Mark's Picks

The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven

By: Nathaniel Ian Miller
Narrated by: Olafur Darri Olafsson
Length: 10 hours 52 minutes

“Poor misanthropic Sven, his great Arctic adventures tend toward the bumbling and catastrophic, but he persists in his dream to be alone in the great north - only to find that the few friends (including a very shaggy dog) he has made in his travels are what he needs most. It's a lovely, wry and insightful novel, and Olafur Dari Olafsson's deep... Read more

Happy-Go-Lucky

By: David Sedaris
Narrated by: David Sedaris
Length: 7 hours 30 minutes

“Another terrific collection of essays from David Sedaris, and it's as good as anything he has ever written. This time, the humorist sets his sights on gun laws, Covid-19, loneliness, his father's death, and even a Black Lives Matter march. If this seems heavy, just wait till you get to the objects inserted into rectums part! Raunchy,... Read more

Homeland Elegies

A Novel

By: Ayad Akhtar
Narrated by: Ayad Akhtar
Length: 10 hours 19 minutes

“A masterful blend of memoir and fiction, this is an unforgettable journey through the lives of a Muslim family finding their place in a post-9/11 America. A searing navigation of the loves we try to reconcile — familial, religious, societal — and the definition of home. Written with wisdom, wit, and unsparing honesty, this an important book that... Read more

Taste

My Life Through Food

By: Stanley Tucci
Narrated by: Stanley Tucci
Length: 6 hours 50 minutes

“Stanley Tucci brings the listener on a sumptuous and mouth-watering tour through his life, guided by his tastebuds and family traditions. As a reader from an Italian American family, many of Tucci's stories were a mirror to my own childhood and extended family, making this audiobook a complete joy. Tucci's epic travels, movie adventures, and... Read more

The Only Plane in the Sky

An Oral History of September 11, 2001

By: Garrett M. Graff
Narrated by: A Full 45-Person Cast
Length: 15 hours 54 minutes

“I absolutely believe this book should be listened to, instead of read. Each of the interviews and testimonies has a different voice, making this experience extremely intimate. I thought I knew. I had no idea. My memory is made up of all the big moments shared by the news. Planes, towers, explosions, the Pentagon, flight 93. All Images,... Read more

The Second Mountain

The Quest for a Moral Life

By: David Brooks
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
Length: 12 hours 57 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Everybody tells you to live for a cause larger than yourself, but how exactly do you do it? The author of The Road to Character explores what it takes to lead a meaningful life in a self-centered world.

“Deeply moving, frequently eloquent and extraordinarily incisive.”—The Washington Post

Every so often, you meet... Read more

Dirt

Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking

By: Bill Buford
Narrated by: Bill Buford
Length: 16 hours 51 minutes

“You can almost taste the food in Bill Buford’s Dirt, an engrossing, beautifully written memoir about his life as a cook in France.” —The Wall Street Journal

What does it take to master French cooking? This is the question that drives Bill Buford to abandon his perfectly happy life in New York City and pack up and (with a wife and three-year-old... Read more

Shadow Divers

The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

By: Robert Kurson
Narrated by: Michael Prichard
Length: 15 hours 39 minutes

In 1991, acting on a tip from a local fisherman, two scuba divers discovered a sunken German U-boat–complete with its crew of 60 men–not too far off the New Jersey coast. The divers, realizing the momentousness of their discovery, began probing the mystery. Over the next six years, they became expert and well-traveled researchers, taught... Read more

Beautiful Ruins

A Novel

By: Jess Walter
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Length: 12 hours 53 minutes

The acclaimed, award-winning author of the national bestseller The Financial Lives of the Poets returns with his  funniest, most romantic, and most purely enjoyable novel yet: the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 . . . and is rekindled in Hollywood fifty years later.  

“Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an... Read more

Eat a Peach

A Memoir

By: David Chang & Gabe Ulla
Narrated by: David Chang
Length: 9 hours 6 minutes

“Unapologetically honest and raw, "Eat a Peach" is David Chang's no holds barred account of his rise to fame in the culinary world. David writes candidly about his complicated upbringing, mental illness, crippling anxiety and self doubt, and major anger management issues as he dishes up subversive, accessible food to the masses.  I appreciated... Read more

The Soul of an Octopus

A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

By: Sy Montgomery
Length: 9 hours 10 minutes

In this astonishing book from the author of the best selling memoir The Good Good Pig, Sy Montgomery explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. Read more

Talking to Strangers

What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

“I have always considered myself to be a very open-minded person. But Malcolm Gladwell's "Talking to Strangers" is a revelation in the mistakes we humans make in interpreting each other's motives and intentions. The common assumptions that we make in order to navigate daily life often lead us to grossly err in our decisions and judgments... Read more

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Novel

By: Amor Towles
Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
Length: 17 hours 51 minutes

“I believe A Gentleman In Moscow is without dispute a modern day masterpiece. Towles uses exquisite language to tell the story of Count Rostov, a charming and witty "man of intent", who is confined to a fabulous hotel in Moscow for all his days. But that doesn't stop the count from living a sumptuous and meaningful life and he, in turn, ... Read more

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
Length: 15 hours 17 minutes

“I don't own many books. I read books and give them away. However, I will NOT be giving away my copy of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. It's a keeper! Sapiens was an intense read for me. I found myself taking breaks every dozen pages or so. Not because I was bored - just the opposite. I needed time to let the author's perspective on the... Read more

Before the Fall

By: Noah Hawley
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
Length: 12 hours 55 minutes

“When a private plane plunges into the ocean off Martha's Vineyard, the media and the government want answers. The two survivors -- a middle-aged artist along for the ride and the 4-year-old son of a prominent and powerful family - have little to say. Before the Fall takes the reader on a thrilling ride through the past lives of the other... Read more

Lab Girl

By: Hope Jahren
Narrated by: Hope Jahren
Length: 11 hours 37 minutes

“This book has it all: nature, love, science, drama, heartbreak, joy, and plenty of dirt. Not since Cheryl Strayed's Wild have I read such a rich and compelling nonfiction narrative. Lab Girl is the story of Jahren's life in science, and her writing on the wonders of nature will renew your sense of awe. But more than that, it is an exploration... Read more

The Boys in the Boat

Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

By: Daniel James Brown
Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Length: 14 hours 24 minutes

“Set during the Dust Bowl, amidst the Great Depression, a dedicated group of basketball beauties, the Cardinals of Oklahoma Presbyterian College, are determined to challenge societal strictures and Babe Didrickson on their quest for the National Championship title. Faced with much criticism, judged less feminine for participating in a competitive... Read more

When Breath Becomes Air

By: Paul Kalanithi
Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra & Cassandra Campbell
Length: 5 hours 34 minutes

“With a message both mournful and life-affirming, When Breath Becomes Air chronicles a young doctor's journey from literature student to promising neurosurgeon and finally to a patient in his own hospital after being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Always profound, never sentimental, this important book refuses to take refuge in platitudes,... Read more

Stumbling on Happiness

By: Daniel Gilbert
Narrated by: Daniel Gilbert
Length: 7 hours 25 minutes

A smart and funny book by a prominent Harvard psychologist, which uses groundbreaking research and (often hilarious) anecdotes to show us why we’re so lousy at predicting what will make us happy – and what we can do about it.

Most of us spend our lives steering ourselves toward the best of all possible futures, only to find that tomorrow rarely... Read more

H Is for Hawk

By: Helen Macdonald
Narrated by: Helen Macdonald
Length: 11 hours 6 minutes

The instant New York Times bestseller and award-winning sensation, Helen Macdonald’s story of adopting and raising one of nature’s most vicious predators has soared into the hearts of millions of readers worldwide.One of the New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the YearOne of Slate’s 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 25 YearsON MORE... Read more