AUDIBLE EDITOR
Emily Cox
Emily's Recent Listens
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You Love Me
- A You Novel
- By: Caroline Kepnes
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Joe Goldberg is done with the cities. He’s done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now he’s saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cozy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe. He gets a job at the local library—he does know a thing or two about books—and that’s where he meets her: Mary Kay DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won’t meddle, he will not obsess. He’ll win her the old-fashioned way . . . by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand.
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Best of the YOU series and still lousy!
- By Wayne on 04-06-21
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Come Fly the World
- The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am
- By: Julia Cooke
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men–era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up. Required to have a college education, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on iconic Pan Am between 1966 and 1975 also had to be between 5′3" and 5′9", between 105 and 140 pounds, and under 26 years of age at the time of hire.
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Come see the world!
- By Jessica Cancino on 03-20-21
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Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
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Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
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I'm Still Here
- Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
- By: Austin Channing Brown
- Narrated by: Austin Channing Brown
- Length: 3 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.
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A Black woman in a middle class White America
- By Adam Shields on 05-16-18
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The Song of Achilles
- A Novel
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Frazer Douglas
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
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Wasn't Expecting to Like It- BOY! was I wrong!!
- By susan on 06-11-14
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Playing Burton
- By: Mark Jenkins
- Narrated by: Matthew Rhys
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Emmy Award winner Matthew Rhys stars in this fascinating and award-winning one-man show about international star of stage and screen Richard Burton. Written by Mark Jenkins, Playing Burton offers a penetrating look at the notorious actor’s life, from growing up in an impoverished mining community in South Wales to becoming one of the greatest performers of his generation.
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Should be a six-star option
- By @CDufWriter on 02-12-21
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You Love Me
- A You Novel
- By: Caroline Kepnes
- Narrated by: Santino Fontana
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joe Goldberg is done with the cities. He’s done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now he’s saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cozy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe. He gets a job at the local library—he does know a thing or two about books—and that’s where he meets her: Mary Kay DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won’t meddle, he will not obsess. He’ll win her the old-fashioned way . . . by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand.
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Best of the YOU series and still lousy!
- By Wayne on 04-06-21
-
Come Fly the World
- The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am
- By: Julia Cooke
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men–era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up. Required to have a college education, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on iconic Pan Am between 1966 and 1975 also had to be between 5′3" and 5′9", between 105 and 140 pounds, and under 26 years of age at the time of hire.
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Come see the world!
- By Jessica Cancino on 03-20-21
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Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
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Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
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I'm Still Here
- Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
- By: Austin Channing Brown
- Narrated by: Austin Channing Brown
- Length: 3 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.
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A Black woman in a middle class White America
- By Adam Shields on 05-16-18
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The Song of Achilles
- A Novel
- By: Madeline Miller
- Narrated by: Frazer Douglas
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
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Wasn't Expecting to Like It- BOY! was I wrong!!
- By susan on 06-11-14
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Playing Burton
- By: Mark Jenkins
- Narrated by: Matthew Rhys
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Emmy Award winner Matthew Rhys stars in this fascinating and award-winning one-man show about international star of stage and screen Richard Burton. Written by Mark Jenkins, Playing Burton offers a penetrating look at the notorious actor’s life, from growing up in an impoverished mining community in South Wales to becoming one of the greatest performers of his generation.
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Should be a six-star option
- By @CDufWriter on 02-12-21
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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
- By: V. E. Schwab
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever - and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
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Prose style not to my liking
- By C.V. Cox on 10-18-20
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Call Me Maybe
- By: Cara Bastone
- Narrated by: Luci Christian, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth...when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Kal.
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Greatest Audible Preformance
- By Apple momma on 10-24-20
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Sleep Island
- By: Bram Barouh
- Narrated by: Bram Barouh
- Length: 14 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In this relaxing meditation, Bram Barouh gently steers your imagination to a quiet beach where you can picture yourself swaying on a hammock, far away from any of the things that normally keep you awake. Bram, a mindfulness educator, has a lighthearted nature and approachable wisdom that makes practicing meditation seem effortless. With his guidance, it’s never been easier to take part in a moment of positive thinking.
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So boring you'll fall right asleep
- By Amazon Customer on 05-16-20
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The Test
- By: Sylvain Neuvel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 2 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Britain, the not-too-distant future. Idir is taking the British Citizenship Test. He wants his family to belong. Twenty-five questions to determine his fate. Twenty-five chances to impress. When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death. How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?
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Shocking & engaging
- By Caffaenated on 03-22-19
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Girls & Boys
- By: Dennis Kelly
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence.
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Be aware of the content before listening
- By Anne Marie on 09-11-18
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Luster
- A Novel
- By: Raven Leilani
- Narrated by: Ariel Blake
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Edie is stumbling her way through her 20s - sharing a subpar apartment in Bushwick, clocking in and out of her admin job, making a series of inappropriate sexual choices. She is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage - with rules.
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Spellbinding
- By Nana on 08-07-20
Next Listens
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Klara and the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?
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Well Worth Having Waited For!
- By otherdeb on 03-04-21
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Finding Your Purpose
- By: Christine Whelan
- Narrated by: Christine Whelan
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
So many of us today feel like we’re merely existing instead of thriving - and that’s where a purpose-oriented mind-set comes in. Living with purpose means using your gifts, in keeping with your values, to make a positive impact on the lives of others. But it’s not easy. Half the work of cultivating greater purpose in life involves facing personal and profound questions. What matters most to me? What do I value in other people, and why? What positive change do I want to see in the world?
