City Books Summer Catalog 2024

Why We Read

On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out

By: Shannon Reed
Narrated by: Paige McKinney
Length: 8 hours 54 minutes

“I am obsessed with this book! Told with humor, care and love, Reeds takes you through the story of her life and relationship to books to understand why reading is so important. She makes the pitch that whoever you are, you should read more, of any kind of book. From Amish romances to thrillers to literary masterpieces and everything in between,... Read more

James

A Novel

By: Percival Everett
Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
Length: 7 hours 48 minutes

“Huckleberry Finn's tale unfolds through Jim's eyes, intensifying the danger as they navigate the Mississippi. The contrast between the man James and the character Jim adds depth, allowing him to emerge as a figure of strength, wit, and empathy, reshaping this classic adventure. Read more

Light in Gaza

Writings Born of Fire

By: Jehad Abusalim, Jennifer Bing & Mike Merryman-Lotze
Narrated by: Amin El Gamal & Hanne Rickert
Length: 8 hours 45 minutes

“This is such a powerful book. It will make you cry and it will make you angry, but I implore you to read it anyway. It took me a few months to finish because it is a painful read, but I know I am more informed as well as heartbroken. Read more

Once in a Blue Moon

By: Sharon G. Flake
Narrated by: Isaiah Seward
Length: 4 hours 9 minutes

A beautiful and uplifting novel in verse about family, friendship, journeys that take us far from home and back again, renewed and more courageous from the three-time Coretta Scott King Honor winner of The Skin I'm In!

James Henry used to be brave. He hasn't been the same since that fateful night at the lighthouse when his ma went searching for... Read more

The List

A Novel

By: Yomi Adegoke
Narrated by: Sheila Atim & Arinzé Kene
Length: 11 hours 40 minutes

“The List is a tense and agonizing look at the power of social media. When one half of the internet sweetheart couple crowned #couplegoals, #blacklove, is put on a list of abusers, his fiancé will have to decide what to do next. Told with alternating viewpoints between Ola and Michael, this is audio book perfection. Read more

The Door-to-Door Bookstore

A Novel

By: Carsten Henn
Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
Length: 6 hours 3 minutes

The charming international bestseller about an unlikely friendship between an elderly door-to-door bookseller and a nine-year-old girl that changes his life.

Small-town German bookseller Carl Kollhoff delivers his books to special customers in the evening hours after closing time, walking through the picturesque alleys of the city. These people... Read more

Confrontations

By: Simone Atangana Bekono
Narrated by: Ella Dacres
Length: 5 hours 3 minutes

Bloomsbury presents Confrontations by Simone Atangana Bekono, read by Ella Dacres.

A bold, unsettling, surprisingly tender debut novel for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Nightcrawling.

Salomé Atabong is the sixteen-year-old daughter of a Cameroonian father and a Dutch mother, living in the Netherlands. She arrives at a juvenile detention center to... Read more

The Book of Goose

A Novel

By: Yiyun Li
Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
Length: 9 hours 1 minute

“The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li is a beautifully told tale of friendship, obsession, power and creativity. Childhood friends Agnes and Fabienne entertain themselves by spinning tales about the strange characters and situations in their post-war French province. As in many intense friendships, one is the leader and one the follower but with a... Read more

The Postcard

By: Anne Berest
Narrated by: Barrie Kealoha
Length: 13 hours 5 minutes

“A powerful personal account of a family’s history over multiple generations with a stunning ending that resolves the mystery of the postcard’s sender! The author launches her family research and investigation of who could have written the anonymous, unsigned postcard a decade earlier when her daughter experiences an anti-semitic incident at... Read more

Seven

By: Farzana Doctor
Narrated by: Farzana Doctor, Ellora Patnaik & Raoul Bhaneja
Length: 12 hours

When Sharifa and her husband travel to India, she expects her time will be spent researching her great-great grandfather, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. However, what she doesn’t expect is to be swept up in the story of his four wives, oddly excluded from her family history.
 
