Audiobooks You Can Listen To in 6(ish) Hours or Less

News of the World: A Novel

by Paulette Jiles

I loved this short novel about two unlikely companions because it reminded me of favorites like Lonesome Dove, These Is My Words, and—perhaps surprisingly—The Road. A Western for readers who (think they) don't like Westerns, featuring intriguing characters, improbable friendships, strong women, and difficult choices.

Interpreter of Maladies

by Jhumpa Lahiri

I love Lahiri and reading the description (and excellent reviews) on this collection makes me want to bump it to the top of my list. From Publishers Weekly: "Lahiri's touch in these nine tales is delicate, but her observations remain damningly accurate, and her bittersweet stories are unhampered by nostalgia."

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House

by Alyssa Mastromonaco

West Wing fans, listen up. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the Obama White House, through the eyes of someone who worked for him for more than ten years, first supporting him as a freshman senator, then as assistant to the president and director of scheduling, and finally as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff at the White House. Word is this is like your "gossipy older sister" dishing on what really happens behind the political scenes.

Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything

by Anne Bogel

We are collectively obsessed with the idea of defining and knowing ourselves and our unique place in the world. For readers who long to dig deeper into what makes them uniquely them (and why that matters), Reading People explains the life-changing insights that can be gained from the most popular personality frameworks, such as Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and others and shares specific, practical real-life applications across all facets of life, including love and marriage, productivity, parenting, the workplace, and spiritual life. Understanding personality can revolutionize the way we live, love, work, and pray.

Target

Stella by Starlight

by Sharon M. Draper

I just scooped this up for myself because I feel like I'm seeing it everywhere this week, plus it's by an author my family LOVES. From the publisher: "When the Ku Klux Klan’s unwelcome reappearance rattles Stella’s segregated southern town, bravery battles prejudice in this bestselling Depression-era “novel that soars” (The New York Times Book Review) that School Library Journal called “storytelling at its finest” in a starred review.

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone

by Brené Brown

Brené Brown's work has meant a lot to me (my favorite: Daring Greatly, and I'm so excited to have another new book in my hands. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown tackles what she calls our current spiritual crisis of disconnection. We don't know what it means to belong anymore, or why it matters, or how to experience true connection—and we are suffering for it. In her new work she sets out four practices of true belonging, explains how we can practice them in our own lives, and shares heaps of stories so we can see what they look like in practice. A timely read, and a good one.

Letters to a Young Poet

by Rainer Maria Rilke

When Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke received a series of verses from a young student with the request to reply with feedback, he poured his insights and advice into the letters compiled here. You've probably encountered snippets from this compilation somewhere along the way; in less than two hours you can hear the complete work. If you have a creative bone in your body, it's well worth the time to give this a listen at least once, especially because it's read by Dan Stevens.

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

This is the world's best-selling mystery—and when I found out the audio version was read by Dan Stevens, I couldn't resist. (Loved it.) Ten strangers are lured to a deserted island, and then they begin dying, one by one, victims of a disturbingly wide range of murders. They share one thing in common: each has something in their past they would prefer to keep hidden. Who is the murderer, and will any of them survive?

Every Heart a Doorway

by Seanan McGuire

The awards list for this include Winner 2017 Alex Award, 2017 Hugo, 2017 Locus, 2016 Nebula, Nominated 2017 World Fantasy, 2017 British Fantasy, 2016 Tiptree Honor List. NPR calls this "A mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy — a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics."

Their Eyes Were Watching God

by Zora Neale Hurston

A sweeping novel set in 1920s southern Florida following Janie Crawford as she experiences love and loss and comes of age. Known as Hurston's best work, this story about expectations, marriage, and surprising romance is richly atmospheric. It’s a classic for a reason, with a main character you'll never forget. In fact, echoes of Janie Crawford can be seen in contemporary literature, like Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. This is a book that numerous readers have considered to be even better on audio, as narrated by Ruby Dee, as they then can fully experience Hurston's talent for writing dialect.

Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy

by Adam Grant, Sheryl Sandberg

From the publisher: "From Facebook's COO and Wharton's top-rated professor, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Lean In: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life's inevitable setbacks. Two weeks after losing her husband, Sheryl was preparing for a father-child activity. 'I want Dave,' she cried. Her friend replied, 'Option A is not available,' and then promised to help her make the most of Option B. We all live some form of Option B. After the sudden death of her husband, Sheryl Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. We are not born with a fixed amount of resilience. It is a muscle that everyone can build. Option B combines Sheryl's personal insights with Adam's eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity."

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This is an incredible book, and a timely one. From Entertainment Weekly: "A work that’s both titanic and timely . . . the latest essential reading in America’s social canon." I listened to the fantastic audio edition myself.

Sourdough

by Robin Sloan

From the publisher: "In his much-anticipated new audiobook, Robin Sloan does for the world of food what he did for the world of books in Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her - feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she's providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer's market, and a whole new world opens up."

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

by Shirley Jackson

I read this as my "book you can finish in a day" for the 2016 Reading Challenge. As expected, it's not exactly scary, but Jackson is sure good at infusing a story with a creepy atmosphere. In this work, her last completed novel before her death, she tells the story of the Blackwood family. Not so long ago there were seven Blackwoods, but four of them dropped dead from arsenic poisoning several years ago and how that happened remains a mystery. Read this during daylight hours: its themes of family secrets, hateful neighbors, and mysterious deaths aren't the stuff of bedtime reading.

Heartburn

by Nora Ephron

Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. The creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter. Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. Audie Award Finalist.

Audiobooks You Can Listen To in 6(ish) Hours or Less

a gateway

to reliable joy this summer

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summer reading starts May 16th