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Powerful & Practical
- By b3mcg on 01-24-21
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The Committed
- A Novel
- By: Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Narrated by: Francois Chau
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Traumatized by his reeducation at the hands of his former best friend, and struggling to assimilate into French culture, the Sympathizer finds Paris both seductive and disturbing. As he falls in with a group of left-wing intellectuals he meets at dinner parties given by his French Vietnamese “aunt”, he finds stimulation for his mind but also customers for his narcotic merchandise. But the new life he is making has perils, whether the self-torture of addiction, the authoritarianism of a state locked in a colonial mindset, or the paradox of how to reunite his two closest friends.
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Clever, Ironic, Repetitive
- By AuntGert on 03-05-21
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The Maidens
- A Novel
- By: Alex Michaelides
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Louise Brealey
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge. Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students?
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Amazing
- By Beth on 06-15-21
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Awkward Conversations About Money
- By: Alex Holder
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Transform your relationship with money by having some awkward conversations. Writer Alexandre Holder is on a mission - to smash the taboo surrounding money talk. She argues that our complex relationship with money will only start to improve when we bite the bullet and start having some open, honest and undeniably awkward conversations. Alex dives in deep exploring mental health, breakups, social pressure, housing and death offering vital tips to help you to take back control of your finances.
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Sleepless over You
- By: Sydney Smyth
- Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Robbie Martino
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Matt Mazola never expected a popular relationship podcast to change his life, but that’s exactly what happens when he tunes in and hears a young woman share her heartfelt wish that her grieving father find love again. The widower she describes - Hugo James - captures Matt’s attention, and he sets off on a crash course to meet the other man.
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Confused
- By KJC on 03-12-21
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Klara and the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Kazuo Ishiguro
- Narrated by: Sura Siu
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?
-
-
Well Worth Having Waited For!
- By otherdeb on 03-04-21
-
Finding Your Purpose
- By: Christine Whelan
- Narrated by: Christine Whelan
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So many of us today feel like we’re merely existing instead of thriving - and that’s where a purpose-oriented mind-set comes in. Living with purpose means using your gifts, in keeping with your values, to make a positive impact on the lives of others. But it’s not easy. Half the work of cultivating greater purpose in life involves facing personal and profound questions. What matters most to me? What do I value in other people, and why? What positive change do I want to see in the world?
-
-
Powerful & Practical
- By b3mcg on 01-24-21
-
The Committed
- A Novel
- By: Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Narrated by: Francois Chau
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by his reeducation at the hands of his former best friend, and struggling to assimilate into French culture, the Sympathizer finds Paris both seductive and disturbing. As he falls in with a group of left-wing intellectuals he meets at dinner parties given by his French Vietnamese “aunt”, he finds stimulation for his mind but also customers for his narcotic merchandise. But the new life he is making has perils, whether the self-torture of addiction, the authoritarianism of a state locked in a colonial mindset, or the paradox of how to reunite his two closest friends.
-
-
Clever, Ironic, Repetitive
- By AuntGert on 03-05-21
-
The Maidens
- A Novel
- By: Alex Michaelides
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Louise Brealey
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge. Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students?
-
-
Amazing
- By Beth on 06-15-21
-
Awkward Conversations About Money
- By: Alex Holder
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Transform your relationship with money by having some awkward conversations. Writer Alexandre Holder is on a mission - to smash the taboo surrounding money talk. She argues that our complex relationship with money will only start to improve when we bite the bullet and start having some open, honest and undeniably awkward conversations. Alex dives in deep exploring mental health, breakups, social pressure, housing and death offering vital tips to help you to take back control of your finances.
-
Sleepless over You
- By: Sydney Smyth
- Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton, Robbie Martino
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Matt Mazola never expected a popular relationship podcast to change his life, but that’s exactly what happens when he tunes in and hears a young woman share her heartfelt wish that her grieving father find love again. The widower she describes - Hugo James - captures Matt’s attention, and he sets off on a crash course to meet the other man.
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Confused
- By KJC on 03-12-21
Emily's Recent Reviews
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Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life, surviving on scraps. One day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and small existence to set out on an expedition....
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A well-written panorama of human tragedy
- By Film Fan on 07-03-21
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Miss Benson's Beetle
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Release date: 11-03-20
- Language: English
- Humor, beauty, and rich revelation
- I was so thrilled, as I always am, to hear that a new Rachel Joyce work was coming our way. What I love about her stories is they are each so different: her premises are varied and quirky, she writes protagonists of both genders, and she hasn’t spent too much time in any one historical period, and yet no one can write about the lasting impact of childhood like Rachel Joyce. It's the one truth all adults share; we were once children—and then we grew up—but the micro-traumas, the small hurts, the little scars, they stay with us. In Miss Benson's Beetle, we meet Margery Benson, a lonely, older woman whose life has been underwhelming, and who feels her last chance at meaning is to find a—possibly fictional—creature that has quietly obsessed her her whole life. But as the story of her adventure, along with her very unconventional assistant, unfolds layer by surprising layer you come to realize it's much more about the unpacking of grief and memory with a once-in-a-lifetime friend than it is about the Golden Beetle of New Caledonia. Humor, beauty, and rich revelation thread throughout this story, and you won't want to miss Juliet Stevenson's multiple voices that bring a madcap, but ultimately hugely sympathetic, cast of characters to life.
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Out of Line
- Women on the Verge of a Breakthrough
- By: Cheryl Strayed, Roxane Gay, Caroline Kepnes, and others
- Narrated by: Kristen Bell, Samira Wiley, Lea Salonga, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What happens when women step out of line and take control of their own stories? Big fears, small frustrations, and the power of hope collide as seven award-winning authors explore the possibilities....
