Call & Response Featured Picks

Chain Gang All Stars: A Read with Jenna Pick

National Book Award Finalist

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

Masquerade

By: O.O. Sangoyomi
Narrated by: Ariel Blake
Length: 13 hours 39 minutes

“A satisfying tale of a woman who marries a powerful man, but decides she likes the power better. For literary and fantasy fans, or for readers of mythology retellings like Circe looking to expand beyond Europe. Ariel Blake's performance of the tonal Yorùbá makes this an absolute treat to listen to, and Òdòdó's slow desire for power is a... Read more

How the Word Is Passed

A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

By: Clint Smith
Narrated by: Clint Smith
Length: 10 hours 6 minutes

“Smith has crafted a resource, narrative and detailed explanation into how we teach the legacy of slavery. He recounts visits from everywhere from NYC to the Whitney Plantation, integrating stories of people and visitors today. This book is lays a beautiful written foundation for interrogating the history we've been taught. Particularly... Read more

River Mumma

By: Zalika Reid-Benta
Narrated by: Tymika Tafari
Length: 7 hours 59 minutes

Issa Rae’s Insecure with a magical realist spin: an exhilarating exploration of diasporic community and ancestral ties, and an homage to Jamaican storytelling by one of the most invigorating voices in today’s literature.Alicia has been out of grad school for months. She has no career prospects and lives with her mom, who won’t stop texting her... Read more

The Vanished Birds

A Novel

By: Simon Jimenez
Narrated by: Shayna Small
Length: 13 hours 17 minutes

“This book has stuck with me in a way that I know can only be attributed to masterful storytelling. In The Vanished Birds, Earth becomes uninhabitable and humankind spreads out into space using technology that is all of our capitalist, designer-baby, smart-everything, social-media-age fears realized. But this new world is also beautifully poetic... Read more

To Shape a Dragon's Breath

The First Book of Nampeshiweisit

By: Moniquill Blackgoose
Narrated by: Charley Flyte
Length: 16 hours 52 minutes

“This fantastically imagined alt-historical fantasy is full of fierce and lovable dragons, with a steampunk academia setting, a wise and courageous young indigenous woman at the helm, queer and neurodivergent rep, and so much to say about colonialism, knowledge, story-telling, and resistance! Fans of R. F. Kuang’s Babel and Rachel Hartman’s... Read more

Africa Is Not a Country

Notes on a Bright Continent

By: Dipo Faloyin
Narrated by: Dipo Faloyin
Length: 9 hours 24 minutes

So often, Africa has been depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife, stripped of all nuance. In this bold and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, weaving a vibrant tapestry of stories that bring to life Africa's rich diversity, communities, and histories.



Starting with an... Read more

The Night Parade

A Speculative Memoir

By: Jami Nakamura Lin
Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
Length: 9 hours 16 minutes

A Most Anticipated Book by Poets & Writers • The Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • The Millions • Library Journal • Debutiful • and many more! In the groundbreaking tradition of In the Dream House and The Collected Schizophrenias, a gorgeously illustrated speculative memoir that draws upon the Japanese myth of the Hyakki Yagyo—the... Read more

Between Friends & Lovers

A Novel

By: Shirlene Obuobi
Narrated by: JD Jackson & Mela Lee
Length: 11 hours 2 minutes

""Between Friends & Lovers was an absolute joy to read, with messy, realistic, and deeply lovable characters... Obuobi’s perfect balance of humor and wisdom made this one a true standout.” — Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling authorAn influencer, an actor, and a writer navigate the messy ins and outs of friendship and romance in a... Read more

A Magical Girl Retires

A Novel

By: Park Seolyeon
Narrated by: Shannon Tyo
Length: 2 hours 55 minutes

“Did you grow up watching shows like Sailor Moon, wishing you too could be essentially a highly fashionable superhero, and now you find yourself constantly anxious about the environment and your credit card debt? This book is here for us. It's a fun and quick read that will re-awaken that sparkly, magical transformation-fueled wish for escapism,... Read more

