Audiobooks by Jewish American Authors

“Deacon King Kong is a quintessential New York story. Set in the Brooklyn projects in 1969, a perpetually inebriated deacon called Sportcoat aims a gun at the neighborhood’s main drug dealer in the public plaza and pulls the trigger. Incredibly well-constructed and hilarious at times, McBride’s story entwines a number of storylines that are kickstarted by this central event. The local Italian gangster, the veteran cop, the meddling churchgoers, and the drug pushers all have their own agendas, hopes, and dreams that are affected. And though Sportcoat doesn’t remember his actions and is always under the influence of gut-rot moonshine, I couldn’t help but root for him as I was reading this. His delightful ineptitude and absence of clarity made this book impossible for me to put down. If you’ve never read McBride before, this is a great introduction.”

“This short story collection blew me away. Our protagonists, in true fairytale fashion (but perhaps better than I’ve ever seen it) are pushed by circumstance and historical context and prejudice and sometimes cruelty, into situations where they seem to have no choices left. It’s then that the fantastical elements of the stories come in. Through magic—sometimes ugly and grotesque magic and always with a cost—our characters retain their agency and fight back, even though they rarely win a “happily ever after”. My two favorite stories were, "The Revenant," and “Emma Goldman Takes Tea with the Baba Yaga," but if I let myself choose more than two I'd pick almost all of them as favorites.”

“Lady In The Lake is a sultry mystery with a noir vibe. Set in the 60's, it covers the world of newspapers, race and class, and a woman striving for independence and purpose. Lippman is an ace at flawed characters and she always keeps me guessing. Narration on the audio was astounding. And I have a musical pairing: Etta James' "Sunday Kind of Love". ”

“The intersection of world history and family history, the interplay of memory and imagination, a tangle of humor and grief, and the blurred and shifting line that separates sanity and madness all come into play in this stunning book. In the months before his death, Chabon's grandfather revealed much of his life to his grandson. On that foundation, Chabon has built a novel filled with family stories, World War II episodes -- including an appearance by Wernher von Braun -- an obsession with rocketry, and a vividly realized, against-all-odds love story. While all the characters are richly developed, the narrator's grandfather -- the brave, eccentric, anger-fueled, and deeply loving center of this novel -- will remain with readers forever.”

“No surprise: Forest Dark was worth the wait. Tapping into intellectual and deeply personal moments, the two main characters are ones to identify with even as the circumstances they find themselves in are fantastic. Krauss' reflections about marriage are poignant, and there is a lot to contemplate. At first, I enjoyed having moments when I wasn't reading to think, but toward the end I found myself not being able to put it down.”

“Ottessa Moshfegh is a modern-day Camus. A woman finds a note in the woods that proclaims someone is dead. Murdered, in fact. She investigates between dog walks and early evening naps but soon facts, memories, and suppositions entwine and overlap until the simple act of asking a question can unravel the thread of an entire life. Ponderous, violent, forgetful, and deft, Death in Her Hands is a genre-bender that teases you into asking, Is this noir? Horror? A whacked-out farce? Or a sly literary trick? I’ll tell you what it is — absolutely brilliant.”

“Bess Kalb, a writer for many comedy series and Jimmy Kimmel Live, shines in this quirky memoir of her beloved (and opinionated!) grandmother. Told in voice messages which alternately exhort and praise, she relays the love that she and her grandmother Bobby Bell share. In a more unusual style, she tells Bobby’s immigrant story and the fraught relationships with both her mother and daughter as if Bobby is speaking from the grave. It's short and oh so engaging.”

“Whether you want it to or not, loving someone changes you. Joshua Henkin's newest novel, Morningside Heights, is a captivating family story that examines the love between husband and wife, father and child, mother and daughter. When literature professor Spence Robin starts exhibiting signs of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, the impact on his wife, son, and daughter plays out differently for everyone. Henkin is a gifted writer whose nuanced prose is a delight to read.”

“This alternate history masterpiece imagines what would have happened if Charles Lindbergh won the presidential election in 1940 instead of Roosevelt. After the passing of Philip Roth, pay homage to this great writer by reading his work.”