As Sharifa’s imagination is overtaken with these four... Read more

Real Men Knit

Real Men Knit series: Book #1

By: Kwana Jackson
Narrated by: Keylor Leigh
Length: 8 hours 52 minutes

"If you're looking for an easy charmer, this is the novel for you."—Shondaland
 
When their foster-turned-adoptive mother suddenly dies, four brothers struggle to keep open the doors of her beloved Harlem knitting shop.

Jesse Strong is known for two things: his devotion to his adoptive mom, Mama Joy, and his reputation for breaking hearts. When... Read more

Big Swiss

A Novel

By: Jen Beagin
Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman, Carlotta Brentan, Stephen Graybill, Joy Osmanski & Matt Pittenger
Length: 11 hours 15 minutes

“A transcriber for a sex therapist develops an obsession with one of the clients...and then recognizes her voice in public and starts an affair. Full cast reading. Well-paced. Messy! Read more

Sex, Lies and Sensibility

By: Nikki Payne
Narrated by: Kacie Rogers, Phil Ava & Nikki Payne
Length: 11 hours 9 minutes

“Nikki Payne skillfully spins the tale of a well-known Jane Austen classic and makes it entirely her own. Thoughtful, hilarious, and smolderingly steamy.”—Kristina Forest, author of The Partner Plot

Two sisters roll up their sleeves to run a dilapidated inn but must learn to work with the locals in this deliciously spicy novel inspired by Sense... Read more

Piglet

A Novel

By: Lottie Hazell
Narrated by: Rebekah Hinds
Length: 7 hours 35 minutes

"Hinds’ depiction of Piglet’s frantic appetite is piercing, capturing her insatiable need for the lushly described food. This is a listen like slightly burnt caramel—sharp and dark, yet still luscious."—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)

An elegant, razor-sharp debut about women's ambitions and appetites—and the truth about having it all

Outside... Read more

All the Little Bird-Hearts

A Novel

By: Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Narrated by: Rose Akroyd
Length: 9 hours 14 minutes

Longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, this poetic and often funny debut by an author with autism is written from the point of view of an autistic mother as she and her headstrong adolescent daughter are befriended by a glamorous, charismatic couple with dark ulterior motives.

I lived for and loved a bird-heart that summer; I only knew it... Read more

Clear

A Novel

By: Carys Davies
Narrated by: Russ Bain
Length: 3 hours 6 minutes

“Wonderful audio and the ending! Read more

The Quiet Tenant

A novel

By: Clémence Michallon
Narrated by: Gilli Messer, Elena Rey, Valerie Rose Lohman, Amber Battaglia, Reba Buhr, Clémence Michallon, Jess Nahikian, Aure Nash, Milly Sanders, Sara Sheckells & Yu-Li Alice Shen
Length: 10 hours 44 minutes

“Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, Murder, Death of Parent. The author utilizes the perspectives of various characters to tell this twisty novel. Each character offers a unique insight to the life of a serial killer (Aiden), which often leaves the reader relating to his more caring side. This thread of the story also makes the character interaction... Read more

Queen Hereafter

A Novel

By: Isabelle Schuler
Narrated by: Sara Vickers
Length: 12 hours 16 minutes

“Great writing, great narration! I especially loved the author's interpretation of these familiar characters, and they made sense to me both in the context of history and in the context of Shakespeare's version (which is one of my favorites of the canon). It definitely made me want to revisit the play, but also makes the inevitable ending feel... Read more

Soil

The Story of a Black Mother's Garden

By: Camille T Dungy
Narrated by: Camille T Dungy
Length: 10 hours 16 minutes

“Having had the honor of attending one of the release events and getting to listen author herself read, I can confidently say this audiobook comes as a close second. I’ve also read the print edition and enjoy the map and photography. Soil is a magnificent meditation on the interconnections of life all around us, starting from the beautiful and... Read more

The Garden

A Novel

By: Clare Beams
Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
Length: 9 hours 12 minutes

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR FROM KIRKUS AND VANITY FAIR

"Genius."—The New York Times Book Review • “A teeming gothic.”—Vanity Fair • “Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as The Garden."—The LA Times

An eerie, masterful novel about pregnancy as a haunted house and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated, from the... Read more