Educate Yourself Book Club

Sitting Pretty

The View from My Ordinary, Resilient, Disabled Body

By: Rebekah Taussig
Narrated by: Rebekah Taussig
Length: 7 hours 33 minutes

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted... Read more

Nightcrawling

A novel

By: Leila Mottley
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 10 hours 48 minutes

“At 17, Kiara has had more difficulties than most. Forced to drop out of high school to find work to avoid eviction, she finds getting a job next to impossible. She falls into sex work, which leads her to a sex trafficking ring run by the Oakland police. Mottley presents these circumstances without flinching or hand wringing. Her astute... Read more

Tender is the Flesh

By: Agustina Bazterrica
Narrated by: Joseph Balderrama
Length: 6 hours 43 minutes

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made... Read more

Citizen

An American Lyric

By: Claudia Rankine
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
Length: 1 hour 37 minutes

Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the... Read more

Memorial

A Novel

By: Bryan Washington
Narrated by: Bryan Washington & Akie Kotabe
Length: 8 hours 19 minutes

“This quiet character driven novel truly illustrates the complexities of relationships. From friends, lovers, parents and acquaintances, and how one presents themselves differently in each setting. I listened to this and it was just beautifully narrated by the author and Akie Kotabe and you are instantly transported to Texas and Japan in both... Read more

The Vegetarian

A Novel

By: Han Kang
Narrated by: Janet Song & Stephen Park
Length: 5 hours 13 minutes

WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • “[Han] Kang viscerally explores the limits of what a human brain and body can endure, and the strange beauty that can be found in even the most extreme forms of renunciation.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and... Read more

Are Prisons Obsolete?

By: Angela Y. Davis
Narrated by: Angela Y. Davis
Length: 4 hours 56 minutes

With her characteristic brilliance, grace, and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost... Read more

Detransition, Baby

A Novel

By: Torrey Peters
Narrated by: Renata Friedman
Length: 12 hours 31 minutes

“This book led to my favorite book club conversation to date. The characters are messy and mostly unlikeable and Peters unflinchingly dives straight into topics in trans identity often considered taboo, without worrying about placating a cisgender audience. A quietly chaotic and fascinating character study. Read more

Demystifying Disability

What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally

By: Emily Ladau
Narrated by: Emily Ladau
Length: 4 hours 24 minutes

An approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people, with actionable steps for what to say and do (and what not to do) and how you can help make the world a more accessible, inclusive place
 
People with disabilities are the world’s largest minority, an estimated 15 percent of the global population. But many of... Read more

Migrations

A Novel

By: Charlotte McConaghy
Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
Length: 8 hours 48 minutes

“Set in a world that is possibly our near future, where animals, birds and fish have been driven to extinction by global warming and human consumption, Franny Stone is desperate to follow the last migration of Arctic terns as they head south from Greenland. She persuades the captain of a small fishing boat to take her on as a crew member,... Read more

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

By: Aubrey Gordon
Narrated by: Samara Naeymi
Length: 7 hours 21 minutes

From the creator of Your Fat Friend and co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people.

Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied... Read more

Hood Feminism

Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot

By: Mikki Kendall
Narrated by: Mikki Kendall
Length: 6 hours 57 minutes

“Powerful. Important. Compulsively readable. Kendall’s narrative style is top notch - riveting and un-put-down-able. Not only is this a must read, it's a must pay attention. It's a must revisit and keep learning kind of book. Kendall dives deep and doesn't pull punches, but she doesn't seek to shame either. This is necessary reading for anyone... Read more

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century

Unabridged Selections

By: Alice Wong
Narrated by: Alejandra Ospina & Alice Wong
Length: 8 hours 1 minute

“Containing dozens of personal stories, this is an absolute must-read for anyone looking to learn about the breadth, diversity, and history of disabled experience(s) from disabled folks themselves. Read more

Entitled

How Male Privilege Hurts Women

By: Kate Manne
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
Length: 6 hours 5 minutes

An urgent exploration of men’s entitlement and how it serves to police and punish women, from the acclaimed author of Down Girl

“Kate Manne is a thrilling and provocative feminist thinker. Her work is indispensable.”—Rebecca Traister 

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ATLANTIC

In this bold and stylish critique, Cornell philosopher... Read more

Such a Fun Age

By: Kiley Reid
Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
Length: 9 hours 58 minutes

“When I attempted to write a review for Such a Fun Age, I was at a loss for words. How could I encapsulate how Kiley Reid’s startling debut perfectly captured what it means to be a woman? The societal pressure, the self-doubt, the perseverance, the constant comparison — all of it was perfectly represented through Reid’s two wonderfully flawed and... Read more