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A “black mirror” view on womanhood
- By Taty on 09-29-22
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Out of Line
- Women on the Verge of a Breakthrough
- Narrated by: Kristen Bell, Samira Wiley, Lea Salonga, Margo Martindale, Gwendoline Christie
- Series: Out of Line collection
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Release date: 09-01-20
- Language: English
- Last year I was completely wowed by Amazon Original Stories' Forward Collection—a group of edgy sci-fi shorts from best-selling authors that perfectly tapped into my love of Black Mirror (the one by N.K. Jemisin went on to win the Hugo for the best novelette). So I was thrilled to learn that this year they've followed it up with a new collection that seems perfectly designed to appeal to my love of The Handmaid's Tale. Though not all dystopian, each of these seven stories—by such amazing authors as Emma Donoghue, Cheryl Strayed, Roxane Gay, and Caroline Kepnes—simmers with the anxiety inherent in being a woman in the world. The title Out of Line is a reference to what happens when a woman steps 'out of line,' which comes in many forms, and how that inflection point is both a moment of rebellion and one of power, where she wrestles control of her own story. Each story is sharp and gripping in its own way, and performed perfectly, with the all-star lineup of narrators including Samira Wiley, Kristen Bell, and Lea Salonga. These stories felt like sisterhood, like companionship, and that's what I've been sorely needing these days.
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The End of Everything
- (Astrophysically Speaking)
- By: Katie Mack
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Katie Mack
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From one of the most dynamic rising stars in astrophysics, an “engrossing, elegant” (The New York Times) look at five ways the universe could end, and the mind-blowing lessons each scenario reveals about the most important concepts in cosmology....
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My New Favorite!
- By Hannah Crazyhawk on 08-16-20
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The End of Everything
- (Astrophysically Speaking)
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman, Katie Mack
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Release date: 08-04-20
- Language: English
- Contemplating our doom (the far-off distant kind) is weirdly refreshing
- I love to get my mind boggled by big science, but I really struggle to make my way through dense nonfiction (Bill Nye the Science Guy is more my speed). But I've been following Katie Mack on Twitter @AstroKatie ever since we started hearing about Betelgeuse dimming and potentially going supernova (the coolness of which I appreciate even more after listening to this book). Starting with the Big Bang for background, she proceeds to take us through the five scientifically most likely ways the world will one day meet its end—and make no mistake about it, it will end. Charming and humorous, and peppered with enough pop culture and sci-fi references to keep listeners like me grounded in our reality, Mack approaches the inevitability of our doom with the kind of levity I just really, really needed right now.
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How to Bee
- By: Bren MacDibble
- Narrated by: Katherine Littrell
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
How to Bee is a beautiful, fierce, and ultimately hopeful dystopian novel, set against an all-too-possible future where the bees are extinct, and it is up to the quickest and bravest kids to pollinate the flowers by hand....
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AMAZING
- By Anonymous User on 01-18-21
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How to Bee
- Narrated by: Katherine Littrell
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Release date: 03-03-20
- Language: English
- To bee or not to bee
- Bren MacDibble's enchanting children's tale, a best seller in Australia, is a hard one to size up. In this dystopian future the bees have almost completely disappeared and "farm children" are enlisted to scramble from tree-to-tree, pollinating flowers to grow fruit, most of which ultimately gets shipped off to the city and the richer "Urbs". But as oppressive as this sounds (and if you're looking for a way to explain indentured servitude to your children this might be the place to start) the family we meet—our heroine Peony, her sister Mags, and Gramps—are content and filled with a deep love for each other. The moral of the story seems to arrive on the bus every month, when Peony's mother returns from the city for a visit, bristling with anger and wanting, and the more-than-occasional black eye (a warning for parents: domestic abuse is present here). And in a Willy Wonka-esq twist, the happily ever after isn't delivered as a rescue from one's circumstances but in the promise of a lifetime of hard but fulfilling work. There's a lot going on, and I'm still ruminating on this one weeks after listening but ultimately our heroine Peony is one that will stay with me forever. Brave and fearless, and utterly in love with her life, she's everything I hope my child to be, even as her world is a humbling reminder of what we must not let our future become.
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Forward
- Stories of Tomorrow
- By: Veronica Roth, Blake Crouch, Amor Towles, and others
- Narrated by: Evan Rachel Wood, Rosa Salazar, Jason Isaacs, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For some, it’s the end of the world. For others, it’s just the beginning. With brilliant imagination, today’s most visionary writers point to the future in a collection curated by bestselling author Blake Crouch....
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Very weird ride
- By John W on 02-15-20
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Forward
- Stories of Tomorrow
- Narrated by: Evan Rachel Wood, Rosa Salazar, Jason Isaacs, David Harbour, Steven Strait, Janina Gavankar
- Series: Forward Collection, Book 1-6
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Release date: 10-08-19
- Language: English
- This is exactly how I like my techno-anxiety
- While I've watched a few Black Mirror episodes over the years, I've generally found them to be too much to binge, and (confession) I have to have my husband test-watch them first to weigh in on whether or not he thinks they will keep me up at night worrying. I'm fascinated by these kinds of near sci-fi stories with dystopian themes, but I struggle to take them in on screen. So I'm LOVING the Forward Collection—it brings the vibe of Black Mirror, but it walks that perfect line that allows me to engage my inner nerd while keeping my inner stress-case at bay. Each story in this collection is served up by big name writer (I was so intrigued to hear the author of Gentleman in Moscow tackle this genre, and N.K. Jemisin, who tends more towards fantasy, may have written the smartest sci-fi story I’ve heard all year!). As a bonus, this collection is performed by an all-star cast including Jason Isaacs and Evan Rachel Wood among others. Happy bingeing!
