Sultry September Staff Picks

Cloud Cuckoo Land

A Novel

By: Anthony Doerr
Narrated by: Marin Ireland & Simon Jones
Length: 14 hours 51 minutes

“Highly imaginative and incredibly ambitious, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a story within a story that is about stories. Though the premise, like the title, sounds maddening, I found Anthony Doerr’s novel to be rich, intricate, and deeply profound. Like the thread that binds together a vibrant tapestry, the story within the story, also named Cloud Cuckoo... Read more

Great Circle

A novel

By: Maggie Shipstead
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell & Alex McKenna
Length: 25 hours 16 minutes

“Like so many big, statement-making novels, Maggie Shipstead's Great Circle is an inviting, ambitious, and commodious work. But unlike so many of them, Great Circle makes the statement without dragging across its page count. It gallops, in fact, in its telling of Marian Graves's triumphant and ill-fated trek across the globe and of the Hollywood... Read more

Station Eleven

A novel

By: Emily St. John Mandel
Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
Length: 10 hours 39 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. Now an original series on HBO Max. Over one... Read more

A Slow Fire Burning

A Novel

By: Paula Hawkins
Narrated by: Rosamund Pike
Length: 9 hours 19 minutes

“This is a slow burning novel, as the title suggests. It has lots of unlikeable and unreliable characters, it jumps around a lot, it has at least one bona fide murder and maybe some others that weren’t really accidents. Despite all of this you just must keep listening because the writing is superb, the narration is brilliant, the atmosphere is... Read more

Hollow Kingdom

By: Kira Jane Buxton
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
Length: 10 hours 10 minutes

“You wouldn't think a foul-mouthed, wise-cracking crow named S. T. (short for Shit Turd) would be a great companion at the end of the world, but honestly? I couldn't imagine another living being to spend the apocalypse with. Buxton amazingly captures the natural world as the humans have devolved into zombie-like creatures, and given us the... Read more

Fault Lines

A Novel

By: Emily Itami
Narrated by: Lydia Wilson
Length: 5 hours 22 minutes

“Emily Itami has given us an incredibly engaging, hilarious, and relatable narrator in Mizuki as she navigates the fault lines in her marriage, in her past, and within herself. Read more

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

An Oprah’s Book Club Novel

By: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton & Prentice Onayemi
Length: 29 hours 48 minutes

“This book really won me over with its brilliant writing and entrancing story. Honestly, I was intimidated by the length and title (especially as someone who doesn't love poetry) but the blurb was so good and it sounded right up my alley. The narrators, Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton & Prentice Onayemi, all have gorgeous voices and immediately... Read more

Lightning Strike

Cork O'Connor Mysteries: Book #18

By: William Kent Krueger
Narrated by: David Chandler
Length: 11 hours 37 minutes

“In this prequel set in 1963, we meet 12-year-old Cork’s family as his father investigates a murder. Even as Cork believes he will never be a cop, we can see Cork’s inevitable future as an investigator. Read more

Persephone Station

By: Stina Leicht
Narrated by: Maria Liatis
Length: 11 hours 55 minutes

“On a backwater planet, in a highly suspect bar, in a backroom, a group of morally dubious but altruistic mercenaries find themselves caught up in something much bigger than themselves. Swept up in company politics, a truly intelligent AI’s agenda, and the mysteries of Persephone Station itself, Angel and her crew of mercs must now figure out... Read more

Ariadne

A Novel

By: Jennifer Saint
Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
Length: 11 hours 59 minutes

“Satisfying the need for more Greek/Roman transformational myths from much-needed other viewpoints, Jennifer Saint delivers tales of Ariadne and her sister Phaedra’s life on Crete and beyond. Less heroic yarn and more character inquisitiveness — a refreshing addition. Read more

The Program

By: Suzanne Young
Narrated by: Joy Osmanski
Length: 10 hours 56 minutes

The first book in Suzanne Young’s New York Times bestselling series is a “gripping tale for lovers of dystopian romance” (Kirkus Reviews) about two teens in a world where true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program—now with a freshly reimagined look.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of... Read more

The Last Wish

Introducing the Witcher

The Witcher: Book #1

By: Andrzej Sapkowski
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
Length: 10 hours 17 minutes

Geralt the Witcher—revered and hated—holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures, the first chapter in Andrzej Sapkowski’s groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games.

Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a... Read more

Light From Uncommon Stars

By: Ryka Aoki
Narrated by: Cindy Kay
Length: 13 hours 13 minutes

“Narrated by Cindy Kay who lends her melodic voice to bolster the story and gives characters respectful, authentic accents. I love this story! Read more

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina

A Novel

By: Zoraida Córdova
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
Length: 10 hours 57 minutes

“This multigenerational novel is so beautifully written and full of magical realism. Dreamlike in its imagery and captivating in its storytelling, it is perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V. E. Schwab and The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende. Read more

The Bones of Ruin

By: Sarah Raughley
Narrated by: Ione Butler
Length: 17 hours 16 minutes

An African tightrope walker who can’t die gets embroiled in a secret society’s deadly gladiatorial tournament in this “bloodily spectacular” (Chloe Gong, New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights) historical fantasy set in an alternate 1880s London, perfect for fans of The Last Magician and The Gilded Wolves.

As an African... Read more

School of Fear

School of Fear: Book #1

By: Gitty Daneshvari
Narrated by: Emma Walton Hamilton
Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

Everyone is afraid of something...

Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs, especially spiders.

Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying.
Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces.

Garrison Feldman is terrified of deep water.
With very few options left, the parents of these four twelve year-olds send them to the highly elusive and... Read more

Beasts and Beauty

Dangerous Tales

By: Soman Chainani
Narrated by: Polly Lee
Length: 6 hours 7 minutes

You think you know these stories, don’t you?You are wrong. You don’t know them at all.Twelve tales, twelve dangerous tales of mystery, magic, and rebellious hearts. Each twists like a spindle to reveal truths full of warning and triumph, truths that free hearts long kept tame, truths that explore life . . . and death.A prince has a surprising... Read more

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

And Other Lessons from the Crematory

By: Caitlin Doughty
Narrated by: Caitlin Doughty
Length: 7 hours 44 minutes

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty - a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre - took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life's work. With an original voice that combines fearless curiosity and mordant wit, Caitlin tells an unusual coming-of-age story... Read more

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Rebecca Skloot
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell & Bahni Turpin
Length: 12 hours 30 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”—Entertainment Weekly

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” (LITHUB), AND “BEST” (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) BOOKS OF... Read more

Facing the Mountain

A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II

By: Daniel James Brown
Narrated by: Louis Ozawa
Length: 17 hours 39 minutes

“Hooked by page 5! Daniel James Brown crafts a story as compelling as Isabel Wilkerson's Warmth of Other Suns. Told in the voices of those who lived it, Facing the Mountain describes the Japanese experience in American during WWII in the words of Japanese American soldiers and their interred families. Heroes every one. Read more