The Unfortunates

A Novel

By: J K Chukwu
Narrated by: Deanna Anthony
Length: 8 hours 31 minutes

An edgy, bitingly funny debut about a queer, half-Nigerian college sophomore who, enraged and exhausted by the racism at her elite college, is determined to reveal the truth about The Unfortunates—the unlucky subset of Black undergrads who Just. Keep. Disappearing.Sahara is Not Okay. Entering her sophomore year, she already feels like a failure:... Read more

What My Bones Know

A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

By: Stephanie Foo
Narrated by: Stephanie Foo
Length: 10 hours 5 minutes

“Stephanie Foo, formerly of This American Life, shares her story of abuse and the lessons she learns about living with complex post-traumatic stress. Read more

Disorientation

A Novel

By: Elaine Hsieh Chou
Narrated by: Jennifer Kim
Length: 11 hours 45 minutes

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE SELECTION * A MALALA BOOK CLUB PICK * AN INDIE NEXT PICK * A FAVORITE BOOK OF 2022 BY NPR AND BOOK RIOT * A MUST-READ MARCH 2022 BOOK BY TIME, VANITY FAIR, EW AND THE CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS * A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 BY GOODREADS, NYLON, BUZZFEED AND MORE

A Taiwanese American woman’s... Read more

Natural Beauty

A Novel

By: Ling Ling Huang
Narrated by: Carolyn Kang
Length: 7 hours 45 minutes

“I think Beauty Industry Horror might be one of my new favorite subgenres, and this is a worthy entry into the pantheon. When our narrator takes a job at a high end beauty & wellness store, she expects her life to change - she just doesn’t expect it to change the way it does. This book is eerie and unsettling, and delves into topics of... Read more

Magical/Realism

Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders

By: Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
Narrated by: Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
Length: 12 hours 24 minutes

Longlisted for the National Book Award

Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism

A brilliant, singular collection of essays that looks to music, fantasy, and pop culture—from Beyoncé to Game of Thrones—to excavate and reimagine what has been disappeared by migration and colonialism.

Upon becoming a new mother,... Read more

Victim

A Novel

By: Andrew Boryga
Narrated by: Anthony Rey Perez
Length: 8 hours 2 minutes

“Victim is like watching something incredibly uncomfortable through the spaces between your fingers covering your face. You know you should look away, but you have to see how it ends. Our narrator, Javi, isn't hurting anyone by embellishing his backstory. He's only writing about what people actually want to hear - whether it's the truth or not.... Read more

Martyr!

A novel

By: Kaveh Akbar
Narrated by: Arian Moayed
Length: 10 hours 39 minutes

“Kaveh Akbar is a major new voice in American literature and Martyr! is his tour de force. In a mix of penetrating insight and profoundly funny stories, this entertaining and moving tale holds a mirror up to our society. Read more

Black Liturgies

Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human

By: Cole Arthur Riley
Narrated by: Cole Arthur Riley
Length: 8 hours 15 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A collection of prayer, poetry, and spiritual practice centering the Black interior world, from the author of This Here Flesh and creator of Black Liturgies

“A true spiritual balm for our troubled times.”—Michael Eric Dyson, author of What Truth Sounds Like

For years, Cole Arthur Riley was desperate for a spirituality... Read more

Colored Television (A GMA Book Club Pick)

A Novel

By: Danzy Senna
Narrated by: Kristen Ariza
Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

“This is one of those stories that you politely DEMAND people read! The jokes landed each and every time! As always, there was much needed commentary that makes you want to talk about this story with anyone who will listen. This should be an Instant buy for any book club, because you are going to want to discuss this! Read more

This Great Hemisphere

A Novel

By: Mateo Askaripour
Narrated by: Emana Rachelle
Length: 15 hours 17 minutes

“A thrilling page-turner.”—Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Wildly imaginative.”—The Washington Post

“Askaripour soars.”—The Boston Globe

A rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt invisible.

This Great Hemisphere is powerful, captivating novel about how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love. With the worldbuilding of N.... Read more