The Bookish Life Podcast

Black AF History

The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

By: Michael Harriot
Narrated by: Michael Harriot
Length: 15 hours 42 minutes

From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It is the story of the pilgrims on... Read more

Wandering Stars

A novel

By: Tommy Orange
Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett, MacLeod Andrews, Alma Cuervo, Curtis Michael Holland, Calvin Joyal, Phil Ava, Emmanuel Chumaceiro, Christian Young & Charley Flyte
Length: 9 hours 37 minutes

“Beautiful, nuanced important. The ensemble voice cast does an incredible job with Orange’s characters, who have come to feel like old friends. Read more

The Darkness Manifesto

Our Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms that Sustain Life

By: Johan Eklöf
Narrated by: Owen Findlay
Length: 5 hours 31 minutes

“My favorite takeaway from this book is that it made me think about darkness and night in an entirely new way. With winter fast approaching, I’ve been able to appreciate - rather than dread - the longer nights for the power they give to beloved nocturnal species like bats and moths. I’ve also started to interrogate my human perception that... Read more

The Fraud

A Novel

By: Zadie Smith
Narrated by: Zadie Smith
Length: 12 hours 24 minutes

“I am in awe of Smith's talent. This book will make you laugh, shock you, get your ire up, and inform you. Mrs. Touchet, whose voice is unique and unforgettable, is merely one of the complex characters Smith brings to life in this book. Zadie Smith is also incredible at narration! This audio book is the whole package. Read more

A Little Blood and Dancing

A Novel

By: Tyler Parker
Narrated by: Jenny Pudavick
Length: 11 hours 1 minute

It’s a tale as old as time: doomed romance, bloody revenge, fast food, and the voice of God. Welcome to Tyler Parker’s Oklahoma, and one of the most anticipated debut novels of the year from one of our best, funniest new writers.

Check out Sylvia Table: he drives a seafoam-green 1968 Ranchero, owns a badass sword, and is one dead uncle away from... Read more

Absolution

A Novel

By: Alice McDermott
Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky & Rachel Kenney
Length: 10 hours 2 minutes

"A breath of fresh air."—BookPage

"Both narrators bring deep emotional tonality...this exceptional listen will foster deep book club discussions." —Booklist

"Alternately gripping, moving, and thought-provoking...this is an audiobook to savor." - AudioFile

A riveting account of women’s lives on the margins of the Vietnam War, from the renowned... Read more

Come and Get It

By: Kiley Reid
Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
Length: 12 hours 52 minutes

“No one writes class and social hierarchy like Kiley Reid. In Come and Get It, Reid turns her eye to a college campus, digging into all the petty drama, backhanded compliments, and codeswitching. The result is an engrossing, explosive story. Read more

Disruptions

Stories

By: Steven Millhauser
Narrated by: Gisela Chípe, Vas Eli & Arthur Morey
Length: 9 hours 1 minute

“Disruptions was a wild surprise, and definitely my favorite short story collection of the year. The collection is worth the price of admission for the first story alone. Millhauser has an incredible way of capturing the very small, unvoiced dreams and anxieties that percolate just under the surface of everyday life. Very subtle, very humane... Read more

Whalefall

A Novel

By: Daniel Kraus
Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
Length: 8 hours 7 minutes

“A completely addictive page turner! I consumed it in one big gulp! Marvelous! Read more

The Rachel Incident

A novel

By: Caroline O'Donoghue
Narrated by: Tara Flynn
Length: 9 hours 22 minutes

“Funny and clever with a depth that makes you say … ohhh this is a really good book!!! Read more

Lone Women

A Novel

By: Victor LaValle
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 9 hours 10 minutes

“Small historic details and sweeping descriptive vistas place this unusual novel among the most interesting we've read in historical fiction this year. The hell-for-leather plot combined with deeply realized characters make it one of the best, period, and Joniece Abbott-Pratt's unsettlingly calm reading of even the most fantastical elements does... Read more

No Country for Old Men

By: Cormac McCarthy
Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
Length: 7 hours 31 minutes

Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, instead finds men shot dead, a load of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Packing the money out, he knows, will change everything. But only after two more men are murdered does a victim's burning car lead Sheriff Bell to the carnage out in the desert, and he soon realizes how... Read more

The Art Thief

A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

By: Michael Finkel
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini & Michael Finkel
Length: 5 hours 39 minutes

“I have not been able to stop talking about this book since I finished listening to it. It’s the story about the world’s most prolific (yet astoundingly unremarkable) art thief. While it’s a short listen, it’s fascinating beginning to end, full of twists and immersive details. Read more

Four Thousand Weeks

Time Management for Mortals

By: Oliver Burkeman
Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman
Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

“This little philosophical gem is my top non-fiction recommendation for this holiday season. What a gift, to give up on getting everything done, and focus on the things that really matter. The audiobook is a joy to listen to; the words seemed to mean even more as I listened, inspired. Read more

The Only One Left

A Novel

By: Riley Sager
Narrated by: Christine Lakin & Dawn Harvey
Length: 12 hours 31 minutes

“A gothic thriller with a mysterious mansion on a cliff that is literally falling to shit? Sign me up. Kit is an in-home caretaker. After Kit goes through some dark and troubling issues, she is back on the job and assigned to care for the famous Lenora Hope, who was accused of killing her mom, dad, and sister many years ago. I loved the dark... Read more

Tom Lake

A Novel

By: Ann Patchett
Narrated by: Meryl Streep
Length: 11 hours 22 minutes

“Patchett’s new one soars. A cherry farmer’s daughters pester her about a time in her youth when she acted on screen in Hollywood and on stage at the dreamy Tom Lake resort. Mom holds her secrets close, but gradually reveals the mysterious details of her relationship with the famous, super star actor, Peter Duke. Vivid flashbacks, intriguing... Read more

Crook Manifesto

A Novel

By: Colson Whitehead
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

“I loved the precursor to this book, Harlem Shuffle, and I love the return of Ray Carney and Pepper in this novel. These characters and the 1970s Harlem they inhabit are so vivid. Loved it! Read more

Those We Thought We Knew

By: David Joy
Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
Length: 9 hours 53 minutes

“Raw, gritty and masterful, David Joy's latest novel, Those We Thought We Knew, is set in his beloved Appalachian mountains among folks who believe their town is peaceful and nurturing. But that façade is lifted when Toya Gardner, a young Black artist, comes to stay with her grandmother at the family homestead to finish her MFA thesis project.... Read more

All the Sinners Bleed

A Novel

By: S. A. Cosby
Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
Length: 13 hours 5 minutes

“S.A. Cosby has given us an early favorite for the best crime fiction novel of the year with All the Sinners Bleed. We are big fans of his two previous books (Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears), and Cosby knocks it out of the park as he writes from the perspective of a town’s first black sheriff and his descent into the mid of a serial... Read more

Trust (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

By: Hernan Diaz
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Jonathan Davis, Mozhan Marnò & Orlagh Cassidy
Length: 10 hours 20 minutes

“Hernan Diaz does things I've never seen in a novel before. Trust ties up threads of money and art, family and history, lies and truth. Think historical fiction turned meta, with a beating heart and spectacular writing. Read more