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The Dutch House
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Narrated by Tom Hanks, The Dutch House is a moving story that explores the bond between two siblings and the house of their childhood.
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Not my favorite Patchett
- By Regina on 12-07-19
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The Dutch House
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Tom Hanks
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Release date: 09-24-19
- Language: English
- This narrator = The best news of the season!
- As editors at Audible we often can't get an early "read" on a new title coming out until we know who the narrator is, because—of course—that can really make or break the experience. So I was over the moon to hear that the newest novel by the brilliant Ann Patchett, (unorthodox opinion: The Magician's Assistant is my favorite of her works) would be performed by Tom Hanks, I knew I already had my top pick of the fall lined up. Having listened to the collection of short stories he penned a few years ago, I knew that Hanks would balance the honest with the sweet, blending levity with gravitas. And that balance is critical because The Dutch House, like many of Patchett's novels, delves into and wrenchingly describes the sensitive intricacies of a very singular family, serving up humor, cynicism, and immense pain in a way that is completely unique to the players at hand.
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The Flatshare
- A Novel
- By: Beth O'Leary
- Narrated by: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Kwaku Fortune
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met. After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art....
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so much language!!
- By H H on 10-12-19
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The Flatshare
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Kwaku Fortune
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Release date: 05-28-19
- Language: English
- Way more than fluff
- When I first heard about Flatshare it was billed as a light and happy beach listen about roommates who fall in love through post-it notes, and I thought "Perfect! I'll take this one on vacation." But wow this was not what I expected. Don’t get me wrong—there's a lot of joy here, but despite the rom-com premise, Beth O'Leary's debut is way more than fluff, and her two leads are both incredibly complex characters, with uniquely developed baggage. Actor and first time narrator Kwaku Fortune (is there a better name?) delivers a fabulous performance of what was doubtless a difficult role: Leon is so much a man of few words that he often simply drops needed articles and pronouns, but Fortune's deft treatment rounds out his awkwardness into something real and relatable. Carrie Hope Fletcher on the other hand brilliantly embodies Tiffy - a character so sparkling and bold that you almost miss the fact that her ex-boyfriend is continuing to gaslight her. So yes, take this one to the beach and revel in its sweetness and the heartwarming love story, but stick around for the depth and intelligence that emerges from the amazing performances.
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"Cat Person" and Other Stories
- By: Kristen Roupenian
- Narrated by: Aubrey Plaza, Jayme Mattler, Molly Pope, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of “Cat Person” comes Kristen Roupenian's highly anticipated debut, a highly enjoyable collection of short stories that explore the complex - and often darkly funny - connections between gender, sex, and power across genres....
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I definitely don’t want this.
- By K. Clay on 01-16-19
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"Cat Person" and Other Stories
- Narrated by: Aubrey Plaza, Jayme Mattler, Molly Pope, Will Damron, Jasmin Savoy Brown - introduction, Emily Tremaine - introduction, Finn Wittrock, Amy Ryan, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Corey Brill, Gibson Frazier
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Release date: 01-15-19
- Language: English
- With the daring and agility of an acrobat
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I was recently in Las Vegas for business and I had the chance to take in a Cirque du Soleil performance for the first time. I found it bizarre and unsettling, but it was without a doubt one of the most astonishing displays of absurd talent I have ever experienced. That's also pretty much how I felt after finishing Kristen Roupenian's debut collection, You Know You Want This.
While "Cat Person" (the New Yorker story—also included here—that earned Roupenian a reported seven-figure advance after it went viral) has a humanistic, is-this-even-fiction feel to it, this collection shows range, restlessness, and a need to experiment. Her opening gambit moves from warped friendship, breezes past sex, and rapidly ends in horror film territory. One story presents an exhilarating #MeToo revenge fantasy, while another lays out an explanation of Morgellons disease more clearly than any scientific journal. And a romantic fairy tale (perhaps my favorite of the bunch), evolves into a dark fable before ending on a meta note of archeological melancholy.
Each entry presents a bizarre challenge that Roupenian, with deft trickery, consistently pulls off. A daring leap taken. An elegant landing. Despite her insane talent, I'll leave the jury out on whether this collection is capital I Important, but that's okay. These stories are unsettling for sure, but also playful, ambitious, and very, very fun.
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The Death of Truth
- Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
- By: Michiko Kakutani
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens....
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Prescient Account of the Mechanics of Tyranny
- By Brian Price on 07-27-18
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The Death of Truth
- Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Release date: 07-17-18
- Language: English
- Parsing fact from fiction
- I started listening Carlo Rovelli's book The Order of Time narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch (because who wouldn't listen to that?!) and it was lovely and poetic, but I had to put it down because he was arguing that time isn't absolute. Apparently time moves faster at higher altitudes, so if one twin brother lives on a mountain and another on a plain, the mountain brother ages faster...and then my head exploded. It seems I'm both fascinated and horrified by relativism, so this brilliant book-length essay from Michiko Kakutani helped me recalibrate after my adventure into physics. The former chief book critic at The New York Times deals with her subject deftly: how do we hold onto facts and the idea of absolute truth in a land that seems to be built on the shifting sands of narrative creation? It turns out a literary critic is the perfect person to parse fact from fiction and give us a whopping lesson in how storytelling works in the process.
