Tag Archives: audiobook

Page to Screen in April 2019

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Thinking of going to see a movie this April? Get the best experience by listening to the books they were based on before seeing the film & TV adaptations.

Pet Sematary by Stephen King, narrated by Michael C. Hall
Expected Release Date: April 5

When Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) takes a new job and moves his family to Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. There’s an undercurrent of danger that lingers…like the graveyard in the woods near the Creed’s home, where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Behind the “pet sematary,” there is another burial ground, one that lures people to it with seductive promises and temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—proving to the Creeds that sometimes, dead is better. After you listen the novel you’ll be yearning to see the film on the big screen.

Read more and sample the audio →

The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson, narrated by Keith Sellon-Wright
Expected Release Date: April 5

Rich with details about the rhythms of daily life in the mid-twentieth-century South, The Best of Enemies (released on Amazon this April) offers a vivid portrait of a relationship that defied all odds. By placing this very personal story into a broader context, Osha Gray Davidson demonstrates race is intimately tied to issues of class and that cooperation is possible—even in the most divisive situations— when people begin to listen to one another.

Read more and sample the audio →

Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
Expected Release Date: April 5

Crime drama Quicksand is coming to Netflix on April 5th, and is based on the 2016 novel of the same name. A mass shooting has taken place at a prep school in Stockholm’s wealthiest suburb. Maja Norberg (Hanna Ardehn) has just spent nine horrible months in jail and is now on trial for her involvement in the massacre where her boyfriend and best friend were killed. The time has come for her to enter the courtroom.

Read more and sample the audio →

Native Son by Richard Wright, narrated by Peter Francis James
Expected Release Date: April 6

Right from the start, Bigger Thomas (Ashton Sanders) had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Wright’s powerful novel—set in the 1930s—is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country. The film adaptation is set to debut on HBO Films on April 6.

Read more and sample the audio →

After by Anna Todd, narrated by Elizabeth Louise & Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Expected Release Date: April 12

Could this be love for Tessa (Josephine Langford) and Hardin (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin)? Soon to be a major motion picture, Anna Todd‘s sensational novel is now available with a bonus chapter read by Hero Fiennes Tiffin and a letter to listeners read by the author.

Tessa is the good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. Hardin is the bad boy with tattoos and a bad attitude. Hardin is the polar opposite of her sweet boyfriend back home. He is mean and rude, but as soon as they kiss, it ignites a passion within her she’s never known until now. Each time he pushes her away, she only feels pulled in deeper by her desire to find the real Hardin beneath his lies.

Read more and sample the audio →

I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves by Ryan O’Connell, narrated by Ryan O’Connell
Expected Release Date: April 12

From the beloved blogger turned voice of an online generation comes an unforgettable and hilarious memoir-meets-manifesto exploring what it means to be a millennial gay man living with cerebral palsy. Ryan shares his story of how, through extensive trial and error, he figures out how to take his life from bleak to chic.

The TV adaptation called Special will be released on Netflix April 12 and there will be eight episodes in total for Season 1.

Read more and sample the audio →

The Breakthrough: The Miraculous True Story of a Mother’s Faith and Her Child’s Resurrection by Joyce Smith, narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers
Expected Release Date: April 17

Coming to a theater near you on April 17, Breakthrough is the impossible true story about the powerful impact of prayer starring Chrissy Metz, Topher Grace, Dennis Haysbert, and Josh Lucas.

When Joyce Smith’s fourteen-year-old son, John, fell through an icy lake, he lay lifeless at the hospital for more than sixty minutes. But Joyce was not ready to give up on her son. She gathered all her faith and strength and cried out to God to save him. This is an extraordinary story of the death and resurrection of the Smith’s son.

Read more and sample the audio →

Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, narrated by Roy Dotrice
Expected Release Date: April 18

Winter is coming. Who will win the battle, fire or ice? The long anticipated wait is almost over for season eight of Game of Thrones. While you wait for the show to return to HBO, you can make the wait more enjoyable by listening to Games of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire (Book One) to set the mood for what is about to come.

