Essays audiobooks

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

By: John Koenig

Narrated by: John Koenig

Length: 4 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“It’s undeniably thrilling to find words for our strangest feelings…Koenig casts light into lonely corners of human experience…An enchanting book. “ —The Washington Post

A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the... Read more

Black Nerd Problems

By: William Evans & Omar Holmon

Narrated by: William Evans & Omar Holmon

Length: 7 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

The creators of the popular website Black Nerd Problems bring their witty and unflinching insight to this engaging collection of pop culture essays—on everything from Mario Kart to issues of representation—that “will fill you with joy and give you hope for the future of geek culture” (Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

When... Read more

Hola Papi

By: John Paul Brammer

Narrated by: John Paul Brammer

Length: 4 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

LGBTQ advice columnist John Paul Brammer writes a “wise and charming” (David Sedaris) memoir-in-essays chronicling his journey from a queer, mixed-race kid in America’s heartland to becoming the “Chicano Carrie Bradshaw” of his generation.

“A master class of tone and tenderness.” —The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
“Should be... Read more

Survival of the Thickest

By: Michelle Buteau

Narrated by: Michelle Buteau

Length: 6 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

*Now a comedy series on Netflix!*
From the stand-up comedian, actress, and host beloved for her cheeky swagger, unique voice, and unapologetic frankness comes a book of “zesty and hilarious” (Publishers Weekly) essays for fans of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me by Mindy Kaling and We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union.

If you’ve... Read more

If I Knew Then

By: Jann Arden

Narrated by: Jann Arden

Length: 3 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Jann Arden—bestselling author, recording artist and late-blooming TV star—is back with this funny, heartfelt and fierce memoir on becoming a woman of a certain age. The power, gravity and freedom she's found at fifty-seven are superpowers she believes all of us can unleash.

Digging deep into her strengths, her failures and her... Read more

Make It Scream, Make It Burn

By: Leslie Jamison

Narrated by: Leslie Jamison

Length: 9 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

From the "astounding" (Entertainment Weekly), "spectacularly evocative" (The Atlantic), and "brilliant" (Los Angeles Times) author of the New York Times bestsellers The Recovering and The Empathy Exams comes a return to the essay form in this expansive book.

With the virtuosic synthesis of memoir, criticism, and journalism for which Leslie... Read more

Dreyer's English

By: Benjamin Dreyer

Narrated by: Benjamin Dreyer & Alison Fraser

Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A sharp, funny grammar guide they’ll actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief and one of Twitter’s leading language gurus
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY O: The Oprah Magazine • Paste • Shelf Awareness

“Essential (and delightful!)”—People

We all write, all the time: books, blogs,... Read more

The End of the End of the Earth

By: Jonathan Franzen

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 6 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

This program has been updated with a new epilogue written and read by the author.

A sharp and provocative new essay collection from the award-winning author of Freedom and The Corrections

The essayist, Jonathan Franzen writes, is like “a fire-fighter, whose job, while everyone else is fleeing the flames of shame, is to run straight into them.”... Read more

When Einstein Walked with Gödel

By: Jim Holt

Narrated by: David Stifel

Length: 15 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

From Jim Holt, New York Times bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?, comes When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought, an entertaining and accessible audiobook guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries

Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right... Read more

Fraud

By: David Rakoff

Narrated by: David Rakoff

Length: 4 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

You've heard him on This American Life! Now read his book!

Wherever he is, David Rakoff is a fish out of water. Whether impersonating Sigmund Freud in a department store window during the holidays, climbing an icy mountain in cheap loafers, playing an evil modeling agent on a daytime soap opera, or learning primitive survival skills in the wilds... Read more

Magically Black and Other Essays

By: Jerald Walker

Narrated by: Aaron Goodson

Length: 3 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

In this engaging follow up to How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, the recipient of PEN New England Award for nonfiction and finalist for the National Book Award sharply examines and explains Black life and culture with equal parts candor and humor.In Magically Black and Other Essays Jerald Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and... Read more

You Get What You Pay For

By: Morgan Parker

Narrated by: Morgan Parker

Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

In her “witty and searing” first essay collection, award-winning poet Morgan Parker examines “the cultural legacy of Black womanhood and the meaning of finding ‘well-being’ in a world that wasn’t built for you” (Vogue).

“Riveting and deeply personal . . . filled with poignant insights.”—Cosmopolitan

Dubbed a voice of her generation, poet and... Read more

Sex with a Brain Injury

By: Annie Liontas

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

Length: 9 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

For readers of Meghan O’Rourke’s The Invisible Kingdom, Esmé Weijun Wang’s The Collected Schizophrenias, and Melissa Febos’s Girlhood, a powerful and deeply personal memoir in essays that sheds light on the silent epidemic of head trauma.

