September’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Lena Yang

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

Fiction

1. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan, narrated by Lynn Chen

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn’t know is she will soon be initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination. Read more and sample the audio.

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

In late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl who haunts Barkley Cove. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home. 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.

3. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, narrated by Ann Marie Lee

Reporter Camille Preaker must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her mother or to the half-sister she barely knows. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming. Read more and sample the audio.

4. A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell, narrated by Xe Sands, Andi Arndt, Matthew Waterson

It starts with a simple favor. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. But, when Emily doesn’t come back from her high-demand job in Manhattan, Stephanie knows something is wrong. Then, she receives shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.
Or is it? Read more and sample the audio.

5. Texas Ranger by James Patterson, narrated by Christopher Ryan Grant

Across the ranchlands and cities of his home state, Rory Yates’s discipline and law-enforcement skills have carried him far: from local highway patrolman to the honorable rank of Texas Ranger. He arrives in his hometown to find a horrifying crime scene and a scathing accusation: he is named a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife, Anne. Read more and sample the audio.

Non-Fiction

1. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward, narrated by Robert Petkoff

Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files, and documents. Read more and sample the audio.

2.The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson, narrated by Roger Wayne

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. With academic research and well-timed poop jokes, Manson argues that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Read more and sample the audio.

3. In Pieces by Sally Field, narrated by Sally Field

Sally Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within. With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, Field brings readers behind-the-scenes of her life and career. Read more and sample the audio.

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

Leif Babin and Jocko Willink, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War, demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life. Read more and sample the audio.

5. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari, narrated by Derek Perkins

Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive. Read more and sample the audio.

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STAFF PICK: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Lena Yang

Title: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrator: Derek Perkins

A mere half-decade ago, a brilliant albeit obscure Israeli professor of history took the literary world by storm. Published first in Hebrew in 2011 and translated into English in 2014, Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens transformed the history of humankind—a gargantuan topic in itself—into a household conversation piece. In 2016, Harari published a follow-up, Homo Deus, which extended the scope of Sapiens to examine the future of humankind. Now, he has turned his sights to the present with 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, which reflects on topical issues plaguing the here and now.

Harari poses some big questions in his introduction: “What are today’s greatest challenges and choices? What should we pay attention to? What should we teach our kids?” The book, broken into five sections that cover technology, politics, fear, truth, and resilience, attempt to examine the major forces that will influence the future of our planet. The scope of the book is huge, yet Harari acknowledges the lessons and issues he grapples with within 300 pages is not exhaustive of all that we could learn. Rather, 21 Lessons for the 21 Century is, as he puts it, a stepping stone to “help readers participate in some of the major conversations of our time.”

Harari delves into topics ranging from immigration to religion to artificial intelligence with eloquence and clarity. As was made clear in Sapiens and Homo Deus, the true mark of his talent as a scholarly writer is his ability to delineate information in an accessible and engaging manner. Much of the content builds on what he has discussed before in Sapiens and Homo Deus, so readers familiar with Harari’s previous works will recognize certain arguments and strands of thinking.

Derek Perkins is, as always, an exquisite narrator. If I close my eyes, I can almost imagine I am once again sitting in a grand lecture hall at university, listening to a particularly captivating professor muse about the predicament of our world. Perkins, without fail, manages to transform Harari’s words into a lively conversation.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century may not be an exhaustive book, but it is a crucial book for anyone who wishes to join the global conversation. Those who have read Harari’s previous works will not be disappointed, and those discovering him for the first time may well stumble upon a new favorite.

Page to Screen in September 2018

Posted on September 5, 2018 by Lena Yang

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

You by Caroline Kepnes, narrated by Santino Fontana
Expected release date: September 9

How far would you go for the perfect love? When aspiring writer and recent Brown graduate Guinevere Beck strides into the bookstore where Joe works, he’s instantly smitten. Beck is everything Joe has ever wanted: she’s gorgeous, tough, razor-smart, and as sexy as his wildest dreams. Joe needs to have her, and he’ll stop at nothing to do so. Read more and sample the audio.

The Bad Seed by William March, narrated by Elizabeth Wiley
Expected release date: September 9

There’s something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, she’s the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around? Read more and sample the audio.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, narrated by Jennifer Ikeda
Expected release date: September 14 (UK)

Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Read more and sample the audio.

A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell, narrated by Xe Sands, Andi Arndt, Matthew Waterson
Expected release date: September 14

It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. But, when Emily doesn’t come back from her high-demand job in Manhattan, Stephanie knows something is wrong. Then, she receives shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.
Or is it? Read more and sample the audio.