Read more and sample the audio →

Selection Day by Aravind Adiga, narrated by Sartaj Garewala
Expected Release Date: April 22

Did you see the Original Netflix series Selection Day last year? If you did, we have good news for you: part 2 of the show is finally arriving this month! It’s a brilliant novel about two brothers in a Mumbai slum who are raised by their obsessive father to become cricket stars, and whose coming of age threatens their relationship, future, and sense of themselves. Many fans can’t wait to see how the story of the Kumar brothers concludes.

Read more and sample the audio →

New to Audiobooks.com? Get a free audiobook 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 audiobook!

Put a Spring in Your Step and Get Cleaning!

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Hooray! It’s spring! The ice is melting, I don’t have to go out wrapped in a coat that’s like a duvet, and my Chihuahua/Mexican hairless dog can remove himself from the blanket he has been hiding under since November.

For many of us, spring is all about cleaning and organizing. If you’re a naturally tidy person, this is a great time to revisit what works for you. For messy people like me, this is the time of year where we try to do better.

Since I’m not really a big tidier, I find listening to audiobooks while I’m doing household chores very inspiring. So here are a few of our favorite titles to get you motivated –  whether you’re a Marie Kondo clone, or someone who will probably end up on a TV special about extreme hoarding. Check out the titles below, and take a look at our Spring Cleaning booklist for more motivation!

1. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Yes, I know I’ve blogged about this one before, but really, can you write a spring cleaning blog in 2019 without mentioning the biggest cleaning phenomenon of the year?

The KonMari method is revolutionizing how we tidy and clean our homes, by using the technique of cleaning by category, not by room. By looking at what “sparks joy” in your life, and then deciding what you really need, you can start to remove excess stuff, clear your clutter and enjoy a nice, calm, clean home.

Publisher’s Summary

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

Read more and sample the audio →

2. Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff by Dana K. White, narrated by Dana K. White

What I most love about Dana White is the fact that she is a former messy person/borderline hoarder. There’s something lovely about listening to her tell you that she’s been where you are, and hearing what has helped her to get rid of all her stuff. She talks about “Decluttering Paralysis,” which is that feeling when you just don’t know where to begin with the volume of stuff, and also “Decluttering Momentum” which is when you start to really see the effects of the cleaning, and then the whole process starts moving.

There’s no judgement in this book, which I find helps to really inspire you to break through all that mess, and also to get away from that feeling of “But I might need this old hair clip one day!” type of thinking.

Publisher’s Summary

You don’t have to live overwhelmed by stuff—you can get rid of clutter for good!
While the world seems to be in love with the idea of tiny houses and minimalism, real women with real families who are constantly growing and changing simply can’t purge it all and start from nothing. Yet a home with too much stuff is a home that is difficult to maintain, so where do we begin? Add in paralyzing emotional attachments and constant life challenges, and it can feel almost impossible to make real decluttering progress.
In Decluttering at the Speed of Life, decluttering expert and author Dana White identifies the mind-sets and emotional challenges that make it difficult to declutter. Then, in her signature humorous approach, she provides workable solutions to break through these struggles and get clutter out—for good!
But more than simply offering strategies, Dana dives deep into how to implement them, no matter the reader’s clutter level or emotional resistance to decluttering. She helps identify procrasticlutter—the stuff that will get done eventually so it doesn’t seem urgent—as well as how to make progress when there’s no time to declutter.

Read more and sample the audio →

3. The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals by Joanna Teplin, Clea Shearer, narrated by Tara Sands, Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin

Things are probably going well for you if some of your biggest fans are Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mindy Kaling. As is shown by their very popular Instagram account, Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer run a very successful home organization business, and this listen reflects their unique spin on organizing. Their motto is that any space can look good – even your junk drawer!

This is a great listen for when you’ve already KonMari-ed your house, and you’re ready to get organizing and positioning your joyful belongings.

