What We Loved in 2022: Libro.fm Staff Favorites

Bliss Montage

Stories

By: Ling Ma
Narrated by: Katharine Chin
Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

"Narrator Katharine Chin nails the dark humor and flat tone of this bizarre and fascinating short story collection."- AudioFile

A new creation by the author of Severance, Bliss Montage crashes through our carefully built mirages.

What happens when fantasy tears the screen of the everyday to wake us up? Could that waking be our end?

In Bliss... Read more

Out There

Stories

By: Kate Folk
Narrated by: Sophie Amoss, Hannah Choi, Michael Crouch, Will Damron, Renata Friedman & Kristen Sieh
Length: 7 hours 13 minutes

A thrilling new voice in fiction injects the absurd into the everyday to present a startling vision of modern life, “[as] if Kafka and Camus and Bradbury were penning episodes of Black Mirror” (Chang-Rae Lee, author of My Year Abroad).

“Stories so sharp and ingenious you may cut yourself on them while reading.”—Kelly Link, author of Get In... Read more

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

By: Dawnie Walton
Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Bahni Turpin, James Langton, André De Shields, Dennis Boutsikaris, Steve West, Gabra Zackman & full cast
Length: 13 hours 16 minutes

“If you read the first twenty pages of this book and think, like I did "this seems exactly the same as Daisy Jones and the Six KEEP GOING. The way the stories are setup is similar, but Opal and Nev have a unique story that demands to be heard. Walton combines oral music history, intense relationship dynamics, and strong character development to... Read more

The Marriage Portrait

A novel

By: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt & Maggie O'Farrell
Length: 13 hours 21 minutes

“Listened to the ALC and it was riveting. Highly recommend the audio version. Read more

If You See Me, Don't Say Hi

Stories

By: Neel Patel
Narrated by: Neel Patel
Length: 6 hours 39 minutes

“Neel Patel’s debut short story collection is filled with tales of imperfection and longing, of unfulfilled wishes that fight hard against expectations. His flawed characters know what they risk when their actions don’t match the standard script of perfection they’ve been handed, but their need for love and acceptance always prevails, sometimes... Read more

Invisible Child

Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City

By: Andrea Elliott
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
Length: 21 hours 9 minutes

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “vivid and devastating” (The New York Times) portrait of an indomitable girl—from acclaimed journalist Andrea Elliott

“From its first indelible pages to its rich and startling conclusion, Invisible Child had me, by turns, stricken, inspired, outraged, illuminated, in tears, and hungering for... Read more

Ball Lightning

By: Cixin Liu
Narrated by: Feodor Chin
Length: 12 hours 12 minutes

"Wildly imaginative." —Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy

A new standalone military science fiction adventure from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Three-Body Trilogy.

This program is read by Feodor Chin, voice of Zenyatta in Overwatch.

When Chen’s parents are incinerated before his eyes by a blast of ball... Read more

Now Is Not the Time to Panic

A Novel

By: Kevin Wilson
Narrated by: Ginnifer Goodwin & Kevin Wilson
Length: 6 hours 12 minutes

“How have I not read Kevin Wilson before?! His writing is heartfelt, emotional, and full of hope. Now Is Not the Time to Panic felt like a love letter to the year before leaving young adulthood. Where all your choices mean something, but you're not quite sure what that meaning meant. Full of unexpected twists and turns, you'll be shocked where... Read more

Friday Black

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Narrated by: Corey Allen & Carra Patterson
Length: 7 hours 8 minutes

“Friends, this is it. This is the book we’ve been waiting for. And now I can’t get it out of my head, and the pit of my stomach, and my aching heart. It is that good, that gorgeous, that brutal, surreal, tender, enlightening, bitingly funny, and unbelievably truthful. And it’s short stories, so I urge you to savor them one at a time, if you can.... Read more

Winterkeep

Graceling Realm

By: Kristin Cashore
Narrated by: Xanthe Elbrick
Length: 16 hours 30 minutes

The highly anticipated next book in the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Graceling Realm series, which has sold 1.3 million copies.