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Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
- By: Elena Favilli, Francesca Cavallo
- Narrated by: Alicia Keys, Ashley Judd, Danai Gurira, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls reinvents fairy tales, inspiring listeners with the stories of 100 heroic women, from Elizabeth I to Serena Williams....
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Bravo!!!
- By Account Holder on 08-07-18
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Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
- Narrated by: Alicia Keys, Ashley Judd, Danai Gurira, Janeane Garofalo, Phillipa Soo, Esperanza Spalding, Samira Wiley, Mozhan Marnò, Rowan Blanchard
- Series: Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, Book 1
- Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins
- Release date: 06-19-18
- Language: English
- Now with a fierce, female multi-cast!
- When the print version of this book released in 2016 it immediately topped all my holiday gift lists. I can't tell you how many copies I bought of this puppy, but wow, have I supported Timbuktu Labs (the children's media company that published it), for good reason. My seven-year-old daughter LOVES this book. Many a night she picks out a story to read together, often informed by the beautiful pictures (Frida Kahlo's eyebrows are a huge hit), and I love the empowering message behind each true story. Now I'm so excited to take this groundbreaking book on the go, and can't wait to share the all-star multicast—which features such powerful women as Alicia Keyes, Ashley Judd, Janeane Garofalo, and Samira Wiley—with my little fierce little lady.
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The Only Story
- A Novel
- By: Julian Barnes
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of An Ending, a novel about a young man on the cusp of adulthood and a woman who has long been there, a love story shot through with sheer beauty, profound sadness, and deep truth....
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One of the best, at this best
- By Joe Kraus on 01-15-20
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The Only Story
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Release date: 04-17-18
- Language: English
- The limits of love and memory
- I've spent the last few months immersed in sci-fi, romance, and other genre fiction, so I was hankering for this new book from Julian Barnes. The Only Story—a meditation on the limits of love and memory—was exactly the literary palette cleanser it promised to be: bright and pungent, with a bitter finish. It begins in 1963 when 19-year old Paul (student, home from Uni) and 48-year old Susan (married, mother of two) meet playing mixed doubles at the tennis club and fall face-first in love. Promises are made instinctively and with little foresight, setting in motion the greatest conundrum of Paul's life. Love, though arriving swiftly and never fully dispersing, ultimately proves to be incomprehensible. Throughout the narrative Barnes moves almost randomly between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, but narrator Guy Mott's deft transitions are so seamless that it's not immediately apparent to the listener. And this struck me as exactly how self-reflection works: you view yourself from every angle, and here this shifting vantage point creates the room for moments of granular honesty, both beautiful and gruesome. Paul worries the problem in his hand like a stone, searching it for clues until determining that his attachment is flawed but unbreakable. At one point he claims death is the only closure. Well then…palette cleansed.
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Obsidio
- The Illuminae Files, Book 3
- By: Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
- Narrated by: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Olivia Mackenzie-Smith, Ryan Gesell, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship Mao....
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Live a life worth dying for
- By Jessica M. Henn on 03-17-18
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Obsidio
- The Illuminae Files, Book 3
- Narrated by: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Olivia Mackenzie-Smith, Ryan Gesell, Carla Corvo, MacLeod Andrews, Erin Spencer, Andrew Eiden, Lisa Cordileone, Matthew Frow, Full Cast
- Series: The Illuminae Files, Book 3
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Release date: 03-13-18
- Language: English
- Is this the most satisfying YA trilogy conclusion ever??
- Harmless spoiler alert: yes it is! Obsidio is the third and final book in Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's groundbreaking YA sci-fi series, The Illuminae Files. Presented as a dossier of evidence submitted during a trial, the series takes the jury (and the listener) through the story of a planetary invasion gone wrong, ultimately making a case against a greedy corporate entity. As such, the print versions of these books are highly graphic: complete with redactions, transcripts, maps, charts, and drawings. In translating this to audio, the producers faced a huge challenge in communicating not just the story but also the drama and emotion inherent on the pages. Through a vast multi-cast of more than 40 actors, rich sound design, commissioned music, as well as original content devised by the authors specifically for the audiobook, the series becomes a completely transporting, immersive, and not-to-be-missed experience.
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The Music Shop
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Joyce
- Narrated by: Steven Hartley
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A love story and a journey through music, the exquisite and perfectly pitched new novel from the best-selling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry....
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Hallelujah . . Hallelujah!!
- By Janice on 01-05-18
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The Music Shop
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Steven Hartley
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Release date: 01-02-18
- Language: English
- Another thing of beauty from Rachel Joyce
- How I love Rachel Joyce. In The Music Shop we meet Frank, an eternal optimist who knows about almost nothing except music, and who believes his vinyl record shop—which is struggling to remain relevant amidst the rise of CDs in 1980s Britain—is his venue by which to help the world. He has the intuitive ability to know what records people need to hear, and has even saved a marriage or two through his almost magical curation skills. Music geeks will eat this up (who doesn't want to hear Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata described as "punk?"), but as in all of Joyce's stories, the true elegance comes through her identification of the turning points in a person's life. What are those micro-traumas that set a child on their seemingly accidental path in life; what was that moment of (in)decision that changed everything? As a parent, Joyce's prescience terrifies me, but I also can't look away. As a bonus track (pun!) Steven Hartley's narration—Google him, you know this guy—is masterful: in turns obsessively enthusiastic and heartbreaking, especially amazing given that it’s his first turn behind the mic.
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How to Stop Time
- By: Matt Haig
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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A love story across the ages - and for the ages - about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live....