Publisher Summary

There’s decorating, and then there’s organizing. From the Instagram-sensation home experts (with a serious fan club that includes Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mindy Kaling), here is an accessible, room-by-room guide to establishing new order in your home.

Believe this: every single space in your house has the potential to function efficiently and look great. The mishmash of summer and winter clothes in the closet? Yep. Even the dreaded junk drawer? Consider it done. And the best news: it’s not hard to do—in fact, it’s a lot of fun.

From the home organizers who made their orderly eye candy the method that everyone swears by comes Joanna and Clea’s signature approach to decluttering. The Home Edit walks you through paring down your belongings in every room, arranging them in a stunning and easy-to-find way (hello, labels!), and maintaining the system so you don’t need another do-over in six months. When you’re done, you’ll not only know exactly where to find things, but you’ll also love the way it looks.

The Home Edit is a masterclass filled with detailed tips, from placing plastic dishware in a drawer where little hands can reach to categorizing pantry items by color (there’s nothing like a little ROYGBIV to soothe the soul). Above all, it’s like having your best friends at your side to help you turn the chaos into calm.

Read more and sample the audio →

4. The CHAOS Cure: Clean Your House and Calm Your Soul in 15 Minutes by Marla Cilley, narrated by Marla Cilley

My dad is INCREDIBLY tidy. When I was a kid he wondered whether I would ever grow out of being messy. I’ve improved with age (I think), and have even developed one of my dad’s main cleaning quirks  – which is obsessively vacuuming just before anyone comes to the house, and then apologizing for how messy the (recently cleaned) house is. My (and my dad’s) all time nightmare is when someone comes over unannounced, and I can’t do my obsessive clean around.

This is why I was so excited about the CHAOS Cure – the fact that CHAOS stands for “Can’t have anyone over syndrome”.  If you’re the kind of person who lets dishes build up in the sink, or you have a laundry mountain sitting in your living room, then this is the book for you. But never fear! Marla Calley aka the Fly Lady has the cure for you! With a ton of tips and small ways you can start decluttering, this is the perfect book for those of you who struggle with organization.

Publisher Summary

With the help of New York Times bestselling author and housekeeping guru Marla Cilley, you’ll cure your household CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) by changing your messy home into a soothing sanctuary

Are you suffering from CHAOS, otherwise known as Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome? If your house is a jumble of dirty dishes, piles of paper, and never-ending laundry, you are probably afflicted. But don’t give up hope, because now there’s an antidote: The CHAOS Cure. 

In her eagerly anticipated new book, Marla Cilley–aka ‘The FlyLady’ to the hundreds of thousands who visit her website for daily domestic inspiration–reaches into our homes to help make housecleaning more meaningful and life less messy. With a little bit of armchair therapy and plenty of practical, tactical tips–such as ‘On the Fly!’ quick fixes and genius uses for sticky notes–she’ll help us get our houses in shipshape order before we can break a sweat. Along the way, the FlyLady teaches us to embrace household maintenance as an act of self-care, and to enjoy the soothing satisfaction of an orderly habitat.

Before you know it, you’ll be on the fast-track to living CHAOS-free, surrounded by sparkling serenity

Read more and sample the audio →

5. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson, narrated by Juliet Stevenson

In Sweden, there is a specific type of cleaning called “döstädning”, which translates to “death cleaning” in English. The idea of death cleaning is that it’s a sweeping cleansing of unnecessary belongings that should be done sooner rather than later – because otherwise someone else will have to do it after you die. Bleak, but true.

Juliet Stevenson‘s ethereal narration adds to the peaceful vibe of this book, and makes it an uplifting listen, rather than a depressing one.

Publisher Summary

A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life.

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming.

Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way listeners get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.

Read more and sample the audio →

New to Audiobooks.com? Get a free audiobook 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 audiobook!

STAFF PICK: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

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Post by Graeme Rassenti

Title: Anansi Boys
Author: Neil Gaiman
Narrator: Lenny Henry

Have you ever imagined a version of yourself that was more suave, more talented, and cooler than you thought you could ever be? What if you met that person? Have you ever felt like nothing ever goes your way? What if you met the person for whom everything always works out? And what if that person was a brother you never knew you had?