For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as Queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father's horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to... Read more

Intimacies

A Novel

By: Katie Kitamura
Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
Length: 5 hours 26 minutes

“Katie Kitamura's Intimacies details a few months in the life of an interpreter at The Hague who is looking for belonging to a place and perhaps to a partner. Just as she has to see beyond the words in her work, she has to interpret the actions of her married lover as well as the alleged atrocities of a war criminal she works with at the... Read more

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

By: Alex White
Narrated by: Hayden Bishop
Length: 12 hours 35 minutes

When an army of giant robot AIs threatens to devastate Earth, a virtuoso pianist becomes humanity's last hope in this bold, lightning-paced, technicolor space opera series from the author of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe. Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of... Read more

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

A Novel

By: Angie Cruz
Narrated by: Kimberly M. Wetherell & Rossmery Almonte
Length: 6 hours 16 minutes

“I loved this book! I loved Cara Romero from the start, how she barged into my life with wit and warmth. I especially enjoyed how, as the story progressed and I learned more about her, I realized that she is choosing which parts of herself to share with us. As she reveals more and incorporates interactions and points of view from her family and... Read more

Thank You For Listening

A Novel

By: Julia Whelan
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
Length: 11 hours 15 minutes

“Not only is Thank You For Listening a love letter to the romance genre, it is a love letter specifically to romance audiobooks. Julia Whelan is a delight as both a writer and a narrator, bringing us a compelling story about love, loss, and self acceptance. Read more

A Burning

A novel

By: Megha Majumdar
Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Priya Ayyar, Deepti Gupta, Ulka Simone Mohanty, Soneela Nankani & Neil Shah
Length: 7 hours 21 minutes

“The helpless situation of the main protagonist, the morally compromising desperation of the other two protagonists (spurred by the unfairness of the depraved system under which they all live), along with the corrupt media and government characters showcase an important, powerful but heartbreaking story. The full cast audio narrators added depth... Read more

The Anthropocene Reviewed

Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

“A lovely lovely listen read by the author. This is the perfect book to take on a long walk or drive that will make you look at the world in a fresh way. Drawing on personal anecdotes, history, literature and science, Green embraces both small and big ideas and makes you grateful for things you might have once overlooked. 5/5 stars for this... Read more

Black Sun

Between Earth and Sky: Book #1

By: Rebecca Roanhorse
Narrated by: Cara Gee, Nicole Lewis, Kaipo Schwab & Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Length: 12 hours 46 minutes

“An epic high fantasy that follows several different characters, throughout different points in time as they are all set to converge on the day of a solar eclipse. On this day, the fate of their world will be altered. An incredible story and great listen on Libro.fm, but definitely something you have to pay attention too or you will miss... Read more

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Monk & Robot: Book #1

By: Becky Chambers
Narrated by: Em Grosland
Length: 4 hours 8 minutes

“Imagine a world with many, many cups of tea. Doesn’t this world sound amazing? Doesn’t it calm you just to think of it? Sibling Dex makes people tea as a way of life, but they are still struggling to find meaning in the world. Just when they think they’re about to figure it out by seeking out the supposedly-extinct cricket song, they stumble... Read more

Before I Let Go

Skyland: Book #1

By: Kennedy Ryan
Narrated by: Wesleigh Siobhan & Jakobi Diem
Length: 13 hours 45 minutes

“Real, raw, magnificent—Before I Let Go is the beautiful angst I love to read.” —Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.

It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen... Read more

She Who Became the Sun

The Radiant Emperor Duology: Book #1

By: Shelley Parker-Chan
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Length: 14 hours 36 minutes

“Can you switch your fate with another’s? Can you seize the opportunity to become great when everything in the world is hell-bent on making you nothing? Zhu’s destiny was nothingness, a destiny that terrifies her. When her brother dies, she decides to take his destiny. Thus begins her journey through monasteries, cities, and wars. She encounters... Read more