Megan's Recs

Nettle & Bone

By: T. Kingfisher
Narrated by: Amara Jasper
Length: 9 hours 22 minutes

“In this fairy tale, it'll be 'happily ever after' after the princess is done murdering the prince, not marrying him. Join the ordinary, unassuming third princess Marra and her companions - a ghost-raising gravewitch, a frizzy-headed fairy godmother, a knight in exile, a dog made entirely of bones, and a chicken with a demon in it—on an... Read more

What Moves the Dead

Sworn Soldier: Book #1

By: T. Kingfisher
Narrated by: Avi Roque
Length: 5 hours 25 minutes

“This was one of the best retellings of The Fall of The House of Usher I’ve ever read. Between the representation and the absolutely witty humor and excellently horrifying descriptions. This was an absolute joy to read. Also, half way through the book I learn that Avi Roque narrates the audiobook and I will listen to anything he narrates, because... Read more

Leech

By: Hiron Ennes
Narrated by: Abigail Thorn
Length: 13 hours 7 minutes

“The narrator of this scalpel sharp, intoxicatingly gross debut is a parasite about to meet its match in the battle for control over humankind. Fans of gothic lit, haunted mansions in disrepair, and bio/medical horror, eat your optic nerve - I mean, your heart - out! I don’t consider myself a fan of the above, but the incredibly unique narrator,... Read more

Every Heart a Doorway

Wayward Children: Book #1

By: Seanan McGuire
Narrated by: Cynthia Hopkins
Length: 4 hours 44 minutes

“Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children offers a respite for kids returned to our reality after adventures elsewhere. After Nancy arrives, exiled from her own version of fairyland—the Underworld, gruesome murders commence. Crackling with all the enchantment of the classic tales of 'wayward children', like Alice or the Pevensies, with a... Read more

The Body Is Not an Apology

The Power of Radical Self-Love

By: Sonya Renee Taylor
Narrated by: Sonya Renee Taylor
Length: 4 hours 49 minutes

“What if radical self-love could not only end the suffering that comes from our criticism of our bodies, but also break the stranglehold that systems of oppression have on Black and brown bodies, on gender nonconforming bodies, on disabled bodies? It’s time to find out. And Sonya Renee Taylor is the guide you’ve been waiting for - funny, loving,... Read more

The Last Mapmaker

By: Christina Soontornvat
Narrated by: Sura Siu
Length: 7 hours 21 minutes

“This Thai-inspired historical fantasy follows 12-year-old Sai, a conman's daughter who pretends to be from a noble family in order to become the apprentice to the empire's most famous mapmaker. When Sai is invited to join him on a voyage to discover the fabled dragon-infested Sunderlands, Sai discovers that she's not the only one with a secret... Read more

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

By: Ross Gay
Narrated by: Ross Gay
Length: 1 hour 35 minutes

“Damn, I love Ross Gay. Whether in essay (as in The Book of Delights - phenomenal - or Inciting Joy - currently reading) or in poem (here!), he writes with such a large-hearted, open-armed, joyous, rowdy, occasionally quite dirty in more ways than one, profoundly moved and deeply moving way of looking at the world. Here, the poems plumb the... Read more

How to Do Nothing

Resisting the Attention Economy

By: Jenny Odell
Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
Length: 8 hours 10 minutes

“This book is not a social media detox - it's way weirder than that! Through examples of cool ass performance art, bioregionalism, radical utopian and labor history, and more, artist Jenny Odell busts up the narrow confines of what we value as worth our attention when our attention is for sale and blazes a way back toward repossessing one of our... Read more

The Islands

Stories

By: Dionne Irving
Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

The Islands follows the lives of Jamaican women—immigrants or the descendants of immigrants—who have relocated all over the world to escape the ghosts of colonialism on what they call the Island. Set in the United States, Jamaica, and Europe, these international stories examine the lives of an uncertain and unsettled cast of characters. In one... Read more

Silver in the Wood & Drowned Country

Greenhollow Duology

By: Emily Tesh
Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
Length: 5 hours 50 minutes