Anansi Boys tells the story of Charles Nancy (Fat Charlie) who, upon learning that his embarrassing and estranged father has died on stage singing karaoke, finds his entire past opening its mysteries to him. Charlie learns of his father’s hidden identity as the African god Anansi, and of his long lost brother, Spider, of whom he has no memory. After an evening of drinking, Charles invites Spider into his life, only to find everything turned upside down. Spider has the powers of a God, and with a word can make people believe whatever he chooses. And Spider chooses a lot of things: including making Fat Charlie’s fiancée believe Spider is Fat Charlie, prompting her to fall in love with the much more dynamic and interesting version of her fiancé.

In this novel, Neil Gaiman explores the idea of stories and storytelling. Interspersed through the various characters’ stories are Anansi’s origins in African mythology. We learn how the trickster Anansi stole all of the stories and controls the flow of stories. We hear how he does bad things, but isn’t a bad person. We also hear of Tiger, a brutal killer, and how he is so often tricked by the clever Anansi. These stories are, like many stories of myth, simple in their presentation, but they serve to offer lessons that the heroes of the tale often need to learn in order to survive the strange circumstances that they find themselves in.

Charles Nancy’s journey is one of self-actualization that so many of us strive for ourselves. He has dreams and aspirations but puts them on hold because he’s afraid of being mocked for trying, and because he believes it’s a failure in itself to lack the very things he wants. It’s only as events with his brother unfold that he is forced to face his own potential, and to move out of his comfort zone.

The entire audio experience is expertly narrated by Lenny Henry, who brings to life the wide cast of characters very well. From Charles’s enigmatic boss to Charlie’s old next door neighbor Mrs. Higgler, Lenny Henry does a terrific job bringing this cast of characters to life.

Anansi Boys is an excellent listen for anyone who wants to believe in a world a little bigger than our own, and who would love to discover their own amazing place in it.

Publisher Summary:

God is dead. Meet the kids.

Fat Charlie Nancy’s normal life ended the moment his father dropped dead on a Florida karaoke stage. Charlie didn’t know his dad was a god. And he never knew he had a brother. 

Now brother Spider’s on his doorstep — about to make Fat Charlie’s life more interesting… and a lot more dangerous.

Read more and sample the audio →

February’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

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Listen to last month’s roundup of the top fiction and non-fiction titles downloaded by Audiobooks.com members.

Fiction

1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, narrated by Cassandra Campbell

For years, rumors of the ‘Marsh Girl’ have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.

Read more and sample the audio →

2. The Reckoning by John Grisham, narrated by Michael Beck

October 1946, Clanton, Mississippi

Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son—a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning he rose early, drove into town, and committed a shocking crime.  Pete’s only statement about it—to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury, and to his family—was: ‘I have nothing to say.’ He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.

In a major novel unlike anything he has written before, John Grisham takes us on an incredible journey, from the Jim Crow South to the jungles of the Philippines during World War II; from an insane asylum filled with secrets to the Clanton courtroom where Pete’s defense attorney tries desperately to save him.

Read more and sample the audio →

3. I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella, narrated by Fiona Hardingham

Fixie Farr has always lived by her father’s motto: “Family first.” And since her dad passed away, leaving his charming housewares store in the hands of his wife and children, Fixie spends all her time picking up the slack from her siblings instead of striking out on her own. The way Fixie sees it, if she doesn’t take care of her father’s legacy, who will?

It’s simply not in Fixie’s nature to say no to people. So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, she not only agrees—she ends up saving it from certain disaster. To thank Fixie for her quick thinking, the computer’s owner, Sebastian, an investment manager, scribbles an IOU on a coffee sleeve and attaches his business card.

