Tag Archives: audiobook

September’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

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Check out this month’s roundup of the top titles downloaded by Audiobooks.com members! We’ve separated out fiction and non-fiction for your browsing convenience.

 

FICTION

 

1. It by Stephen King, narrated by Steven Weber

Only in Derry the haunting is real. They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

2. Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton, narrated by Judy Kaye

Y is for Yesterday begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate-and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns state’s evidence and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

3. Enemy of the State by Kyle Mills and Vince Flynn, narrated by Scott Brick

They’ve barely begun unraveling the connections between the Saudi government and ISIS when the brilliant new head of the intelligence directorate discovers their efforts. With Rapp getting too close, he threatens to go public with the details of the post-9/11 agreement between the two countries.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

 

4. Glass Houses: A Novel by Louise Penny, narrated by Robert Bathurst

When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

 

 

5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, narrated by Jennifer Lim

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead… When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

 

NON-FICTION

 

1. What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton, narrated by the author


Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. 

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

2. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, narrated by the author

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

 

3. Glass Castle, by Jeannette Wells, narrated by the author

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation… Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

4. Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, by Brene Brown, narrated by the author

“True belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.” Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives-experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

5. Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment, by Robert Wright, narrated by Fred Sanders

In Why Buddhism is True, Wright leads readers on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how and why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age.

Read more and sample the audio. 

 

 

 

STAFF PICK: The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy

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Title: The Rules Do Not Apply
Author: Ariel Levy
Narrator: Ariel Levy

Clocking in at just under five hours, The Rules Do Not Apply, I assumed, would be a poignant but generally light interlude between my typically much longer listens. Boy was I wrong with that one. Ariel Levy sucked me in deep with her expressive, artful prose, her sense of humor in the midst of sadness, and her ability to be gracefully self-aware yet painfully self-obsessed — all in one gulp.

My favorite quote from the novel presciently summarizes what is to come as Ariel Levy tells her story:

“Daring to think that the rules do not apply is the mark of a visionary. It’s also a symptom of narcissism.”

In this memoir, Levy deconstructs the fine line she walked between her ambitious, youthful talent, and her delusion that life would always unfold on her terms. When she miscarries at five months pregnant during a reporting trip to Mongolia, she is forced to reckon with that which is out of her control — including her wife’s alcoholism, and their financial situation.

Levy handles the heavy heartache with elegance and a needed dose of self-deprecating humor. Sometimes, the memoir misses the mark: there are some troubling passages about racial minorities that hint at an unchecked white privilege, and the ending felt a little rushed and lazy. But predominantly I felt intensely connected to Levy’s emotional journey and completely swept up in the narrative of her life.

Essential to that connection, I think, was that Levy narrated her own story. The way she speaks makes it feel like a candid interview, or a (long) monologue at a dinner party: conversational, and with a depth that can only come from an author’s narration.

I would highly recommend this listen for anyone who enjoys books about writers and writing, emotional memoirs, or novels set in New York City. It really does pack a punch; be prepared to ask yourself, “If everything by which I define myself came crashing down, who would I become?”

 

 

2017 National Book Awards Longlists

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The 2017 National Book Awards Longlists have finally been announced! Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize for a book written by an American citizen and published by an American publisher between December 1 of the previous year and November 30 of the current year. Winners get a cash prize but perhaps more importantly, intense admiration and prestige.

It’s important to note that some of this year’s books have not been published yet (remember that November deadline), and some that have are just not available in audiobook format (thumbs down to that). But many of the titles are indeed available from Audiobooks.com, and are all now on my to-listen list.

 

THE LONGLIST FOR FICTION INCLUDES:

1. Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward, narrated by Kelvin Harrison Jr and Chris Chalk

For Pop and Mam, their daughter Leonie, and her kids Jojo and Kayla, life is hard: Mam has cancer, Pop is preoccupied by working their small parcel of land, Leonie has a meth problem, and Jojo and Kayla seek love from their grandparents rather than their absent mother. Their lives are further complicated when Leonie gets the call from the white father of her children that he’s up for parole.

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

2. A Kind of Freedom: A Novel by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, narrated by Bahni Turpin, Adenrele Ojo and Kevin Kenerly

In 1982, Evelyn’s daughter Jackie is a frazzled single mother grappling with her absent husband’s drug addiction. Just as she comes to terms with his abandoning the family, he returns, ready to resume their old life. Jackie must decide if the promise of her husband is worth the near certainty that he will leave again.

 

 

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

3. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, narrated by Allison Hiroto

Profoundly moving and gracefully told, PACHINKO follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them. Betrayed by her wealthy lover, Sunja finds unexpected salvation when a young tubercular minister offers to marry her and bring her to Japan to start a new life.

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

4. Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig, narrated by the author

After attending school in Calcutta, Benny settles in Rangoon, then part of the British Empire, and falls in love with Khin, a woman who is part of a long-persecutedethnic minority group, the Karen. World War II comes to Southeast Asia, and Benny and Khin must go into hiding in the eastern part of the country during the Japanese Occupation, beginning a journey that will lead them to change the country’s history.

