Staff Picks

Butts

A Backstory

By: Heather Radke
Narrated by: Emily Tremaine
Length: 8 hours 13 minutes

“Potential listeners might already know Radke from her work as a contributing editor and reporter for Radiolab, and the narrative voice in Butts echos the intellectual curiosity and humor of that podcast. Voice actor Emily Tremaine embodies Radke's spirit: part puckish, part professorial, a mix of deep-nerd research and creative synthesis, like... Read more

Before We Were Trans

A New History of Gender

By: Dr. Kit Heyam
Narrated by: Dr. Kit Heyam
Length: 8 hours 2 minutes

A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity  

Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives.  
 
Before We Were Trans illuminates... Read more

Chain Gang All Stars

A Novel

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Narrated by: Shayna Small, Aaron Goodson, Michael Crouch & Lee Osorio
Length: 13 hours 38 minutes

“This book rocked me to my core. Adjei-Brenyah's writing is soul-shifting. He gives us a devastatingly unvarnished look at the US carceral system and a warning for what may to be come. The deep, multidimensional characters evoke empathy, empowerment, and sometimes disgust. I have never read a more evocative work of fiction. The audiobook is worth... Read more

Your Driver Is Waiting

A Novel

By: Priya Guns
Narrated by: Priya Guns
Length: 6 hours 24 minutes

“In this book full of snappy writing and clever digs, we follow a few days in the life of a queer Sri Lankan woman whose main hustle is driving for a ride-share in an anonymous big city. Constant urban protests capture the current zeitgeist and Damani's underemployed and over-educated friends want to fight oppression. This book examines class... Read more

Advika and the Hollywood Wives

By: Kirthana Ramisetti
Narrated by: Rukhmani K Desai
Length: 13 hours 19 minutes

From the author of Dava Shastri's Last Day comes a gripping tale of marriage, scandal, fame, and identity as a woman grapples with life as the new wife of a renowned Hollywood film producer—perfect for readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid.

At age 26, Advika Srinivasan considers herself a failed screenwriter. To pay the bills and keep her mind off of... Read more

Sing, Unburied, Sing

A Novel

By: Jesmyn Ward
Narrated by: Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Chris Chalk & Rutina Wesley
Length: 8 hours 22 minutes

“Sing, Unburied, Sing is a dark and gorgeous song of love and heartbreak, haunting and tragic and disorienting in its timelessness. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill anchors Ward's tale to Mississippi today, which is almost indistinguishable from its notorious yesterday, a present and past (ironically) made more alive in the novel by ghosts and... Read more

Murder Your Employer

The McMasters Guide to Homicide

By: Rupert Holmes
Narrated by: Neil Patrick Harris & Simon Vance
Length: 14 hours 13 minutes

“Dastardly, devious, and utterly delightful! Welcome to The McMaster’s Conservatory for The Applied Arts, a unique school that teaches you to get away with murder. Prepare to be thoroughly entertained! A unique, original and fun read. Read more

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

A novel

By: Gabrielle Zevin
Narrated by: Jennifer Kim & Julian Cihi
Length: 13 hours 51 minutes

“I absolutely loved listening to Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. As a Gen X-er, the reference to old school video games like Donkey Kong, Pac Man and Oregon Trail, brought about nostalgia and kept me engaged, even though I don't consider myself much of a gamer. If you love a character-driven story you will love this novel! While I didn't... Read more

Delicious Foods

A Novel

By: James Hannaham
Narrated by: James Hannaham
Length: 11 hours 6 minutes

Held captive by her employers -- and by her own demons -- on a mysterious farm, a widow struggles to reunite with her young son in this uniquely American story of freedom, perseverance, and survival.

Darlene, once an exemplary wife and a loving mother to her young son, Eddie, finds herself devastated by the unforeseen death of her husband.... Read more

I'm Glad My Mom Died

By: Jennette McCurdy
Narrated by: Jennette McCurdy
Length: 6 hours 25 minutes

“Equal parts hilarious and devastating, Jennette McCurdy reviews her acting career with stark clarity, irony to fill your soul, and a presence of control over the uncontrollable. I'm Glad My Mom Died reflects on undiagnosed narcissism with a mother forcing her child to live out her mother's dreams as a childhood actor. The dichotomy of... Read more

Delilah Green Doesn't Care

By: Ashley Herring Blake
Narrated by: Kristen DiMercurio
Length: 11 hours 41 minutes

“Have you ever run into someone from your childhood, someone that you thought you had all figured out and maybe even disliked, only to find out that you never really knew them at all? Then this is the book for you. Delilah Green the social pariah of her small hometown comes back to Bright Falls to photograph her uptight stepsister, Astrid's... Read more

The Alchemist

By: Paulo Coelho
Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
Length: 4 hours

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of 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

A House With Good Bones

By: T. Kingfisher
Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
Length: 6 hours 52 minutes

“Absolutely enthralling. I listened to the audio almost entirely in one sitting. Read more

The Wicked Bargain

By: Gabe Cole Novoa
Narrated by: Vico Ortiz
Length: 10 hours 40 minutes

El Diablo is in the details in this Latinx pirate fantasy starring a transmasculine nonbinary teen with a mission of revenge, redemption, and revolution.

On Mar León de la Rosa's sixteenth birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice. But their magic isn't... Read more

The Fellowship of the Ring

Lord of the Rings: Book #1

By: J.R.R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Andy Serkis
Length: 22 hours 37 minutes

An unlikely hero. A perilous quest. The greatest adventure ever told.
In a quiet village in the Shire, young Frodo is about to receive a gift that will change his life forever.
Thought lost centuries ago, it is the One Ring, an object of terrifying power once used by the Dark Lord to enslave Middle-earth. Now darkness is rising, and Frodo must... Read more

Cultish

The Language of Fanaticism

By: Amanda Montell
Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
Length: 8 hours 21 minutes

“The Manson family, Scientology, Crossfit, and Mary Kay all have something in common. They all use language and rhetoric found in cults. The world cult is tossed around so lightly and Cultish is here to show you why. This book defines and explains the power of emphatic language and how companies and cults use it at others detriment. It also has a... Read more

We Are Okay

By: Nina LaCour
Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
Length: 5 hours 36 minutes

Winner of the 2018 Michael L. Printz Award — An achingly beautiful novel about grief and the enduring power of friendship.

“Short, poetic and gorgeously written.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A beautiful, devastating piece of art." —Bookpage

You go through life thinking there’s so much you need. . . . Until you leave with only your phone, your... Read more

In the Dream House

A Memoir

By: Carmen Maria Machado
Narrated by: Carmen Maria Machado
Length: 5 hours 28 minutes

“In the most inventive memoir I've read, Machado uses narrative tropes in a series of fragments and vignettes to break down the ways in which she, herself, was breaking down in an abusive same-sex relationship. A book about 'archival silence,' about inventing a language to tell a story. Read more

Babel

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi & Billie Fulford-Brown
Length: 21 hours 45 minutes

“IMHO, the best fantasy books give a reader new insights into our own world. Babel passed that test for me with its grounding in Britain's colonial history with an overlay of magic. I loved R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War trilogy, but this finely wrought novel surpasses it. Highly recommended. Read more