April 2024 Staff Picks

At Home

A Short History of Private Life

By: Bill Bryson
Narrated by: Bill Bryson
Length: 16 hours 31 minutes

From one of the most beloved authors of our time—more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone—a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home.

“Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.”

Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of... Read more

His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (Book 1)

His Dark Materials: Book #1

By: Philip Pullman
Narrated by: Philip Pullman, Joanna Wyatt, Rupert Degas, Alison Dowling, Douglas Blackwell, Jill Shilling, Stephen Thorne, Sean Barrett, Garrick Hagon, John O'Connor, Susan Sheridan & Full Cast
Length: 10 hours 33 minutes

“Philip Pullman has a stunningly intimate way of writing characters; their motivations, dreams, deepest fears, personalities, quirks, virtues, and vices come to the surface, making them so, so vivid and alive. As I was reading I was struck by this talent of getting inside his character's minds many, many times. One could just about believe in the... Read more

Your Brain on Art

How the Arts Transform Us

By: Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross
Narrated by: Ellyn Jameson
Length: 9 hours 11 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts—and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities.

“This book blew my mind!”—Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times... Read more

Signal Fires

A novel

By: Dani Shapiro
Narrated by: Dani Shapiro
Length: 7 hours 30 minutes

“Signal Fires can be warnings to observers that danger is approaching, stay away and conversely, they can be urgent requests for help and demands to be seen. Symbolism abounds in this story of a young family, laying down roots in a suburban neighborhood. I found myself brought to tears frequently and yet not once did I consider putting this book... Read more

The Bandit Queens

A Novel

By: Parini Shroff
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani
Length: 13 hours 14 minutes

“The Bandit Queens is a brilliant, fresh, and fun escapade with a dog you're going to fall in love with! Read more

Cold Victory

A Novel

By: Karl Marlantes
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
Length: 10 hours 33 minutes

From New York Times bestselling author Karl Marlantes comes a propulsive and sweeping novel in which loyalty, friendship, and love are put to the ultimate test.Helsinki, 1947. Finland teeters between the Soviet Union and the West. Everyone is being watched. A wrong look or a wrong word could end in catastrophe. Natalya Bobrova, from Russia, and... Read more

Fourteen Days

A Collaborative Novel

By: The Authors Guild, Margaret Atwood & Douglas Preston
Narrated by: Shayna Small
Length: 14 hours 7 minutes

Set in a Lower East Side tenement in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fourteen Days is an irresistibly propulsive collaborative novel from the Authors Guild, with an unusual twist: each character in this diverse, eccentric cast of New York neighbors has been secretly written by a different, major literary voice—from Margaret Atwood and... Read more

Medgar and Myrlie

Medgar Evers and the Love Story that Awakened America

By: Joy-Ann Reid
Narrated by: Joy-Ann Reid
Length: 10 hours 52 minutes

#1 New York Times BestsellerNAACP Image Award WinnerFrom Joy-Ann Reid, a triumphant work of biography that repositions slain Civil Rights pioneer Medgar Evers at the heart of America's struggle for freedom, and celebrates Myrlie Evers's extraordinary activism after her husband's assassination in the driveway of their Mississippi home.“Medgar... 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

“Tommy Orange has struck gold again! Read more

Table for Two

Fictions

By: Amor Towles
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini & J. Smith-Cameron
Length: 13 hours 23 minutes

“Amor Towles fans will be delighted with this sophisticated, witty, set of six short stories and novella. The stories are filled with memorable, sharply-drawn characters who come vividly to life. These glimpses into the lives of of a varied cast New Yorkers - and of Evelyn Ross from Rules of Civility are Towles at his best. Read more