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

THE LONGLIST FOR NON-FICTION INCLUDES:

1. Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, narrated by Robin Miles

As [George Washington] grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn’t get his arms around: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Rather than comply, Washington decided to circumvent the law. Every six months he sent the slaves back down south just as the clock was about to expire.

 

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

2. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and Birth of the FBI by David Grann, narrated by Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell

In this last remnant of the Wild West where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the ‘Phantom Terror,’ roamed many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization ‘s first major homicide investigations…

 

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

3. No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein, narrated by Brit Marling

“This book is a toolkit to help understand how we arrived at this surreal political moment, how to keep it from getting a lot worse, and how, if we keep our heads, we can flip the script and seize the opportunity to make things a whole lot better in a time of urgent need. A toolkit for shock-resistance.”-Naomi Klein, from the Preface

 

 

Read more and sample the audio.

 

4. Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America by Nancy MacLean, narrated by Bernadette Dunne

Behind today’s headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules, but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did. Democracy in Chains names its true architect-the Nobel Prize-winning political economist James McGill Buchanan-and dissects the operation he and his colleagues designed over six decades to alter every branch of government to disempower the majority.

Read more and sample the audio.

 

 

The finalists will be announced on October 4, and the winners will be announced November 15. In the meantime, happy browsing, and happy listening!

New Minecraft audiobook lets you choose your narrator

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The folks over at Random House have gotten pretty creative. Yesterday’s audiobook releases included two distinct versions of the exact same book, just with different narrators! Minecraft: The Island is now available with narration by Jack Black, and with narration by Samira Wiley, of Orange is the New Black fame.

It was important for the author and for the video game company that the protagonist not be exclusively male or female, but to give the listeners narrative choice. So, which narrator will you choose?

Minecraft Books

About Minecraft: The Island

The first official Minecraft novel! In the tradition of iconic adventures like Robinson Crusoe’s Treasure Island, the New York Times bestselling author of World War Z tells the story of a hero – stranded in the world of Minecraft – who must unravel the secrets of a mysterious island in order to survive.

Washed up on a beach, the lone castaway looks around the shore. ‘Where am I?’ ‘Who am I? And why is everything made of blocks?’ But there isn’t much time to soak up the sun. It’s getting dark, and there’s a strange new world to explore!

The top priority is finding food. The next is not becoming food. Because there are others out there on the island . . . like the horde of zombies that appear after night falls. Crafting a way out of this mess is a challenge like no other. Who could build a home while running from exploding creepers, armed skeletons, and an unstoppable tide of hot lava? Especially with no help except for a few makeshift tools and sage advice from an unlikely friend: a cow.

In this world, the rules don’t always make sense, but courage and creativity go a long way. There are forests to explore, hidden underground tunnels to loot, and undead mobs to defeat. Only then will the secrets of the island be revealed.

Page to Screen in July 2017

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The month of July will see its fair share of shows and movies adapted from popular books. Check out what’s upcoming and take a listen before they hit the screen!
My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier
Expected Release: July 9th

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home as much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries – and there he dies suddenly.… Read more and listen to a sample


War for the Planet of the Apes, by Greg Cox
Expected Release: July 10th

Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet… Read more and listen to a sample


Lady Macbeth, by Susan Fraser King
Expected Release: July 14th

Lady Gruadh, called Rue, is the last female descendant of Scotland’s most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husband’s murderer: a rising warlord named Macbeth. Encountering danger from Vikings, Saxons, and treacherous Scottish lords, Rue begins to respect the man she once despised—and then realizes that Macbeth’s complex ambitions extend beyond the borders of the vast northern region. Among the powerful warlords and their steel-games, only Macbeth can unite Scotland—and his wife’s royal blood is the key to his ultimate success. Determined to protect her small son and a proud legacy of warrior kings and strong women, Rue invokes the ancient wisdom and secret practices of her female ancestors as she strives to hold her own in a warrior society. Finally, side by side as the last Celtic king and queen of Scotland, she and Macbeth must face the gathering storm brought on by their combined destiny… Read more and listen to a sample


Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture, by Joshua Levine
Expected Release: July 21st

While this is a movie tie-in release, rather than a book-to-film adaptation, those who enjoyed the film will likely enjoy this historical overview of the The Battle of Dunkirk.The Nazis had beaten back the Allies and pushed them across France to the northern port of Dunkirk. In the ultimate race against time, more than 300,000 Allied soldiers were daringly evacuated across the Channel. This moment of German aggression was used by Winston Churchill as a call to Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war. Now, historian Joshua Levine explores the real lives of those soldiers, bombed and strafed on the beaches for days on end, without food or ammunition; the civilians whose boats were overloaded; the airmen who risked their lives to buy their companions on the ground precious time; and those who did not escape… Read more and listen to a sample

Which of July’s renditions are you most excited for? Let me know!

Behind the Scenes of The Dead Zone

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It’s almost Father’s Day! Listen to James Franco’s interview about every dad’s favorite author, Stephen King!

The Dead Zone recently came out in audio for the first time, read by James Franco. See some behind the scenes photos, listen to him discuss narrating then enjoy an extended excerpt of The Dead Zone audiobook!

Interview with James Franco

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Extended excerpt

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