“[Drowned Country] This continuation of Henry and Tobias follows the two men as they struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of the events from "Silver in the Wood" and what it means for them, and their relationship, going forward. Told with the same fairytale like quality of the first, "Drowned Country" is well worth the listen. Read more

I'm Glad My Mom Died

By: Jennette McCurdy
Narrated by: Jennette McCurdy
Length: 6 hours 25 minutes

“The audiobook is narrated by Jennette, which I think made the experience of reading this even more special. I went through just about every emotion while reading this book. Jennette goes into great detail on her experience as a child actor…and based on the title of this book, I think you can guess how that experience was. This gripping,... Read more

Gideon the Ninth

Locked Tomb: Book #1

By: Tamsyn Muir
Narrated by: Moira Quirk
Length: 16 hours 49 minutes

“I loved this story when I read it, but the audiobook narrator really brought it to life for me - she tells it in a way that captures the humor and sarcasm and wit, and the way she reads it really drives the plot and pacing. Highly recommend! Read more

Ring Shout

By: P. Djèlí Clark
Narrated by: Channie Waites
Length: 5 hours 36 minutes

“The emotionally charged, wild ride of Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark was one I did not want to end. Clark pulled me into the life of Maryse and her band of monster hunters and held me hostage. With beautiful language, deep characters, and a fully immersive world, this story of vengeance and self-forgiveness unfolds. By the end, I was in tears.... Read more

The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson

A Battle for Racial Justice at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era

By: Chris Joyner
Narrated by: John Lescault
Length: 11 hours 3 minutes

“True crime, Southern history, and racial justice come together in AJC reporter Chris Joyner’s chronicle of the Halloween 1948 murder of golden boy Buddy Stevens near Sunset Hills in Carrollton and the three unjust trials and three subsequent death sentences of local Black sharecropper Clarence Henderson. The case would bring national attention,... Read more

Babel

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi & Billie Fulford-Brown
Length: 21 hours 45 minutes

“A wildly creative and engrossing tale of magic that centers around the power of translation, set against the backdrop of Victorian England and all of its colonial misgivings. Read more

A Study in Drowning

A Study in Drowning

By: Ava Reid
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
Length: 10 hours 31 minutes

“What’s more dangerous - a sinking mansion full of secrets, a vicious and enthralling Fairy King, or the forces that have historically silenced and subjugated young women in academia? Fans of Mexican Gothic and The Hazel Wood, this Welsh folklore-infused dark academia fantasy will sweep you under and leave you drowning in all its lush and eerie,... Read more

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

By: Franny Choi
Narrated by: Franny Choi
Length: 1 hour 59 minutes

“An urgent and delicate poetry collection full of life and captivating reflections and observations. Timely and relevant for our generation of apocalypse fearers, doomsday preppers, and the people just trying to survive another day. Read more

The Myth of Normal

Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture

By: Gabor Maté, MD & Daniel Maté
Narrated by: Daniel Maté
Length: 18 hours 12 minutes

“An absolutely epic synthesis of an emerging consensus on mind/body research and it’s implications for public health. Mate is already a well respected doctor specializing in addiction treatment (see his bestseller In The Realm of a Hungry Ghosts). The impacts of trauma (both major and minor), especially during childhood, cannot be overstated, and... Read more

Hell Followed with Us

By: Andrew Joseph White
Narrated by: Shaan Dasani, Graham Halstead & Avi Roque
Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

“At the outset, 16-year-old Benji escapes the murderous doomsday cult he's been raised in, where his trans identity is not accepted, but not before they inject him with a biological weapon that will soon transform him into a monster. He lands at the Acheson LGBTQ+ Center in a nearby city, where he befriends a group of young queer survivors and... Read more

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Emily Wilde: Book #1

By: Heather Fawcett
Narrated by: Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
Length: 12 hours 5 minutes

“Emily Wilde is a serious Dryadologist and probably the best in her field. Her colleague Wendell Bambleby is...not. Or at least, he certainly doesn't live up to her high academic standards. He's too posh, too lazy, to fickle, and come to think of it, maybe a little too much like the fairy folk they study. Is Wendell harboring a secret? Or maybe... Read more