The Children Act by Ian McEwan, narrated by Lindsay Duncan
Expected release date: September 14

Fiona Maye, a fiercely intelligent, well-respected High Court judge in London faces a morally ambiguous case involving a seventeen-year-old boy’s life while her own marriage crumbles. Read more and sample the audio.

The Predator by Christopher Golden, Mark Morris, narrated by James Patrick Cronin
Expected release date: September 14

For centuries Earth has been visited by warlike creatures that stalk mankind’s finest warriors. These deadly hunters kill their prey and depart as invisibly as they arrived, leaving no trace other than a trail of bodies. When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe’s most lethal Hunters’ return to earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race. Read more and sample the audio.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, narrated by Edward Herrmann
Expected release date: September 14

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. Read more and sample the audio.

The House with a Clock its Walls by John Bellairs, narrated by George Guidall
Expected release date: September 21

When Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan, comes to stay with his uncle Jonathan, he expects to meet an ordinary person. But he is wrong. Uncle Jonathan and his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermann, are both witches! Lewis is thrilled until he accidentally discovers a clock built into the walls of the house that could obliterate mankind. Read more and sample the audio.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, narrated by John Pruden

Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn’t share his brother’s appetite for whiskey and killing, he’s never known anything else. But, as the brothers embark on their journey, Eli begins to question what he does for a living–and whom he does it for. Read more and sample the audio.

The Old Man and the Gun by David Grann, narrated by Mark Deakins
Expected release date: September 28

In this mesmerizing collection, David Grann takes the reader on a journey through some of the most intriguing and gripping real-life tales from around the world. Read more and sample the audio.

STAFF PICK: The Piranhas by Roberto Saviano

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Michelle

Title: The Piranhas: The Boy Bosses of Naples
Author: Roberto Saviano
Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Seduced by easy money and pushed by a complex reality, Nicolas Fiorillo is the 15-year-old protagonist of The Piranhas: The Boy Bosses of Naples, which exposes the real-life phenomenon of youth gangs, or paranza. Paranza refers not only to gangs, but to the “boats that go out to catch fish through trickery of light… It takes possession of it, and the fish come looking for it.”

The author, an Italian journalist who grew up in Naples, saw his first murder victim at 13. His own father, a doctor, suffered a beating for trying to help an 18-year-old left to die in the street, who was a victim of the Camorra, an Italian Mafia-type crime syndicate.

Saviano begins his stunning novel with a profound statement:

“What you are about to read actually occurred. Facts have been modified and connected to others in order to make a violent and complex world more comprehensible…”

Violent and brutal and glamorous, The Piranhas is weaved with details found in his international crime classic, Gomorrah, which traced the decline of Naples under the Camorra rule. Since its publication, he has been placed under police protection.

Nicolas, an ambitious and promising teenager from the slums of Naples, has a dark desire to acquire power and wealth. Backed by a group of loyal friends, he sets out to create his own paranza, roaming the streets while learning how to become gangsters. What begins with small-time cheating and stealing soon becomes shooting semiautomatic pistols and AK-47s. Saviano succeeds at reminding listeners of the stark reality of child gangsters, such as having Nicolas and his friends play PlayStation in between committing crimes.

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini‘s ability to portray a variety of characters made listening a smooth and entrancing experience. Filled with inevitable consequences that all criminals face while climbing to the top, The Piranhas will leave you in awe of Naples while also grieving for it.

STAFF PICK: Vox by Christina Dalcher

Posted on August 20, 2018 by admin

Post by Miranda Winter-Sayle

Title: Vox
Author: Christina Dalcher
Narrator: Julia Whelan

Imagine you could only speak 100 words a day. How do you determine the importance of every word? This is the decision that Dr. Jean McClellan and all female citizens of the United States must make every day, in the world of this debut novel.

Vox, by Christina Dalcher, is a precautionary tale of a possible future for the United States. Women are not allowed to speak more than 100 words a day – a law that is upheld by bracelets that emit an electric shock that grows worse with every word spoken above the limit. Women are not permitted to have jobs, read, or travel outside the United States.

(I reached the end of my own 100 words in the middle of the previous sentence. Of course, in the society in Vox, I would not be permitted to write this review at all.)

Dr. Jean McClellan is a cognitive linguist who was researching the reversal of brain damage that caused a person’s inability to speak. Her research abruptly ended when religious extremists took over the United States and the subsequent introduction of patriarchal laws forbid women’s participation in society. But when the president’s brother is injured, she is given a choice: regain her voice and continue her research to save one of the men responsible this new world, or refuse and face implicit consequences – in silence.

As a fan of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, I was incredibly excited to listen to Vox — and it did not disappoint. The premise is well-executed and the world that Dalcher creates is terrifyingly believable. Like The Handmaid’s Tale, Vox’s dystopia is in its early days, which allows the audience to witness the before and the after of the new world. The description of the evolution of modern day society into this universe was easily my favorite part of the novel.

Julia Whelan is a narrator I’ve heard before and she never fails to disappoint. Her tone perfectly reflects the anger that Dr. McClellan feels through the duration of the novel. She captures the somber tone of the novel expertly.

Vox was included on many most-anticipated summer releases lists, and now I understand why: its timely subject matter and original storytelling make it a compelling listen, and one I would definitely recommend.

Page to Screen: Stephen King’s Castle Rock

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Lena Yang

Brush up on some of Stephen King’s most iconic stories set in the town of Castle Rock before binge watching Hulu’s brand new series Castle Rock.

1. Bag of Bones by Stephen King, narrated by Stephen King

Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving. Unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway. Read more and sample the audio.

2. Cujo by Stephen King, narrated by Lorna Raver

Outside a peaceful town in central Maine, a monster is waiting. One day, Cujo, a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, chases a rabbit into a cave inhabited by sick bats and emerges as something new altogether. What happens to Cujo, how he becomes a horrifying vortex inescapably drawing in all the people around him, makes for one of the most heart-stopping novels Stephen King has ever written. Read more and sample the audio.

3. Dead Zone by Stephen King, narrated by James Franco

When Johnny Smith awakens from a coma and discovers he can see people’s futures by touching them, he must learn to live with this curse that many other people consider a gift. When Johnny has a disturbing vision after he shakes the hand of an ambitious and amoral politician, he must decide if he should take drastic action to change the future. Read more and sample the audio.

4. Needful Things by Stephen King, narrated by Stephen King

Leland Gaunt opens a new shop in Castle Rock called Needful Things. Anyone who enters his store finds the object of his or her lifelong dreams and desires. In addition to a token payment, Gaunt requests that each person perform a little “deed,” usually a seemingly innocent prank played on someone else from town. These practical jokes cascade out of control and soon the entire town is doing battle with itself. Read more and sample the audio.

5. Dark Half by Stephen King, narrated by Grover Gardner

Thad Beaumont is a writer, and for a dozen years he has secretly published violent bestsellers under the name of George Stark. But, when Thad—a much happier and healthier man now—tries to retire the pseudonym, he finds George Stark won’t go willingly. Read more and sample the audio.

6. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King, narrated by Mare Winningham

Lisey Landon lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of profound, sometimes frightening intimacy. Lisey knew there was a dark place where her husband ventured to face his demons. Boo’ya Moon is what Scott called it; a realm that both terrified and healed him. Now, it’s Lisey’s turn to face her husband’s demons. Read more and sample the audio.

7. Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, narrated by Maggie Siff

Every day in the summer of 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson takes the stairs up to Castle View. Then one day, after catching her breath and hearing the shouts of kids on the playground below, a stranger calls to her. There on a bench sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small, neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat… Read more and sample the audio.

8. Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King, narrated by Various Readers

Featuring twenty short horror stories, a television script, an essay, and a poem, Nightmares and Dreamscapes contains unique and chilling plots including everything from dead rock star zombies to evil toys seeking murderous revenge. Read more and sample the audio.

9. Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King, narrated by Various Readers

Enter a nightmarish mindscape of unrelenting horror and shocking revelations that could only come from the imagination of the greatest storyteller of our time. Read more and sample the audio.

10. Skeleton Crew by Stephen King, narrated by Dylan Baker, Stephen King, Will Patton, Michael C. Hall, Dana Ivey, Lois Smith, David Morse, Matthew Broderick, Paul Giamatti, Frances Sternhagen, Robert Petkoff, Norbert Leo Butz, Kyle Beltran

In this brilliant collection of stories, Stephen King takes readers down paths that only he could imagine. A supermarket becomes the place where humanity makes its last stand against destruction. A trip to the attic becomes a journey to hell. A woman driver finds a scary shortcut to paradise. An idyllic lake harbors a bottomless evil. And a desert island is the scene of the most terrifying struggle for survival ever waged. Read more and sample the audio.

11. Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King, narrated by Dylan Baker, Stephen King, Peter Friedman

A master storyteller at his best—the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story. Read more and sample the audio.

12. Different Seasons by Stephen King, narrated by Frank Muller

A “hypnotic” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of four novellas from Stephen King bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters. Read more and sample the audio.

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September’s Top 10 Audiobooks.com Member Downloads

Page to Screen in September 2018

Page to Screen: Stephen King’s Castle Rock

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