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Immortality is a bummer
- By Em on 02-09-18
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How to Stop Time
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Release date: 02-06-18
- Language: English
- Immortality is a bummer
- One of my favorite YA trilogies (I won't tell you which) is awesome until the very end when the heroine beats the bad guy by acquiring immortality. While my colleague Katie loved this ending, it always majorly disturbed me, and How to Stop Time is the perfect illustration of why. Immortality is a bummer, guys. Matt Haig's protagonist, Tom, though not technically immortal—just looking forward to a 900+ years—is depressed. Everyone he's ever dared to love is dead, and he can't really settle into a home for more than a decade or so without raising serious—and dangerous—suspicions. In his current identity he's based in London and teaching (of course) history, and this is why, despite Tom's glumness, I just LOVED this book. I may not wish for immortality, but I do wish I could travel back in time. Tom's narration whisks you back to the Tudor period, the Jazz Age, the Gold Rush, and there's something truly remarkable about looking at history from a bird's eye view: Tom has our (and by "our" I mean "we mere humans") number, and we aren't the smartest of beasts. We are quite literally repeating ourselves. And While Tom may be exasperated and even a bit bored by our antics, this is the least boring book I've devoured in quite some time.
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Lincoln in the Bardo
- A Novel
- By: George Saunders
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill....
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"Where might God stand?"
- By Mel on 02-17-17
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Lincoln in the Bardo
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, George Saunders, Carrie Brownstein, Don Cheadle, Lena Dunham, Bill Hader, Kirby Heyborne, Keegan-Michael Key, Julianne Moore, Megan Mullally, Susan Sarandon, Ben Stiller, Various
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Release date: 02-14-17
- Language: English
- My favorite listen of 2017
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Lincoln in the Bardo is one of the most extraordinary books I have ever listened to—and make no mistake—this one is meant to be listened to. 166 individual narrators (led by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, author George Saunders, and the incomparably sweet Kirby Heyborne as Willie) came together to voice this wildly surreal audiobook. While that might sound like a production stunt, the breadth of voices is necessary to create the immersive cacophony effect—almost a Greek chorus of Americana—that washes over you, ultimately leaving you with a stark and devastatingly accurate portrait of grief told by the clamoring voices of the dead.
The listener finds himself in a Georgetown Cemetery where young Willie Lincoln has just been laid to rest. The Civil War has only just begun, and Willie's grieving father (the president) returns to the graveyard in a state of stumbling and stricken shambles to look at and hold the body of his boy. This unorthodox behavior from a visitor triggers shocked confusion among the self-unaware deceased who wonder what it means for their own fates. In rounding out his tale, Saunders depicts the real events of the time (those things happening outside of the graveyard) entirely through historical snippets and citations, some real, some imagined, all poignant in their disembodied wisdom. The effect is quite literally otherworldly, but the concerns of the voices seem recognizable and real, as you'll feel history rise up to meet the present, the echoes of the Civil War in conversation with today.
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The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition
- By: Margaret Atwood, Valerie Martin - essay
- Narrated by: Claire Danes, full cast, Margaret Atwood, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women....
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Wait! It Mightn't Be What You Think--
- By Gillian on 04-05-17
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The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition
- Narrated by: Claire Danes, full cast, Margaret Atwood, Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Series: The Handmaid's Tale, Book 1
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Release date: 04-04-17
- Language: English
- Critical Listening
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Full disclosure: The Handmaid's Tale is my favorite book. It is my number one all-time pick among books, the book of my life, having topped my list since I first read it in 2008. (I actually picked it up on the recommendation of someone I met while interviewing for my job at Audible!) In my opinion this book is absolutely critical (perhaps especially today): Atwood draws deep on history to expose how humans have again and again subjected women, and she illuminates our continued culpability in this. Offred's inner monologue untangles that messy dichotomy of wanting to remain independent, but feeling the urge to submit in the face of love. And it's completely humbling. No other work of literature slaps us so hard in the face with the fact that we are all just fragments—or moments in time—and we're all destined to become mere historical footnotes if we're lucky, completely forgotten if we're not.
So when The Handmaid's Tale was originally produced in audio in 2012 I was ready, like a fan girl clutching a movie ticket on opening night, to be let down. I was worried that no narrator could live up to my expectations given my belief in the importance of this book. But Claire Danes is just vivid. She doesn't act, and she doesn't need to. She recounts. She breathes out the tale as if she is living it. Resigned, beaten down, traveling through hell by putting one step ahead of the other. I was utterly convinced by her performance.
But for all my love of The Handmaid's Tale, and my belief that it's a perfect book, I've always been—again like a fan girl—a little irked by one aspect of it: its ending. "Are there any questions?" may be the most wonderfully frustrating last line ever conceived. YES I have questions— MANY of them. In producing this special edition, we proposed that Margaret Atwood answer some of those long standing questions. So what was it like to ask a Booker Prize-winning author to amend the ending of her most famous work? I felt pretty presumptuous to say the least. But Margaret’s response—and I think I’m quoting this correctly—was, ‘Sure, this sounds like fun.’ And indeed it was fun. The ten audio-only questions included in this production present a teasing look at the world beyond Offred, and a glimpse of what Atwood might have up her sleeve next.
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Refugee
- By: Alan Gratz
- Narrated by: Michael Goldstrom, Kyla Garcia, Assaf Cohen
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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This timely and powerful novel tells the story of three different children seeking refuge....
