Jocular January Staff Picks

Cobble Hill

A Novel

#1 NYT Bestselling Author of Gossip Girl

By: Cecily von Ziegesar
Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
Length: 9 hours 39 minutes

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Gossip Girl series brings her sharp-eyed and irresistible wit to this “quirky novel of lovable misfits” (Publishers Weekly) chronicling a year in the lives of four families in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood as they seek purpose and community—until one unforgettable night at a raucous neighborhood... Read more

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

By: V. E. Schwab
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Length: 17 hours 9 minutes

“When I first read the desription of this book, I got chills! If there was one book that I could read for the 1st time again, it would be this one! Read more

Interior Chinatown

A Novel (National Book Award Winner)

By: Charles Yu
Narrated by: Joel de la Fuente
Length: 4 hours 20 minutes

“I loved listening to this audiobook because there were background sounds that added texture to the story. I also could really resonate with the character's feelings about being Asian. This book incorporated humor and feelings of emotion really well. Since the print format is written as a screenplay, I will have to physically read it to see if I... Read more

The Children's Blizzard

A Novel

By: Melanie Benjamin
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 11 hours 25 minutes

“Melanie Benjamin is at her best in this historical fiction account of the terrifying blizzard of 1888. It seemingly came out of nowhere and caught the residents of the Midwest by surprise, especially the children and teachers who were preparing to go home for the day. Benjamin looks at the lives of two sisters — both teachers at different... Read more

A Rogue of One's Own

A League of Extraordinary Women: Book #2

By: Evie Dunmore
Narrated by: Elizabeth Jasicki
Length: 16 hours 2 minutes

“Being excited about a follow-up to a debut novel can be fraught — will the second book live up to my expectations? A Rogue of One’s Own absolutely did! Evie Dunmore’s series (the first entry was Bringing Down the Duke) features a quartet of lively suffragettes and the men they fall in love with and bring over to The Cause. The characters are... Read more

Take a Hint, Dani Brown

A Novel

The Brown Sisters: Book #2

By: Talia Hibbert
Narrated by: Ione Butler
Length: 10 hours

“I listened to the audiobook in 2 days! This fake-dating, friends-to-lovers, bisexual AF rom-com-romp has it all. What do you get when you add 1 PhD candidate who just wants some stress release in the form of a good lay, plus 1 former rugby player who now dedicates his time to his mental health-sports charity and reading bodice rippers? Certainly... Read more

Space Unicorn Blues

Space Unicorn: Book #1

By: T.J. Berry
Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
Length: 11 hours 56 minutes

A misfit crew race across the galaxy to prevent the genocide of magical creatures, in this unique science fiction debut. Having magical powers makes you less than human, a resource to be exploited. Half-unicorn Gary Cobalt is sick of slavery, captivity, and his horn being ground down to power faster-than-light travel. When he's finally free, all... Read more

If I Knew Then

Finding wisdom in failure and power in aging

By: Jann Arden
Narrated by: Jann Arden
Length: 3 hours 14 minutes

“ There comes a time in all our lives when we say, “If I knew then, ...” In this memoir, Jann Arden takes us there with humor, warmth, and honesty. Her words resonated deeply with me, a woman “of a certain age”. She reflects on growing up and growing older, on the ways her body has changed, on her father’s alcoholism, on her parents’ dementia and... Read more

Ordinary Insanity

Fear and the Silent Crisis of Motherhood in America

By: Sarah Menkedick
Narrated by: Sarah Menkedick
Length: 14 hours 53 minutes

A groundbreaking exposé and diagnosis of the silent epidemic of fear afflicting new mothers, and a candid, feminist deep dive into the culture, science, history, and psychology of contemporary motherhood
 
Anxiety among mothers is a growing but largely unrecognized crisis. In the transition to mother­hood and the years that follow, countless... Read more

Hidden Valley Road

Inside the Mind of an American Family

By: Robert Kolker
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
Length: 13 hours 8 minutes

“This came out in 2020, and I absolutely did not have the bandwidth to read it then. I revisited it this month via audiobook. Hidden Valley Road's focus is the Galvin family where six of the twelve children develop schizophrenia by the mid 1970s. Kolker expertly weaves together the strands of history of the Galvin's, the disease, and the... Read more

No Barriers

A Blind Man's Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon

By: Erik Weihenmayer & Buddy Levy
Narrated by: Holter Graham
Length: 19 hours 34 minutes

2018 Colorado Book Awards finalist in Creative Nonfiction, and National Bestseller and Honorable Mention Award Winner in the Outdoor Literature category of the 2017 National Outdoor Book Awards (NOBA)

“A beautiful book about family and finding a way to achieve more than you ever thought possible.” —Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling... Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 9 minutes

“No one really needs my blurb to help sell this book, but I wanted to give it anyway, especially for the audiobook, narrated by Barack Obama himself. If you want to know his incredible knowledge and wisdom that guided him through major decisions, and also hear him drop a few F-bombs, you need to listen to this fantastically written book. Read more

Amari and the Night Brothers

Supernatural Investigations: Book #1

By: B. B. Alston
Narrated by: Imani Parks
Length: 11 hours 11 minutes

“This was just fantastic. Amari is such a great main character, smart and gutsy especially as she navigates grief, bullying and a new magical environment. I loved her new found friendship with Elsie as well as this new magical school world. If you loved Harry Potter and Morrigan Crow (from Nevermoor), you will adore this. Read more

Early Departures

By: Justin A. Reynolds
Narrated by: A.J Beckles & Preston Butler III
Length: 7 hours 44 minutes

Like Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End and Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us, Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds, author of Opposite of Always, is a powerful and deeply moving YA contemporary novel with a speculative twist about love, death, grief, and friendship.What if you could bring your best friend back to life—but only for a short... Read more

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone: Book #1

By: Laini Taylor
Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
Length: 12 hours 31 minutes

In a nation on the brink of war, a young art student's star-crossed love begins to bloom in the first book of the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor.
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark... Read more

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

By: Garth Nix
Narrated by: Marisa Calin
Length: 11 hours 15 minutes

A girl's quest to find her father leads her to an extended family of magical fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of England when it intrudes on the modern world. From the bestselling master of teen fantasy, Garth Nix.

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime... Read more

Concrete Rose

A Printz Honor Winner

By: Angie Thomas
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 8 hours 17 minutes

International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood. A Printz Honor Book!If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang... Read more