2023 Tuma's Monthly Diverse Reads

Where There Was Fire

A Novel

By: John Manuel Arias
Narrated by: Adriana Sananes
Length: 10 hours 25 minutes

"Bilingual Spanish/English audiobook narrator Sananes enlivens Costa Rican American poet/writer Arias’ multigenerational saga." —Booklist

A lush and lyrical debut novel about a Costa Rican family wrestling with a deadly secret, from rising literary star John Manuel Arias

Costa Rica, 1968. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s... Read more

Dearborn

By: Ghassan Zeineddine
Narrated by: Sarab Kamoo & Qarie Marshall
Length: 7 hours 34 minutes

Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine’s debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab-American community in Dearborn, Michigan. In ten tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness, home and belonging, and more. In Dearborn, a... Read more

Africa Risen

A New Era of Speculative Fiction

By: Sheree Renee Thomas
Narrated by: Amin El Gamal, Tamika Katon-Donegal, Dele Ogundiran, Jamie Lincoln Smith, Kim Staunton & Tony Tambi
Length: 17 hours 41 minutes

From an award-winning team of editors comes an anthology of thirty-two original stories showcasing the breadth of fantasy and science fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora.

A group of cabinet ministers queries a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors. A child robot on a dying planet uncovers signs of fragile new... Read more

Calling for a Blanket Dance

By: Oscar Hokeah
Narrated by: Oscar Hokeah & Rainy Fields
Length: 6 hours 49 minutes

“This is an incredible family epic in sleek, unpretentious form. Hokeah uses his characters as crisp prisms through which we see the nature of family: vicious and precious, mournful and joyful, everything in-between. A remarkable debut! Read more

Courting Samira

A Novel

By: Amal Awad
Narrated by: Randa Sayed
Length: 9 hours 35 minutes

Set in Sydney, Australia, Courting Samira is a charming and frothy romantic comedy about a twenty-seven-year-old Palestinian woman who finds herself in an unexpected love triangle—a sparkling ode to meddling best friends, traditional courtship, The Princess Bride, and, of course, the possibility of love.“Come for the drool-worthy mentions of... Read more

Never Whistle at Night

An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

By: Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Narrated by: Erin Tripp, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Joelle Peters, Kaniehtiio Horn, Lisa Cromarty, Maika Harper, Shane Ghostkeeper, Sheldon Elter & Tara Sky
Length: 13 hours 23 minutes

“From spine tingling creatures to monstrous humans, this collection of short stories covers so many different tales from a group of Indigenous voices that I'm excited to read more from. Each new story had me on the edge of my seat with a variety of thrills, horrors and the constant reminder that darkness and evil exist in many shapes. Read more

I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom

By: Shannon C. F. Rogers
Narrated by: Jensen Olaya
Length: 8 hours 26 minutes

Packed with voice, I’d Rather Burn than Bloom is a powerful young adult novel about a Filipina-American teen who tries to figure out who she really is in the wake of her mother’s death.Some girls call their mother their best friend. Marisol Martin? She could never relate. She and her mom were forever locked in an argument with no beginning and... Read more

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed

15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora

By: Saraciea J. Fennell
Narrated by: Avi Roque, Elizabeth Acevedo, Frankie Corzo, Ibi Zoboi, Janel Martinez, Jasminne Mendez, Julian Randall, Khalil Haywood, Lilliam Rivera, Natasha Diaz, Saraciea J. Fennell & Zakiya N. Jamal
Length: 7 hours 19 minutes

This program is read by a full cast.

Edited by The Bronx Is Reading founder Saraciea J. Fennell and featuring an all-star cast of Latinx contributors, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed is a ground-breaking anthology that will spark dialogue and inspire hope

In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, bestselling and award-winning authors as well as up-and-coming... Read more

Plantains and Our Becoming

Poems

By: Melania Luisa Marte
Narrated by: Melania Luisa Marte
Length: 3 hours 43 minutes

A rousing, beautifully observed, and tender-hearted debut poetry collection about identity, culture, home, and belonging—for fans of Jasmine Mans and Fatimah Asghar
 
“We, children of plátanos, always gotta learn to play in everyone else’s backyard and somehow feel at home.”
 
Poet and musician Melania Luisa Marte opens PLAINTAINS AND OUR... Read more

One Blood

A Novel

By: Denene Millner
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Joniece Abbott-Pratt & Tina Lifford
Length: 18 hours 59 minutes

This program features multicast narration. It also includes a poem, book club reading guide, and acknowledgments, all read by the author.