When Fixie’s childhood crush, Ryan, comes back into her life jobless and aimless, she’d love for Seb to give Ryan a job. No sooner has Seb agreed than the tables are turned once more and a new series of IOUs between Seb and Fixie—from small favors to life-changing moments—ensues. Soon Fixie, Ms. Fixit for everyone else, is torn between her family and the life she really wants. Does she have the courage to take a stand? Will she finally grab the life, and love, she really wants?

Read more and sample the audio →

4. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, narrated by Jack Hawkins, Louise Brealey

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations-a search for the truth that threatens to consume him…

Read more and sample the audio →

5. The Wedding Guest by Jonathan Kellerman, narrated by John Rubinstein

Summoned to a run-down former strip joint, LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis and psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware find themselves crashing a wild Saints and Sinners–themed wedding reception. But they’re not the only uninvited guests.

A horrified bridesmaid has discovered the body of a young woman, dressed to impress in pricey haute couture and accessorized with a grisly red slash around her neck. What’s missing is any means of identification, or a single partygoer who recognizes the victim. The baffled bride is convinced the stranger snuck in to sabotage her big day—and the groom is sure it’s all a dreadful mistake. But Delaware and Sturgis have a hundred guests to question, and a sneaking suspicion that the motive for murder is personal. Now they must separate the sinners from the saints, the true from the false, and the secrets from those keeping them. The party’s over—and the hunt for whoever killed it is on.

Read more and sample the audio →

Non-Fiction

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama, narrated by Michelle Obama

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States. Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms.

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2. The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump by Andrew G. McCabe, narrated by Andrew G. McCabe

On March 16, 2018, just twenty-six hours before his scheduled retirement from the organization he had served with distinction for more than two decades, Andrew G. McCabe was fired from his position as deputy director of the FBI. President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter: ‘Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy.’

In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career, and an impassioned defense of the FBI’s agents, and of the institution’s integrity and independence in protecting America and upholding our Constitution.

The Threat recounts in compelling detail the time between Donald Trump’s November 2016 election and McCabe’s firing, set against a page-turning narrative spanning two decades when the FBI’s mission shifted to a new goal: preventing terrorist attacks on Americans. But as McCabe shows, right now the greatest threat to the United States comes from within, as President Trump and his administration ignore the law, attack democratic institutions, degrade human rights, and undermine the U.S. Constitution that protects every citizen. 

Read more and sample the audio →

3. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, narrated by Derek Perkins

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?

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4. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Leif Babin, Jocko Willink, narrated by Jocko Willink, Leif Babin

Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed “all but lost.” In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership—at every level—is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.

Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields.

Read more and sample the audio →

5. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results.

Read more and sample the audio →

New to Audiobooks.com? Get a free audiobook 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 audiobook!

Trend Alert: Finding Kindness Between the Pages with ‘UpLit’

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I don’t know about you, but I feel like winter has been going on forever. I don’t remember what it feels like to not wear winter boots, shovel snow, or slip around on ice. While I’m lucky enough to live somewhere with lovely sunny (but cold) days in the winter, it’s still a season that gets a lot of people down. Add to that all of the economic and political uncertainty in the world, and sometimes you just need a bit of positivity! So why not combat that with some sunny and happy listens? Enter UpLit!

What is “UpLit”? UpLit is a term for novels that are inspiring and focus on empathy, human spirit, and friendship. They are very much set in the real world and may even deal with sad situations, but they have an element of optimism, and most importantly, they end on a high. If the book leaves you with a warm and fuzzy feeling after you read it, chances are you just read some UpLit.

Here are some of our top UpLit titles that we know you’ll love! For more suggestions, check out our book list!

Gone Viking by Helen Russell, narrated by Juliet Burton

Super organized but frazzled mum Alice likes to think she is always on top of everything, but is she really? After a fair amount of cajoling, she finally agrees to her sister Melissa’s advice to take a break.

Hoping her sister will book a fancy spa, Alice soon discovers that this is NOT what her sister has planned. She ends up in Denmark, at a “How to be a Viking” getaway.

As Alice learns to forage for food, takes up sword fighting, and builds boats, she also learns a lot about herself, her relationship with Melissa, and starts to realize that there are a lot of changes she needs to make in her life.