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Intended for 5-8th graders, but it is good for adults too
- By LJK on 12-21-17
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Refugee
- Narrated by: Michael Goldstrom, Kyla Garcia, Assaf Cohen
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Release date: 08-01-17
- Language: English
- Timely Lessons From the Past
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This heart-wrencher of a tale chronicles three separate journeys of children experiencing what none should have to: fleeing a home that is no longer safe. We meet Josef, a Jewish boy leaving Germany in 1939 as he boards the ill-fated ocean liner St. Louis; Isabelle, who, along with her family, flees Cuba as a 1994 rafter, and Mahmoud, who departs Aleppo in 2015, bound for (bringing us full circle) Germany. The stories, unfolding in alternating points of view, are benchmarked at the start of each chapter with a subhead: xx days from home, demonstrating that from a kids' vantage point, home - or lack of - is the only landmark that really matters.
The three accounts really took me into the heart of these historical moments in a way that news reports rarely do, each depicting a unique version of desperation, tragedy, and longing. But while I was on the edge-of-my-seat throughout, the ultimate conclusion is one of hope - that the sins of our collective past do in fact have the power to positively impact the choices we make in the future.
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Northanger Abbey
- An Audible Original Drama
- By: Jane Austen, Anna Lea - adaptation
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Douglas Booth, Eleanor Tomlinson, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
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A coming-of-age tale for the young and naïve 17-year-old Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey takes a decidedly comical look at themes of class, family, love and literature....
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There is no substitute for unabridged
- By D. Littman on 09-08-17
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Northanger Abbey
- An Audible Original Drama
- Narrated by: Emma Thompson, Douglas Booth, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ella Purnell, Jeremy Irvine, Lily Cole
- Series: Jane Austen's Novels
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Release date: 07-18-17
- Language: English
- A High-Spirited (and Very Funny) Dramatization
- Northanger Abbey has always been one of my favorite Austen stories (along with Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and… oh). Anyway—it ranks WAY higher than Mansfield Park, at least. But I’ve always loved that it’s Austen’s most obvious play at satire, demonstrating, perhaps ironically (or maybe, given Austen’s own life, not at all) what kind of trouble a wild imagination can get a young woman into. So it lends itself beautifully to this new high-spirited, and very funny, dramatization. It even seems that Austen has herself been cast as the omniscient and wise narrator (and who else more fully embodies those qualities than the brilliant Emma Thompson?). If you love a good comedy of manners, don’t miss this delightful audio-only treasure.
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Behind Her Eyes
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Pinborough
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Josie Dunn, Bea Holland, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar, and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she's thrilled....
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HATED the ending
- By Katherine Olson on 02-20-17
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Behind Her Eyes
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck, Josie Dunn, Bea Holland, Huw Parmenter
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Release date: 01-31-17
- Language: English
- A Book that Will Haunt You
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The publicists for Sarah Pinbourough's breakout novel love to point to a hashtag that arose from early reads of the book, #WTFthatending. It's a great hook: "this book has such a batsh*t insane denouement that people took to twitter to OMG about it!" So of course I was intrigued, but I generally assumed that this was more PR gimmick than anything… But as it turns out, "WTF" is pretty much how I've been feeling since I finished listening last month. In fact I'm only writing this review because I need to bleach my brain and I'm hoping this will be the catharsis I'm looking for. After the initial five minutes (performed from the vantage point of a never-to-be-heard-from-again narrator) left me appropriately baffled, I was quickly sucked in and found firm footing within the dual-narration of the two main characters and their disparate personalities. We meet Adele, the naïve (but obviously not really), mistreated weakling of a wife, and Louise, the single mom who is both Adele's new insta-BFF and the woman sleeping with Adele's husband. The web of lies among the two, as well as the man in the middle, gets more and more tangled before it unravels, and you are never quite sure who's pulling which strings. Fair warning: there is an element within the premise of the story that you stumble upon about midway through that's admittedly a little farfetched, but by then you're so engrossed that you just go with it. Without revealing too much, I'll just say that as someone who loves a good multicast performance, I was fully aware that there was a fourth narrator in that casting line-up, and I felt - rightfully so it turns out - an immense amount of dread as I waited for them to show up.
Despite how insane this book made me feel, I still wouldn’t trade in the experience (though I'll let you know how I'm feeling in another month). If you're in the mood for a book that will haunt you this might be a good candidate, just be prepared to need a prompt mental palate cleanser. Can I recommend Her Royal Spyness, perhaps?
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Emily's Favorite Listens from 2020
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Islanders
- By: Elinor Cook
- Narrated by: Daisy Ridley
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
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In an era of public versus private personas, a young woman decides to shake up her ordinary life by becoming a contestant on a reality television show. The manufactured paradise has no clocks, no way to contact the outside world, and nothing but time, a pool, and gorgeous people. As the days or weeks or months pass by, she discovers more about herself through the people around her and challenges her notions of identity and love. In a paradise where the only game is to fall in love, what will she do to win?
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Failed attempt to tell an interesting story
- By BB on 09-10-20
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Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
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Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
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The Wind in the Willows
- By: Kenneth Grahame, Dina Gregory
- Narrated by: Cush Jumbo, Harriet Walter, Aimee Lou Wood, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Meet Lady Toad, Mistress Badger, Miss Water Rat and Mrs Mole as they go about their adventures, messing around on the river, gallivanting in Lady Toad’s shiny new toy and fighting valiantly to save Toad Hall from unruly squatters. In this retelling by Dina Gregory, The Wind in the Willows becomes a story about a group of female animals to be admired for their close sisterhood and fierce independence. Featuring original music and songs by Rosabella Gregory and sound effects captured on location, put your headphones on, sit back and lose yourself in the British countryside.
