Essays audiobooks

The Message

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Length: 5 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The renowned author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don’t—shape our realities.

“Ta-Nehisi Coates always writes with a purpose. . . . These pilgrimages, for him, help ground his powerful writing about... Read more

The Anthropocene Reviewed

By: John Green

Narrated by: John Green

Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

“Masterful. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a beautiful, timely book about the human condition—and a timeless reminder to pay attention to your attention.” —Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast Re:Thinking

The instant #1 bestseller from John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, is... Read more

Crying in H Mart

By: Michelle Zauner

Narrated by: Michelle Zauner

Length: 7 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

From the indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far... Read more

World Travel

By: Anthony Bourdain & Laurie Woolever

Narrated by: Laurie Woolever, Shep Gordon, Christopher Bourd...

Length: 12 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

A guide to some of the world’s most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony BourdainAnthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos... Read more

How Far the Light Reaches

By: Sabrina Imbler

Narrated by: Sabrina Imbler

Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

A fascinating tour of creatures from the surface to the deepest ocean floor: this "miraculous, transcendental book" invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live (Ed Yong, author of An Immense World). A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation... Read more

The Disordered Cosmos

By: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

Length: 10 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

From a star theoretical physicist, a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos—and a call for a more liberatory practice of science.

A Finalist for the 2022 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
A Finalist for the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science & Technology
A Smithsonian Magazine Best Science Book of... Read more

Want

By: Gillian Anderson

Narrated by: Anonymous & Gillian Anderson

Length: 11 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

A collection of sexual fantasies from women around the world, Want is a revelatory, sensational, and game-changing exploration of women’s sexuality that asks, and answers: How do women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally anonymous?“The book you hold in your hands started as an invitation to women across the world, a call for... Read more

Holidays on Ice

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris, Ann Magnuson & Amy Sedaris

Length: 4 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favoritesas the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the... Read more

The Memory Palace

By: Nate DiMeo

Narrated by: Nate DiMeo, Jad Abumrad, Daniel Alarcón, Betsy ...

Length: 8 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

Incredible true stories reveal strange new magic in American history in this wondrous first book from the creator of the award-winning podcast The Memory Palace.

“One doesn’t often find the words imagination and history in the same sentence. Nate DiMeo has forever woven them together. The Memory Palace wants you to linger, to stay awhile, and... Read more

How To Tell When We Will Die

By: Johanna Hedva

Narrated by: Johanna Hedva

Length: 15 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

The long-awaited essay collection from one of the most influential voices in disability activism that detonates a bomb in our collective understanding of care and illness, showing us that sickness is a fact of life.   In the wake of the 2014 Ferguson riots, and sick with a chronic condition that rendered them housebound, Johanna Hedva turned to... Read more

Kitchen Confidential

By: Anthony Bourdain

Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain

Length: 8 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

When Chef Anthony Bourdain wrote "Don't Eat Before You Read This" in The New Yorker, he spared no one's appetite, revealing what goes on behind the kitchen door. In Kitchen Confidential, he expanded the appetizer into a deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet that lays out his twenty-five years of sex, drugs, and haute cuisine.

From his... Read more

Raw Dog

By: Jamie Loftus

Narrated by: Jamie Loftus

Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

One of BookPage's Best Audiobooks of 2023

"Loftus is a charming narrator...goofy, engaging, and always game to do a silly voice." —The New York Times

"There’s something terribly irresistible about her narration, which is often incredibly funny." —BookPage

Part travelogue, part culinary history, all capitalist critique—comedian Jamie Loftus's debut,... Read more

The Best of Me

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

Length: 13 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

“Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me.” —Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review

David Sedaris’s best stories and essays, spanning his remarkable career—as selected and read by the author himself. Featuring fresh and classic recordings, including a new essay and an interview exclusive to the... Read more

Shit, Actually

By: Lindy West

Narrated by: Lindy West

Length: 7 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

**Your Favorite Movies, Re-Watched**
New York Times opinion writer and bestselling author Lindy West was once the in-house movie critic for Seattle's alternative newsweekly The Stranger, where she covered film with brutal honesty and giddy irreverence. In Shit, Actually, Lindy returns to those roots, re-examining beloved and iconic movies from... Read more

These Precious Days

By: Ann Patchett

Narrated by: Ann Patchett

Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

The beloved New York Times bestselling author reflects on home, family, friendships and writing in this deeply personal collection of essays.  ""The elegance of Patchett’s prose is seductive and inviting: with Patchett as a guide, readers will really get to grips with the power of struggles, failures, and triumphs alike."" —Publisher's... Read more

Joyful Recollections of Trauma

By: Paul Scheer

Narrated by: Paul Scheer

Length: 6 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

From award-winning actor and comedian Paul Scheer, a candid and hilarious memoir-in-essays on coming to terms with childhood trauma and finding the joy in embracing your authentic self, featuring content exclusive to the audio edition, including excerpts from live shows and audio clips from home movies.Paul Scheer has entertained countless fans... Read more

Happy-Go-Lucky

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

Length: 7 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

An Audie Award Winner

David Sedaris, the “champion storyteller,” (Los Angeles Times) returns with his first new collection of personal essays since the bestselling Calypso.

Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As... Read more

Bad Feminist

By: Roxane Gay

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 11 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

“Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there.”  — Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?A New York Times BestsellerBest Book of the Year: NPR • Boston Globe •... Read more

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

By: Joan Didion

Narrated by: Maya Hawke

Length: 6 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by actor and singer-songwriter Maya Hawke, star of Netflix's Stranger Things.

"Narrating in a voice as clear and sustaining as a cool glass of water, Hawke’s unflashy approach allows the words to reveal their magic."—The Orange County Register

“Maya Hawke performs this classic collection superbly...Hawke gets Didion's measured... Read more

Sitting Pretty

By: Rebekah Taussig

Narrated by: Rebekah Taussig

Length: 7 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted... Read more

A Walk in the Woods

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: Rob McQuay

Length: 9 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and... Read more

On Tyranny

By: Timothy Snyder

Narrated by: Timothy Snyder

Length: 1 hour 47 minutes

Abridged: No

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “bracing” (Vox) guide for surviving and resisting America’s turn towards authoritarianism, from “a rising public intellectual unafraid to make bold connections between past and present” (The New York Times)

“Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. He has... Read more

The Witches Are Coming

By: Lindy West

Narrated by: Lindy West

Length: 6 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

In this wickedly funny cultural critique, the author of the critically acclaimed memoir and Hulu series Shrill exposes misogyny in the #MeToo era.

This is a witch hunt. We're witches, and we're hunting you.

From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: this is feminism gone too far, this is injustice,... Read more

The Universe in Verse

By: Maria Popova

Narrated by: Maria Popova & Lili Taylor

Length: 1 hour 28 minutes

Abridged: No

In this audiobook Maria Popova, creator of The Marginalian, presents a celebration of the human search for truth and beauty through the lenses of science and poetry.

Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging... Read more