between preserving his new blank slate persona and coming clean-and either way, he risks losing the first real friend he’s ever had. Set in a pop-culture-rich 1990s, this remarkable story tackles challenging and timely themes with huge doses of wit, power, and heart.

Read more and sample the audio →


You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, narrated by Alaska Jackson

Publisher Summary:

Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay—Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down… until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington. The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams… or make them come true?

Read more and sample the audio →


Between Perfect & Real by Ray Stoeve, narrated by Mw Cartozian Wilson

Publisher Summary:

Dean Foster knows he’s a trans guy. He’s watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks he’s a lesbian—including his girlfriend Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a “nontraditional” Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out. But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is now—not just on the stage, but everywhere in his life. Dean knows what he needs to do. Can playing a role help Dean be his true self?

Read more and sample the audio →


Related Articles

• 9 LGBTQ+ Memoirs For Pride Month

• 13 #OwnVoices Audiobooks to Diversify Your Shelf

• Interview with ‘Soar, Adam, Soar’ author, Rick Prashaw and narrator, John Dickhout


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Book Clubbin’: 9 Discussion Questions for ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover

Welcome back to our monthly Book Clubbin’ feature where we provide some discussion questions for your next book club meeting. Now that the weather is starting to warm up (at least where we are), now is the perfect time to start booking some backyard book clubs, perfect for social distancing (if your area allows it, of course). Round up a group of pals, some snacks, your favorite sips, and that’s all you need to get the party started.

This month, we’ve chosen Educated by Tara Westover. This memoir has been making waves and topping charts since its debut back in 2018, and it’s still being talked about today.

Educated is a memoir from Tara Westover, where she recounts her days growing up in Idaho with her survivalist family. She touches on the impact of their isolation, her parents, her abusive brother, her other siblings, and ultimately how her journey to becoming educated transformed her. Narrated by Julia Whelan, this is an audio experience that you won’t want to pass up.

So, if you’ve been on the hunt for some thought-provoking book club questions that are sure to spark a great discussion about Educated, look no further. Keep reading for our full questions below. Beware— SPOILERS ahead.

—————CONTAINS SPOILERS!————

1) Tara’s father plays a huge part in her story. Discuss her relationship with him and whether you felt that it changed throughout the book.

2) On the topic of parents, Tara’s mother does not believe her when she comes forward saying that her brother has been abusing her and her sister. Why do you think this is?

3) Why do you think Tara’s father is so strongly against getting a formal education? How does her brother, Tyler, leaving for school affect her?

4) How is Tara affected by her family’s expectations for what a woman should be and how she should act? How does this influence Tara’s life and the choices she makes?

5) Of the many shocking events of Tara’s life, one that sticks out particularly is during her first college class when she is unfamiliar with the term “holocaust.” Why is this moment important? How does this change her perception of herself, her family, and the world?

6) Tara introduces us to the mountain in Idaho next to where she and her family lived. Why do you think she refers back to this mountain several times throughout the book? How does the setting affect the Westover family? Would things have been different if they were located somewhere else?

7) Other than in school and classes, in what other parts of her life does Tara become educated? Why do you think Educated is the title of her book?

8) After listening to the whole story, where do you think this leaves Tara and her family? Can they still have a relationship? Can she ever go back?

9) How did you feel while listening to this audiobook? What kind of an impact did Tara’s story have on your life?


Related Articles

 Staff Pick: Educated by Tara Westover

 Book Clubbin’: 9 Discussion Questions for ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens

 Book Clubbin’: 10 Discussion Questions for ‘Group’ by Christie Tate


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

Where to Start: Your Guide to Star Wars Series & Audiobooks

Since the 70s, Star Wars has been a favorite among viewers and has only been getting more popular as more content is released and the years go on. The 2019 debut of The Mandalorian on Disney+ brought in more fans to the franchise and with the upcoming release of The Book of Boba Fett in December of 2021, people just can’t get enough.

But did you know that there’s a whole world of extra Star Wars content just waiting to shed more light on the characters you know and love? There are hundreds of books spanning countless series, and we are still seeing new releases all the time. So, why not celebrate May the 4th (Star Wars Day) this year by jumping into the written world of Star Wars.

