Audiobooks to listen to while you clean, purge, and tidy

At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe

by Tsh Oxenreider
20 travel memoirs to take you around the world (from the comfort of your couch), 25 house and home books, Audiobooks to listen to while you clean, purge, and tidy, Thought-provoking Stories

As a homebody with a healthy dose of wanderlust, I've been fascinated by Tsh's around-the-world adventure since the moment I first heard about it. With her husband and three kids under ten, Tsh leaves the States behind to travel to China and Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, Croatia and Germany and England and everywhere in between, for nine solid months. I so enjoyed getting to tag along on her family's global adventures, which were nothing at all like I expected—both more strange and more familiar than I had imagined. Publication date: April 18.

Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life

From the publisher: "In the overlooked moments and routines of our day, we can become aware of God's presence in surprising ways. Framed around one ordinary day, this book explores daily life through the lens of liturgy, small practices, and habits that form us. Each chapter looks at something—making the bed, brushing her teeth, losing her keys—that the author does every day. Drawing from the diversity of her life as a campus minister, Anglican priest, friend, wife, and mother, Tish Harrison Warren opens up a practical theology of the everyday. Each activity is related to a spiritual practice as well as an aspect of our Sunday worship."

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive

Author Stephanie Land narrates her own story of doing more than a little tidying during her years as a maid, pulling long hours as both a house cleaner and a mother. Her tale of poverty and single-parenthood is contrasted with the glimpses she catches of her wealthy clients' messy lives. Land shines a light on herself and others in her position as "nameless ghost" as she scrubbed tubs and toilets, tanged with the web of government assistance, and pursued her degree at night after tucking her daughter into bed.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

The OED project began in 1857, and took 70 years to complete, even with the help of thousands of contributors. One of the most prolific contributors, submitting nearly ten thousand entries over the course of 20 years, was Dr. William Chester Minor, an American Civil War veteran from Connecticut, who turned out to be an inmate at one of Britain’s harshest insane asylums. A fascinating and mysterious true story. The audio edition is fantastic. This is the audiobook that got me hooked on audiobooks.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

If you want to tidy up once and for all, this is the best kick in the pants you can get for ten bucks. This book is more than a little woo-woo, but her extreme approach to decluttering WORKS. Kondo is a Japanese personal tidying expert (she doesn’t like to call herself an “organizer”). She originally wrote her decluttering manifesto to help the Japanese clients languishing on her waiting list. Not all translations are good translations, but this one has been praised for preserving the quirkiness of her voice. (It's quirky, all right.) I love this book (more thoughts on that here).

Faithful Place

When he was 19, Frank Mackey planned to run off with his girlfriend Rosie Daly: they would cut ties to home, get married, and start a new life in England. When Rosie didn't show, Frank assumed she changed her mind and left without him. But 22 years later, Rosie's suitcase is found hidden in their planned meeting spot. Frank never got over her, and he'll do whatever it takes to uncover what happened. Frank's qualities make him a first-class detective: he's painfully honest and willing to deal with unpleasant truths. He knows his weak spots, expects the sucker punch. He believes the most important thing every man should know is what he would die for. Depressing, but French tells a great story. This is the third book in her Dublin Murder Squad series, which can be read in any order.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life

I love books about cities, architecture, and the way we live. I adore A Pattern Language. I've devoured every book by Jane Jacobs and Witold Rybczynski. But I couldn't make myself care about this one enough to keep turning the pages when there are so many other great books to read. Maybe because I felt like I'd read it all already?

Coming Clean: A Memoir

A moving coming-of-age story about love, family, and hoarding.

Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life

Interesting and readable memoir about Steve Martin's rise to fame, filled with so many tidbits that surprised me. Fun, fast, and very readable.

The Almost Sisters

I can't do better than my bookstore-owning friend Holland to sum this one up: Imagine The Help meets Comic Con, and you've got this story about right. Talented graphic novelist Leia finds herself unexpectedly pregnant after a drunken one-night-stand at a comic book convention. She doesn't know the father's name, but he looked awfully cute in his Batman suit. As Leia absorbs the knowledge that she'll soon be a mother to a biracial baby, she is summoned home to Alabama to do what she can for her struggling family—her stepsister's unraveling marriage, her grandmother's worsening dementia, and a shocking secret hidden in the family attic. This is a fast-reading, big-hearted novel that tackles Serious Issues really, really well—while spinning a terrific story.