This is a fun and hilarious listen, definitely emphasized by Juliet Burton’s enthusiastic narration. It’s also a lovely story of a relationship between two very different sisters.

Publisher’s summary:

Frazzled mum Alice Ray likes to think she’s on top everything—she has FOUR bags-for-life in the boot of her car for heaven’s sake. But after spectacularly embarrassing herself at work, she finally gives in to her sister’s pleas to take a much-needed break.

But this is not the luxury spa holiday Alice hoped for—instead, she finds herself in Denmark, in the middle of nowhere, on a ‘How to be a Viking’ getaway.

Can the two sisters finally learn to get along or will learning to embrace their inner warrior just make them better at fighting? Two sisters. One Scandi holiday they’ll never forget…

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Just After Midnight by Catherine Ryan Hyde, narrated by Kate Rudd

If you like to listen to books that make you cry, you’ll love this. I was drawn to it because I love horses, and this is as much a story about horses as it is a story about friendship.

Both Sarah and Faith are escaping unhappy situations. When Faith is tasked with taking Sarah on a trip to help her recover from her mother’s death, Sarah begs her to take her to see Midnight, the horse that was once hers.

Together, the two women learn to come to terms with the people and situations that have damaged them.

Publisher’s Summary:

No longer tolerating her husband’s borderline abuse, Faith escapes to her parents’ California beach house to plan her next move. She never dreamed her new chapter would involve befriending Sarah, a fourteen-year-old on the run from her father and reeling from her mother’s sudden and suspicious death.

While Sarah’s grandmother scrambles to get custody, Faith is charged with spiriting the girl away on a journey that will restore her hope: Sarah implores Faith to take her to Falkner’s Midnight Sun, the prized black mare that her father sold out from under her. Sarah shares an unbreakable bond with Midnight and can’t bear to be apart from her. Throughout the sweltering summer, as they follow Midnight from show to show, Sarah comes to terms with what she witnessed on the terrible night her mother died.

But the journey is far from over. Faith must learn the value of trusting her instincts—and realize that the key to her future, and Sarah’s, is in her hands.

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The M Word by Eileen Wharton, narrated by Julia Franklin

Feel-good novels almost always seem to center around younger women, so it’s awesome to hear a story about a slightly older woman.

Roberta Gallbreath is middle-aged and menopausal. She hates a lot of people—mostly her kids, her ex-husband, and the majority of people she works with.

When her mother dies, Roberta reads some of her mother’s old letters and discovers information regarding her heritage. Based on this new information, Roberta decides that she needs to start becoming a better person.

This is a great self-discovery tale with a lot of humor! Julia Franklin adds so much character to Roberta and her family that you cannot help but laugh out loud!

Publisher’s Summary:

Roberta Gallbreath is middle-aged and menopausal. She dislikes her children, detests her ex-husband and despises her colleagues.

When her mother dies, Roberta is left with a pile of letters and a mystery surrounding her son. The letters reveal Roberta’s heritage is not what it seems and she is soon on a mission to become a better person.

Told with humour and emotion, this is the tale of one woman’s journey to find out where she came from. As she looks to the past for answers, more questions are raised. Will Roberta discover who she really is?

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I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella, narrated by Fiona Hardingham

I love, love, love, love, love Sophie Kinsella. I really do. I would say all of her books could be included in this blog post. She is the queen of UpLit! Two of my favourites are Remember Me? and My Not So Perfect Life, which both made me laugh out loud, and were a welcome breather from the two suspense listens that I had going on.

In I Owe You One, Fixie Farr, the aptly named main character, is that friend we all have who tries to fix other people’s problems. When she meets Sebastian in a coffee shop, he asks her to watch his laptop. She does so, and ends up saving it from disaster. To thank her, Seb scribbles an IOU on a business card, and thus begins a flurry of IOUs (and crazy situations) back and forth from Fixie to Seb, and vice versa.