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Not the original story
- By Pious on 03-02-21
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The Sea in the Sky
- By: Jackson Musker
- Narrated by: Octavia Chavez-Richmond, James Ludwig, Pun Bandhu, and others
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Wisecracking, marine biologist Bee Guerrero has signed up for the trip of a lifetime: a series of dives deep into the pitch-black waters of Saturn’s moon, Enceladus.
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Too annoying
- By Kristian Pulz on 10-07-20
-
Such a Fun Age
- By: Kiley Reid
- Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young Black woman out late with a White child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.
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-
This is embarrassing!
- By Anonymous User on 01-31-20
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Call Me Maybe
- By: Cara Bastone
- Narrated by: Luci Christian, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth...when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Kal.
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Greatest Audible Preformance
- By Apple momma on 10-24-20
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The Happy Ever After Playlist
- By: Abby Jimenez
- Narrated by: Zachary Webber, Erin Mallon
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Artist Sloan Monroe just can't seem to get her life on track. But one trouble-making pup who randomly jumps into her car with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With Tucker by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.
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Another damsel in distress ( spoilers)
- By Jovana on 05-22-20
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My Dark Vanessa
- A Novel
- By: Kate Elizabeth Russell
- Narrated by: Grace Gummer
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, 15-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful 42-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: Remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past.
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I apologize
- By Judy George on 03-13-20
-
A Witch in Time
- By: Constance Sayers
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson, Claire Christie, Brittany Wilkerson, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helen Lambert has lived several lives-a young piano virtuoso in 1890s Paris, an actress in 1930s Hollywood, a rock star in 1970s Los Angeles - only she doesn't know it. Until she meets a strange man who claims he's watched over her for centuries, bound to her from the beginning. At first, Helen doesn't believe him. Her life is as normal as any other modern career woman's. Then she begins having vivid dreams about ill-fated love and lives cut short. Caught in a curse, Helen will be forced to relive the same tragic events that ruined her previous lives.
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Tired of Heroines’ Repeatedly Making Stupid Decisions
- By Neecie on 03-26-20
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Islanders
- By: Elinor Cook
- Narrated by: Daisy Ridley
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
In an era of public versus private personas, a young woman decides to shake up her ordinary life by becoming a contestant on a reality television show. The manufactured paradise has no clocks, no way to contact the outside world, and nothing but time, a pool, and gorgeous people. As the days or weeks or months pass by, she discovers more about herself through the people around her and challenges her notions of identity and love. In a paradise where the only game is to fall in love, what will she do to win?
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Failed attempt to tell an interesting story
- By BB on 09-10-20
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Piranesi
- By: Susanna Clarke
- Narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
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Fascinating Social Study
- By Henry V on 02-26-21
-
The Wind in the Willows
- By: Kenneth Grahame, Dina Gregory
- Narrated by: Cush Jumbo, Harriet Walter, Aimee Lou Wood, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Lady Toad, Mistress Badger, Miss Water Rat and Mrs Mole as they go about their adventures, messing around on the river, gallivanting in Lady Toad’s shiny new toy and fighting valiantly to save Toad Hall from unruly squatters. In this retelling by Dina Gregory, The Wind in the Willows becomes a story about a group of female animals to be admired for their close sisterhood and fierce independence. Featuring original music and songs by Rosabella Gregory and sound effects captured on location, put your headphones on, sit back and lose yourself in the British countryside.
-
-
Not the original story
- By Pious on 03-02-21
-
The Sea in the Sky
- By: Jackson Musker
- Narrated by: Octavia Chavez-Richmond, James Ludwig, Pun Bandhu, and others
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wisecracking, marine biologist Bee Guerrero has signed up for the trip of a lifetime: a series of dives deep into the pitch-black waters of Saturn’s moon, Enceladus.
-
-
Too annoying
- By Kristian Pulz on 10-07-20
-
Such a Fun Age
- By: Kiley Reid
- Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young Black woman out late with a White child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.
-
-
This is embarrassing!
- By Anonymous User on 01-31-20
-
Call Me Maybe
- By: Cara Bastone
- Narrated by: Luci Christian, Neil Hellegers
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth...when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Kal.
-
-
Greatest Audible Preformance
- By Apple momma on 10-24-20
-
The Happy Ever After Playlist
- By: Abby Jimenez
- Narrated by: Zachary Webber, Erin Mallon
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Artist Sloan Monroe just can't seem to get her life on track. But one trouble-making pup who randomly jumps into her car with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With Tucker by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.
-
-
Another damsel in distress ( spoilers)
- By Jovana on 05-22-20
-
My Dark Vanessa
- A Novel
- By: Kate Elizabeth Russell
- Narrated by: Grace Gummer
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, 15-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful 42-year-old English teacher. 2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: Remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past.
-
-
I apologize
- By Judy George on 03-13-20
-
A Witch in Time
- By: Constance Sayers
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson, Claire Christie, Brittany Wilkerson, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Helen Lambert has lived several lives-a young piano virtuoso in 1890s Paris, an actress in 1930s Hollywood, a rock star in 1970s Los Angeles - only she doesn't know it. Until she meets a strange man who claims he's watched over her for centuries, bound to her from the beginning. At first, Helen doesn't believe him. Her life is as normal as any other modern career woman's. Then she begins having vivid dreams about ill-fated love and lives cut short. Caught in a curse, Helen will be forced to relive the same tragic events that ruined her previous lives.
-
-
Tired of Heroines’ Repeatedly Making Stupid Decisions
- By Neecie on 03-26-20