Annie Liontas suffered multiple concussions in her thirties. In Sex with a Brain Injury, she writes about... Read more

Round Here and Over Yonder

By: Trae Crowder & Corey Ryan Forrester

Narrated by: Trae Crowder & Corey Ryan Forrester

Length: 7 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Read by the authors.Join Southern comedian duo Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester in this hilarious and irreverent travel guide as they wander about ponderin' the peculiarities beyond their small-town front porches.Trae and Corey will take you from the smallest of small towns to major US metropolises (or is it metropoli? We haven't a fartin'... Read more

The Tao of the Backup Catcher

By: Tim Brown

Narrated by: Justin Price & Tim Brown

Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

This fascinating book chronicles the unsung men of baseball who serve the job, the hardships they face, and their love for a game that would not always love them back―told partly through the experiences of an MLB veteran.​

In baseball there are superstars and stars and everyday players and then there are the rest. Within the rest are role... Read more

Tough Titties

By: Laura Belgray

Narrated by: Laura Belgray

Length: 8 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Discover a brutally honest, hilarious, and relatable account of being a late bloomer on the dating scene, trying to master adulthood, and embracing your inner dork: "a hilarious, must-read permission slip to be 100% you" (Marie Forleo, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

What does it take to grow up cool and popular, master adulthood, fast... Read more

We're All in This Together . . .

By: Tom Papa

Narrated by: Tom Papa

Length: 7 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by the author.

"In 37 short essays comedian Tom Papa reminds listeners that life's absurdities are here to stay and that everyone is doing the best they can. His tone and delivery are comforting, heartwarming, even therapeutic."- AudioFile

Stand-up is all well and good, but observational humor that’s funny and warm may work... Read more

Walking with Sam

By: Andrew McCarthy

Narrated by: Andrew McCarthy

Length: 6 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

An intimate, funny, and poignant New York Times bestseling travel memoir following award-winning author and actor Andrew McCarthy as he walks the Camino de Santiago with his son Sam. 
 
When Andrew McCarthy's eldest son began to take his first steps into adulthood, McCarthy found himself wishing time would slow down. Looking to create a more... Read more

It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway

By: Elizabeth Passarella

Narrated by: Elizabeth Passarellla

Length: 7 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

Read by the author.A collection of refreshingly honest and hilarious essays from Southern Living columnist Elizabeth Passarella about navigating change--whether emotional or logistical--and staying sane during life's unexpected twists and turns.After Elizabeth Passarella and her husband finally decided that it was time to sell their two-bedroom... Read more

Body Horror

By: Anne Elizabeth Moore

Narrated by: Anne Elizabeth Moore

Length: 8 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Whether for entertainment, under the guise of medicine, or to propel consumerism, heinous acts are perpetrated daily on women’s bodies. In Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes, award-winning journalist Anne Elizabeth Moore catalogs the global toll of capitalism on our physical autonomy. Weaving together unflinching research and... Read more

A Guest at the Feast

By: Colm Toibin

Narrated by: Colm Toibin

Length: 9 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by LitHub and The Millions!

From one of the most engaging and brilliant writers of our time comes a “not to be missed” (LitHub) collection of eleven essays about growing up in Ireland during radical change; about cancer, priests, popes, homosexuality, and literature.

“IT ALL STARTED WITH MY BALLS.” So begins... Read more

I'm Wearing Tunics Now

By: Wendi Aarons

Narrated by: Wendi Aarons

Length: 7 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

An honest and hilarious memoir about second acts, self-acceptance, and celebrating what happens when a woman gets older, wiser, and a lot more excited by sales at Eileen Fisher.
A late bloomer who came to her career later in life, humorist Wendi Aarons shares the joys, stumbles, and outfit mishaps she’s experienced on her road to no longer giving... Read more

Nerd

By: Maya Phillips

Narrated by: Maya Phillips

Length: 9 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

In the vein of You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) and Black Nerd Problems, this witty, incisive essay collection from New York Times critic at large Maya Phillips explores race, religion, sexuality, and more through the lens of her favorite pop culture fandoms.

From the moment Maya Phillips saw the opening scroll of Star Wars, Episode V:... Read more

Dirtbag, Massachusetts

By: Isaac Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Isaac Fitzgerald

Length: 7 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER



USA TODAY BESTSELLER



Winner of the New England Book Award for Nonfiction



"The best of what memoir can accomplish . . . pulling no punches on the path to truth, but it always finds the capacity for grace and joy." —Esquire, "Best Memoirs of the Year"



A TIME Best Book of the Season * A Rolling Stone Top Culture Pick * A... Read more