The uplifting narration from long-term Kinsella narrator Fiona Hardingham is wonderful as always. She’s 100% the best narrator for an UpLit novel.

Publisher’s Summary:

Fixie Farr can’t help herself. Straightening a crooked object, removing a barely-there stain, helping out a friend…she just has to put things right. It’s how she got her nickname, after all.

So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, Fixie not only agrees, she ends up saving it from certain disaster. To thank her, the computer’s owner, Sebastian, scribbles her an IOU—but of course Fixie never intends to call in the favour.

That is, until her teenage crush, Ryan, comes back into her life and needs her help—and Fixie turns to Seb. But things don’t go according to plan, and now Fixie owes Seb: big time.

Soon the pair are caught up in a series of IOUs—from small favours to life-changing debts—and Fixie is torn between the past she’s used to and the future she deserves.

Does she have the courage to fix things for herself and fight for the life, and love, she really wants? 

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Dinner Party by Tracy Bloom, narrated by Juanita McMahon

When you have kids, you get into a routine, and oftentimes, it means you lose touch with friends. Sometimes because they are in different stages of life than you, other times it’s just exhaustion!

Beth, Sarah and Marie have busy lives, but make the effort to meet up once a month for a couples dinner. It’s always fun and laid back—until Simon, a last-minute guest, is invited to a dinner. As Simon becomes involved in the group, the relationships between the friends and their husbands start to unravel…

Publisher’s Summary:

Beth, Sarah and Marie have been friends forever. Now they are grown up, with busy lives, busy husbands, busy kids…but they still find time to meet up over dinner once a month. A cosy, comfortable gathering of happy couples—or so they thought.

Until one night, someone brings along a last-minute guest whose wife has just left him. Simon is standing on the doorstep in floods of tears. While the women do their best to console him, their husbands feel the need to mark their territory.

And as Simon becomes more involved with the group, his presence changes everything these three couples thought they knew about each other, leading to a final dinner party that no-one will ever forget. 

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Page to Screen in March 2019

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Going to the movies this March? Get the best experience by listening to the books they were based on before seeing the film adaptations.

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Film Adaptation: Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness, narrated by Nick Podehl
Expected release date: March 1

Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, and Nick Jonas are joining forces to bring to life Patrick Ness’s bestselling Young Adult series. Based on the first novel in the Chaos Walking Trilogy, The Knife of Never Letting Go, the story is set in a dystopian town called Prentisstown where everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts. When the only boy in town, Todd (Holland), discovers an awful secret, he’s forced to run for his life.

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American Gods by Neil Gaiman, narrated by George Guidall
Expected release date: March 10

The much-anticipated second season of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is finally coming to Starz on March 10 in the US and internationally on Amazon Prime Video. First debuting in April 2017, the series follows ex-convict, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), who is hired as a bodyguard, driver, and errand boy by the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). Season two will pick up about 30 minutes after the end of season one.

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Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, narrated by Joy Osmanski, Corey Brill
Expected release date: March 15

Grab your tissues, folks, this looks like it could reach John Green levels of heartbreak. When Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) meets Will Newman (Cole Sprouse), they both feel an instant attraction. The only catch? As Cystic Fibrosis patients, they must stay at least five feet apart from each other, which gets harder and harder the deeper they fall in love.

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The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook, narrated by Leighton Pugh
Expected release date: March 15

Set in Hamburg after the end of World War II, The Aftermath finds Colonel Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke) and his wife Rachel (Kiera Knightley) forced to share a house with a German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) and his daughter, where tensions and passion inevitably erupt.

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Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, narrated by Kathleen Wilhoite
Expected release date: March 22

Maria Semple’s bestselling dramedy begins when notorious and opinionated Bernadette Fox, played by Cate Blanchett, disappears out of the blue. In an effort to track down her mother, Bernadette’s 15-year-old daughter, Bee, combs through email messages, official documents, and secret correspondences to piece together the story of her mother’s troubled past.

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New to Audiobooks.com? Get a free audiobook 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 audiobook!