Best of 2021

Crying in H Mart

A Memoir

By: Michelle Zauner
Narrated by: Michelle Zauner
Length: 7 hours 22 minutes

“A bunch of us at GGP loved this daughter's brutally honest examination of her complicated at times strained relationship with her mother, who is dying of cancer. Bonus fascinating factor: the daughter just happens to be the lead singer of the band Japanese Breakfast! Be prepared to cry, feel hungry or have an urge to call the motherly figures in... Read more

Afterparties

Stories

By: Anthony Veasna So
Narrated by: Jason Sean
Length: 6 hours 56 minutes

“These stories of the members of a compact Cambodian-American community, from the refugees to the business owners to the gay teenagers, seamlessly balance humor with hardships. Read more

A Little Devil in America

Notes in Praise of Black Performance

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: JD Jackson
Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

“Hanif Abdurraqib's exploration of Black performance in America is a cultural keystone that is chillingly relevant. Whether discussing the fact that a knowing look or advice on a route from a cashier is a form of a living Green Book that still exists because there are places Black people are not safe, to the origin of the card game spades or the... Read more

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven

By: Nathaniel Ian Miller
Narrated by: Olafur Darri Olafsson
Length: 10 hours 52 minutes

“Poor misanthropic Sven, his great Arctic adventures tend toward the bumbling and catastrophic, but he persists in his dream to be alone in the great north - only to find that the few friends (including a very shaggy dog) he has made in his travels are what he needs most. It's a lovely, wry and insightful novel, and Olafur Dari Olafsson's deep... Read more

Cloud Cuckoo Land

A Novel

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

“A beautiful tribute to the human need to preserve and share stories. One to read and read again! One of my Top 3 for 2021! Read more

Exhalation

Stories

By: Ted Chiang
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, Amy Landon & Ted Chiang
Length: 11 hours 21 minutes

“WOW. My first experience with Ted Chiang absolutely blew me out of the water. Each story left me with wide eyes and a racing mind, running to my husband to read a passage so we could both be knocked over with wonder. Exhalation filled me with so many questions about our collective past, present, and future, I’ll be coming back to this book again... Read more

Harlem Shuffle

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 10 hours 35 minutes

“Colson Whitehead's Harlem Shuffle is a historical fiction mystery set in 1960s Harlem. A furniture salesman playing both sides, Ray occasionally gets rid of his cousin Freddie's stolen goods. When Freddie involves him in a heist that goes south, Ray's life turns upside down. Harlem Shuffle. shows the changing landscape of Harlem with a side of... Read more

Razorblade Tears

A Novel

By: S. A. Cosby
Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
Length: 12 hours 22 minutes

“This was just riveting. Two fathers, one black and one white, come together to avenge the murders of their married sons. What was sad, and gratifying, is that these two homophobic dads, realized, too late, that their love for their boys, should have transcended their own hateful beliefs. And, it was hard to read their regret bc they could never... Read more

Bewilderment

A Novel

By: Richard Powers
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Length: 7 hours 50 minutes

“An homage to the heartbreaking Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, this intimate story of a grieving father and his troubled son is an intelligent and touching story of tragedy and hope. Read more

The Darkness Knows

A Novel

By: Arnaldur Indridason
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
Length: 8 hours 48 minutes

"Fans of Nordic noir will enjoy this performance. For those new to the genre and looking for an easy start, Barrett offers an expert entry into a world of danger and intrigue." –AudioFile Magazine

Retired detective Konrad returns to a haunting cold case in The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason, the "undisputed King of the Icelandic thriller."... Read more

Velvet Was the Night

By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Narrated by: Gisela Chípe
Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

“Silvia Moreno-Garcia does it again! I have enjoyed every single book I've read of hers. Velvet Was the Night illustrates give and take between happenstance and plotting, lack of knowledge and accidental coincidence. All folks in the book are trying to find the same person, but all for different reasons. This leads people on wild goose chases and... Read more

Iron Widow

Iron Widow: Book #1

By: Xiran Jay Zhao
Narrated by: Rong Fu
Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

“A young woman still reeling from the loss of her sister in a horribly unequal society based around defending themselves from an alien threat sets readers up for a whirlwind of an adventure as Zetian seeks both revenge and a way to keep other women from falling to the same fate her sister did. Power and privilege afforded to gender are both... Read more

Three Girls from Bronzeville

A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood

By: Dawn Turner
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 11 hours 45 minutes

A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book
A Best Book of 2021 by BuzzFeed and Real Simple

An “unmissable” (Vogue), “exceptional” (The Washington Post), and “evocative” (Chicago Tribune) memoir about three Black girls from the storied Bronzeville section of Chicago that offers a penetrating exploration of race, opportunity, friendship,... Read more

Dumb Money

The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees (Previously Published as The Antisocial Network)

By: Ben Mezrich
Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi
Length: 7 hours 46 minutes

From the author of the book that became the iconic The Social Network movie, here is the definitive take on one of the wildest stories ever --  the David-vs.-Goliath GameStop short squeeze, a tale of fortunes won and lost overnight, marking an unforgettable event in financial history.

Bestselling author Ben Mezrich offers a gripping,... 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

Kitchen Confidential

Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

By: Anthony Bourdain
Narrated by: Anthony Bourdain
Length: 8 hours 18 minutes

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

We Keep the Dead Close

A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence

By: Becky Cooper
Narrated by: Becky Cooper
Length: 15 hours 46 minutes

“As much a journey for the writer as it is for the reader, this book solves a murder but leaves us with many unanswered questions. We Keep the Dead Close challenges us to question our assumptions as well as the paths we use to arrive at those assumptions. Delving into the academic culture of Harvard, the misogyny of the 1960s, and the burgeoning... Read more

Mexican Gothic

By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
Length: 10 hours 39 minutes

“Best book I have read this year. An amazing, gripping tale of a young woman in a strange old house. It's an epic ghost story mixed with some element for "Girl with all the Gifts." Compelling characters and a twist ending that will have you in the edge of your seat until the very end. 10/10 would recommend. Read more

Rabbits

A Novel

By: Terry Miles
Narrated by: Christine Lakin
Length: 14 hours 5 minutes

“What a crazy book! Is Rabbits really a game? Or are all the characters just crazy conspiracies? Eerie and suspenseful, Rabbits is the perfect sci-fi thriller. Read more

Broken Horses

A Memoir

By: Brandi Carlile
Narrated by: Brandi Carlile
Length: 10 hours 2 minutes

“For Brandi Carlile fans, her memoir Broken Horses is an intimate look into her life and her music. I always pull up songs mention in books I am reading, but in this case, the Libro.fm audiobook makes it even better. Brandi not only reads, but sings throughout the book. Read more