Homegoing meets The Mothers where three women are tied together by blood, love, and family secrets in this searing novel by New York Times bestseller Denene Millner.

Raised by her beloved grandmother in... Read more

Hula

A Novel

By: Jasmin Iolani Hakes
Narrated by: Mapuana Makia
Length: 10 hours 43 minutes

“What a gorgeous, invigorating debut. Jasmin Iolani Hakes has written the novel we needed about Hawaii. The story is told from the perspective of three generations of women in a legendary family, and through the omnipotent We of the Hawaiian people, using traditional language and dialogue throughout, requiring the reader to become familiar with... Read more

All My Rage

A Novel

By: Sabaa Tahir
Narrated by: Deepti Gupta, Kamran R. Khan & Kausar Mohammed
Length: 10 hours 24 minutes

“Two thumbs up. I loved how the pacing accelerated as the story unfolded. Intense and heartbreaking, as well as refreshing and angering, in the best of ways. I was hooked, listening to the different voices and learning so much about Pakistani beliefs and traditions. Trigger alerts, though! Also important to hear about how folks live with... Read more

Family Lore

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Acevedo
Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Sixta Morel & Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe
Length: 9 hours 49 minutes

“Listening to the dulcet tones of Elizabeth Acevedo as she reads this book is an experience everyone should have. I felt completely enveloped by this story. A touching mix of family dynamics, culture and memory. I highly recommend. Read more

Llorando en el baño: Memorias / Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir

By: Erika L. Sánchez
Narrated by: Scarlett Bernal Hernández
Length: 6 hours 50 minutes

De la autora de Yo no soy tu perfecta hija mexicana, bestseller del New York Times, nos llegan estos originalísimos ensayos autobiográficos, profundamente conmovedores y de una comicidad que desarma. Hija de inmigrantes mexicanos y criada en Chicago en la década de los noventa, Erika L. Sánchez se ha descrito a sí misma como paria, ... Read more

Crying in the Bathroom

A Memoir

By: Erika L. Sánchez
Narrated by: Erika L. Sánchez
Length: 7 hours 16 minutes

“This memoir-in-essays is raw, poignant, and amazing. Sanchez writes touchingly about touchy subjects - suicidal depression, multicultural expectations, abortion, being brown in a world built by and for whites, and being loud and female in a world that wants women to quietly shrink into the background. Each essay/chapter is so beautifully-crafted... Read more

My Sweet Girl

By: Amanda Jayatissa
Narrated by: Deepa Samuel
Length: 11 hours 8 minutes

WINNER OF THE ITW THRILLER AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL

“My Sweet Girl pushes the boundaries of what a thriller can do.”—The Washington Post

“Fiendish [and] full of twists…. Sri Lankan author Amanda Jayatissa keeps us guessing and worrying until the very end.” —The New York Times

“A thriller centered on the meaning of identity and all the layers it... Read more

Notes on Her Color

A Novel

By: Jennifer Neal
Narrated by: Angela Sullen
Length: 8 hours 4 minutes

Gabrielle has always had a complicated relationship with her mother Tallulah, one marked by intimacy and resilience in the face of a volatile patriarch. Everything in their home has been bleached a cold white—from the cupboards filled with sheets and crockery to the food and spices Tallulah cooks with. Even Gabrielle, who inherited the ability... Read more

All the Lonely People

By: Mike Gayle
Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
Length: 12 hours 20 minutes

“This is one of those books that will make you cry, laugh, cry and wonder at the beauty of human relationships. Hubert, a Jamaican immigrant who lives outside London makes up the world around him because he's lonely, and in the process gets himself into a pickle. Fun twists and turns with a heartwarming, affirming story. The audiobook is... Read more

The Ghosts of Rose Hill

By: R. M. Romero
Narrated by: Carla Corvo
Length: 4 hours

“I'm not typically a reader of novel in verse, but it literally was the best way to tell this story. It was like listening to music while reading. I loved the mix of modern horror tropes set against a boogeyman from the past. (The Final Girl always survives!) Excellent storytelling of Jewish history, coming-of-age, and magical realism. Read more

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century

By: Kim Fu
Narrated by: Piper Goodeve, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Samara Naeymi, Gary Tiedemann & Jeena Yi
Length: 6 hours 27 minutes

In the twelve unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible, Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of... Read more