Audiobook Reviews & Recommendations | |
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October Audiobook Picks
Compelling literary fiction and intimate memoirs will transport you into other lives. We recommend new audiobooks from Jonathan Lethem and Jacqueline Woodson, plus a must-hear memoir from Patrick Stewart. Happy fall listening!
Browse our newest reviews.
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Photo by photographybysky.com
Narrator Geoffrey Cantor
“BROOKLYN CRIME NOVEL is unlike any book I’ve ever read, either aloud or to myself. It was a joy, a pleasure, and in the end, a challenge, because I didn’t know if I could do it justice. I hope I did. I hope that my read will make one feel transported, as I was, to this rich, amazing, and very specifically Lethemian Brooklyn.”
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BROOKLYN CRIME NOVEL
Hold onto your earphones as narrator Geoffrey Cantor skillfully zooms into and out of the lives of Brooklynites from the 1970s to the 1990s. This dizzying listening experience illuminates the challenges of life in the city—where external and internal barriers test the mettle of its diverse inhabitants.
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Narrator Suzanne Toren
“I love—and envy—Donna Leon's approach to life—to go where her heart took her: spontaneous, ingenious, tedious, thrilling. Her forthright attitude was a joy to voice—full of passion, heart, and intelligence.”
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WANDERING THROUGH LIFE
Suzanne Toren gives an exemplary performance of this memoir by Donna Leon, author of the Commissario Brunetti mystery series. Leon, who is in her 80s, shares illuminating vignettes of her family; her love of reading, tennis, and opera; her travels and her life in Venice. Toren perfectly paces the narrative, pausing to highlight moments of joy or difficulty, and bringing forth the humor sprinkled throughout.
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Narrator Rob Shapiro
“Certain stories are so compelling, and the details so clear, well written, and researched, that, as the narrator, the job becomes a study in polar opposites: staying fully in it while getting out of the way. IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE is a remarkable book about remarkable determination in the face of absolute depravity on an industrial scale. Alternately terrifying and profoundly moving, it's a story that should be read, especially as the survivors are rapidly fading into history. I want my kids/all kids to read it.”
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IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE
Rob Shapiro balances a neutral tone and deep emotions as he recounts the horrific and sometimes miraculous experiences of Rudi and Gerta, two Jewish Slovakian teens who are trying to survive WWII. Shapiro creates edge-of-your-seat immediacy as Rudi escapes Auschwitz, determined to expose its realities, and when Greta makes the quick, gut-wrenching decision to leave her mother behind when the two are captured.
AudioFile Earphones Award
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MORE NEW RELEASES TO EXPLORE | |
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MAKING IT SO
Patrick Stewart, read by the author
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Sir Patrick Stewart presents a revealing, clear, and beautifully written memoir, discussing the entirety of his journey from humble beginnings that included domestic violence to the heights of international film, stage, and television stardom. His performance is compassionate, sensitive, and powerful. This is an audiobook not to miss.
AudioFile Earphones Award
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LAND OF MILK AND HONEY
C Pam Zhang, read by Eunice Wong
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Eunice Wong performs this immersive novel about a female Asian American chef who is experiencing an apocalyptic event in Earth’s near future. To escape impending disaster, the chef takes a job cooking for a billionaire who lives in an isolated compound located on a mountaintop. Wong’s performance adds layers of emotional depth to a compelling story, creating one of the must-listen audiobooks of the year.
AudioFile Earphones Award
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UP HOME
Ruth J. Simmons, read by the author
| Ruth Simmons gives a warmly engaging rendition of her memoir. Simmons was the first Black president of Smith College and went on to be the president of Brown University and Prairie View A&M University. Here, she recounts her childhood in Texas, growing up as the youngest of 12 children in a sharecropping family that lived in deep poverty. | | | |
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REMEMBER US
Jacqueline Woodson, read by the author
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Sage’s father, a firefighter, died in a fire back in the “once was,” but she thinks of him often. At the same time, her neighborhood has been experiencing so many mysterious fires that it’s been renamed “The Matchbox.” Woodson paints a picture of her beloved Brooklyn, creates memorable characters, and gives voice to a young person who is finding her true self.
AudioFile Earphones Award
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