We’ve put together a quick-start guide for canonical Star Wars series, so that you can figure out where to start, as there are a lot of books and it can be overwhelming. While this list is not exhaustive, we think it’s a good place to start your journey!


Star Wars: The High Republic Series (2021)

Long before the Clone Wars, the Empire, or the First Order, the Jedi lit the way for the galaxy in a golden age known as the High Republic! In this series the Jedi Knights face a terrifying threat to themselves, the galaxy, and to the Force itself.

Start the series:
Star Wars: Light of the Jedi (The High Republic)
Star Wars The High Republic: A Test of Courage
Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Dark
Star Wars The High Republic: The Rising Storm (available for pre-order)


Star Wars Disney Canon Novels (1976 – Present)

This group of canon audiobooks spans over many eras and can be broken into more manageable, bite-sized pieces. You can learn more about the start of the Rebellion while also following Padmé’s journey to finding her identity as the Queen in both Queen’s Peril and Queen’s Shadow. Then take a journey into Catalyst, which will set the stage for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
From here you can venture into Dark Disciple, which is based on unproduced episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This audiobook follows Asajj Ventress, former Sith apprentice turned bounty hunter and one of the great antiheroes in the Star Wars galaxy.
Curious about Grand Moff Tarkin, Vader’s right hand man? Tarkin explores the backstory of this character from A New Hope.
Next up, Ahsoka. Follow her during the beginning of the Rebellion and find out what happened to her after leaving the Jedi Order. Finally, round out your Star Wars listening with Bloodline. In this audiobook, Leia grapples with and rejects the idea of one single person in power, but a new threat may leave that as her only option.
These are just a few recommendations from the Star Wars Disney Canon Novel series, but they should all give you a great foundation to start with.

Start the series:
Star Wars: Queen’s Peril
Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow
Catalyst (Star Wars): A Rogue One Novel
Dark Disciple: Star Wars
After the fall of the Jedi:
Tarkin: Star Wars
Star Wars: Ahsoka
The era of the Empire’s reign:
Twilight Company (Star Wars: Battlefront #1)
Star Wars: A New Dawn
From the former Rebellion to the New Republic:
Bloodline


Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy Series (2020 – Present)

This series, penned by Timothy Zahn, centers around the origins of Mitth’raw’nuruodo (Thrawn) and the Chiss Ascendancy in the Unknown Regions. The third release in this series. Lesser Evil, is due out later this year.

Start the series:
Chaos Rising (Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy #1)
Greater Good (Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy #2)


Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Series (2015)

These titles debuted during the lead up to the theatrical release of The Force Awakens. These listens will add even more depth and background to the storyline that we know you’re craving.

Start the series:
Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens Lost Stars
Aftermath (Star Wars: Aftermath #1)


Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Series (2019)

With the grand opening of Disney Parks’ Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge came both of the audiobook tie-ins A Crash of Fate and Black Spire. These listens explore the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order.

Start the series:
A Crash of Fate (Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #1)
Black Spire (Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #1)


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!

A Free Issue of AudioFile Magazine: Exclusive For Audiobooks.com Listeners

If you’re an audiobook enthusiast and/or a frequent audiobook listener and you haven’t heard of AudioFile magazine yet, you’ll want to learn more about this great listener resource. AudioFile magazine is a publication devoted entirely to audiobooks and is the perfect reading material for anyone who enjoys spoken-word recordings and audio entertainment.

Each issue of AudioFile magazine includes:
• Reviews of bestsellers, classics, fiction, mystery–all subjects
• Focus on the audio performance
• Interviews & behind-the-scenes with authors and narrators
• Best of the best audiobook recommendations

AudioFile magazine has partnered with us to offer a free digital issue for Audiobooks.com listeners. Click here to get your free issue of AudioFile magazine today!

Once you’ve discovered your next great listen with AudioFile, it’s easy to return to Audiobooks.com and simply search for the book in our app and start listening.


New to Audiobooks.com? Get your first book free, PLUS a bonus book from our VIP selection when you sign up for our one-month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking, and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobooks!