2019 Audie Awards Winners!

The 24th Annual Audie Awards took place on Monday! Congratulations to all of the Audie Winners!

The Audie Awards recognize outstanding achievement from the authors, narrators, and producers of the most talked-about audiobooks in the industry. See below for some of the winners! For the full list, take a look at our book list.

Audiobook of the Year

Title: Children of Blood and Bone
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Narrator: Bahni Turpin


Publisher Summary:
In Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi conjures a stunning world of dark magic and danger in her West African-inspired fantasy debut.

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.

They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers-and her growing feelings for an enemy.

 

Autobiography/Memoir and Best Female Narrator

Title: Educated
Author: Tara Westover
Narrator: Julia Whelan

Publisher Summary:

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Read more and sample the audio →

 

Best Male Narrator

Title: Watchers
Author: Dean Koontz
Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Publisher Summary:

On his thirty-sixth birthday, Travis Cornell hikes into the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. But his path is soon blocked by a bedraggled Golden Retriever who will let him go no further into the dark woods.

That morning, Travis had been desperate to find some happiness in his lonely, seemingly cursed life. What he finds is a dog of alarming intelligence that soon leads him into a relentless storm of mankind’s darkest creation.

Read more and sample the audio →

 

Fiction

Title: The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Author: Heather Morris
Narrator: Richard Armitage

Publisher Summary:

This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.
Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

Read more and sample the audio →

 

Humor

Title: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
Author: Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally
Narrator: Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally

Publisher Summary:

The year: 2000. The setting: Los Angeles. A gorgeous virtuoso of an actress agreed to star in a random play, and a basement-dwelling scenic carpenter said he would assay a supporting role in the selfsame pageant. At the first rehearsal she surveyed her fellow cast members, determining if any of the men might qualify to provide her with a satisfying fling. Her gaze fell upon the carpenter, and like a bolt of lightning the thought struck her: no dice. Moving on.

Yet, unbeknownst to our protagonists, Cupid had merely set down his bow and picked up a rocket launcher…that fired a love rocket (not a euphemism). The players were Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, and the resulting romance, once ignited, was . . . epic. Beyond epic. It resulted in a coupling that has endured to this day; a sizzling, perpetual tryst that has captivated the world with its kindness, athleticism, astonishingly low-brow humor, and true (fire emoji) passion.

How did they do it? They came from completely different families, ignored a significant age difference, and were separated by the gulf of several social strata. Megan loved books and art history; Nick loved hammers. But much more than these seemingly unsurpassable obstacles were the values they held in common: respect, decency, the ability to mention genitalia in almost any context, and an abiding obsession with the songs of Tom Waits.

Eighteen years later, they’re still very much in love and have finally decided to reveal the philosophical mountains they have conquered, the lessons they’ve learned, and the myriad jigsaw puzzles they’ve completed. Presented as an oral history in a series of conversations between the couple, the book features anecdotes, hijinks, photos, and a veritable grab bag of tomfoolery. This is not only the intoxicating book that Mullally’s and Offerman’s fans have been waiting for, it might just hold the solution to the greatest threat facing our modern world: the single life.

Read more and sample the audio →

 

History/Biography

Title: Darkest Hour
Author: Anthony McCarten
Narrator: John Lee

Publisher Summary:

May 1940. Britain is at war, Winston Churchill has unexpectedly been promoted to Prime Minister, the horrors of Blitzkreig witness one western European Democracy fall after another in rapid succession. Facing this horror, with pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, Churchill wonders what words could capture the public mood when the invasion of Britain seems mere hours away.

It is this fascinating period that Anthony McCarten captures in this deeply researched and wonderfully written new book, The Darkest Hour. A day-by-day (and often hour-by-hour) narrative of this crucial moment in history provides a revisionist look at Churchill—a man plagued by doubt through those turbulent weeks—but who emerged having made himself into the iconic, lionized figure we remember.

Read more and sample the audio →

 

Non-Fiction

Title: The Perfectionists
Author: Simon Winchester
Narrator: Simon Winchester


Publisher Summary:

The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement—precision—in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.

The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.

Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today’s cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia.

As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?

Read more and sample the audio →

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Get awarded for listening!

One of our favorite app features is the My Achievements tab. Diligent listeners know how satisfying it is to say the number of books we’ve enjoyed or to know the cumulative amount of days we’ve listened. The My Achievements section will track all of this for you and more! We automatically track your progress and award fun badges for certain tasks. Did you listen all weekend? Have you listened to lots of book series? See how many achievements you can earn!

 

How to navigate there:

Click the three bars in the upper right corner.  A menu will appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down to My Achievements. Within the My Achievements section, there are three options to choose from: My Achievements, My Info, My Stats.

 

 

The Achievements:

For each of the achievements, on the right-hand side it indicates what you need to achieve for your next star. Once you’ve collected all three stars, you have earned the achievement!

Crammer – This keeps track of how many audiobooks you add to your library. To get it, download a certain number in under a month!

Diligent Member – This is the easiest accomplishment to achieve. Simply follow the instructions in the My Info tab to edit your profile and voila, you have achieved a goal!

Collector – This is considered one of the trickier achievements because it tracks how many titles you’ve accumulated in your library since you began your subscription.  How many can you collect?

Serial Listener – This keeps track of how many individual series you have listened to. For it to count, you must listen to at least three books in the series. The first star only requires one series, so get listening.

Critic – Loved a specific audiobook or narrator? Rate the title and write a review. The more reviews you write, the closer you get to earning another achievement.

Loyalist – This is our thanks to you for being a loyal member! It records how many consecutive days you have been a member for. To get the first star, you only need to be a member for 180 days.

Good Listener – This is one of the most challenging achievements. It tallies all your listening sessions — the top tier requires 1000 hours (over a month) of listening!

Notetaker – As you’re listening, leave as many bookmarks and notes as possible to earn your achievement. You only need to leave three notes for the first star.

Weekender – Earn this achievement by listening on as many weekends as possible. For a weekend to qualify, you must listen on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

My Info:

There are two parts to this section. First off, there’s your basic contact information which you filled out when you signed up. It will also display your account status and when your next credit is arriving (AKA  when you may listen to your next audiobook).

 

Next, we want to get to know you! Tell us your birthday, gender and favorite place to listen. You’ll instantly be awarded with the “Diligent Member” achievement.

 

 

 

 

 

My Stats:

This section keeps track of your basic stats; the number of titles in your library, your cumulative listening time and how long you’ve been a member. Can you make it to a Tier 3 customer by accumulating over 100 titles? Challenge your friends and family to see who can get there first!

 

 

 

 

You already love listening, so why not get awarded for it?