Cleanness
By Garth Greenwell
Narrated by: Garth Greenwell
Length: 7 hours 11 minutes
Cleanness
“Cleanness is a trance-inducing read. I started this book and was immediately swept up in it, and before I knew it, hours had passed. Greenwell describes human relationships in raw, beautiful detail while also exploring the power dynamics at play. If Cleanness is not one of my favorite books of 2020, it will have been a spectacular year for books.”
Hunter Gillum, Beaverdale Books
The Prophets
By Robert Jones, Jr.
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Length: 14 hours 52 minutes
The Prophets
“This was quite the stunning debut - I loved the meta quality of the narration and the overall lyrical writing style. A powerful and commanding story! ”
Lauren, Curious Iguana
How Long 'til Black Future Month?
Stories
By N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Shayna Small, Gail Nelson-Holgate, Robin Eller & Ron Butler
Length: 14 hours 10 minutes
Three-time Hugo Award winner and NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin challenges and delights readers with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern society in her first collection of short fiction, which includes never-before-seen stories.
"Marvelous and wide-ranging." -- Los Angeles... Read more »
A Promised Land
By Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 9 minutes
A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Jennifer... Read more »
Deacon King Kong
A Novel
By James McBride
Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
Length: 14 hours 5 minutes
Deacon King Kong
“It's been a while since I wanted to listen to an audiobook from the beginning right after I finished it. Deacon King Kong, narrated by Dominic Hoffman, is well-crafted storytelling with memorable characters and oddball humor that I just loved. It's also gritty and heartbreaking. What more can you ask of an engaging story when you are house-bound by a viral pandemic. Thank you, James McBride!”
Becky, Rediscovered Books
A Children's Bible
By Lydia Millet
Narrated by: Xe Sands
Length: 5 hours 34 minutes
A Children's Bible
“In A Children’s Bible, the age-old war between kids and their parents, children and adults, is reimagined through the lens of Biblical devastation. The result is harrowing and, in unexpected moments, hilarious. Millet has created a story that feels both folkloric and brand new, a tale as much about environmental cataclysm as it is about fighting for the people, things, and ideas that remain right and true, no matter how high the water gets. I love Millet’s perfectly tuned sentences as much as the ambition of this novel, which I’ll continue thinking about for a long time.”
Kristen Iskandrian, Thank You Books
Shuggie Bain
By Douglas Stuart
Narrated by: Angus King
Length: 17 hours 30 minutes
Shuggie Bain
“Shuggie Bain is sad, but there’s so much more to it than that. Hugh “Shuggie” Bain is different—he’s gentle and polite and lonely, a poor boy growing up in 1980’s Glasgow. His glamorous mother, Agnes, is an alcoholic, but she embodies her dignity when she needs it most. In one notably humorous scene, she drunkenly collects her son from his good-for-nothing father, upon checking herself out of the psych ward, and breaks the windows of his house while neighborhood boys whoop and holler at her boldness. Shuggie runs to his savior and clings to her with unconditional love. Eventually, he and his mother pledge to be “brand new” upon moving back into the city—she’ll stop drinking and Shuggie will be “normal.” But no matter how many football statistics he memorizes, Shuggie will never be like other boys, and his mother will never stop drinking. Their relationship is beautiful and overflowing with love, deeply humanizing those who struggle with substance abuse. I’ll never forget Shuggie Bain.”
Mary, Raven Book Store
Homeland Elegies
A Novel
By Ayad Akhtar
Narrated by: Ayad Akhtar
Length: 10 hours 19 minutes
Homeland Elegies
“A masterful blend of memoir and fiction, this is an unforgettable journey through the lives of a Muslim family finding their place in a post-9/11 America. A searing navigation of the loves we try to reconcile — familial, religious, societal — and the definition of home. Written with wisdom, wit, and unsparing honesty, this an important book that you will continue to contemplate for a very long time. Both intimate and epic, this is a must-read.”
Pam Stirling, East Bay Booksellers
Uncanny Valley
A Memoir
By Anna Wiener
Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
Length: 8 hours 44 minutes
Uncanny Valley
“Like Joan Didion or Renata Adler, Ben Lerner or Sally Rooney, Anna Wiener writes with dead-on specificity, scalpel-sharp analysis, deep sensitivity, and an eye for the absurd. She headed west into the modern gold rush that is the tech boom and now returns with gleaming ingots of insight, weaving tales of a strange land where boy-CEOs ride ripsticks and hoover up your data. An essential and very human look at the forces shaping who we are and how we behave.”
Sam MacLaughlin, McNally Jackson Williamsburg
Ring Shout
By P. Djeli Clark
Narrated by: Channie Waites
Length: 5 hours 36 minutes
Ring Shout
“The emotionally charged, wild ride of Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark was one I did not want to end. Clark pulled me into the life of Maryse and her band of monster hunters and held me hostage. With beautiful language, deep characters, and a fully immersive world, this story of vengeance and self-forgiveness unfolds. By the end, I was in tears. Ring Shout perfectly takes on a dark, violent history, but also an uncertain, terrifying future. Everyone needs to read Ring Shout.”
Sophie Giroir, Cavalier House Books
Flyaway
By Kathleen Jennings
Narrated by: Felicity Jurd
Length: 4 hours 38 minutes
Flyaway
“I’ve never read anything quite like this book. The prose is confident—it’s like an iron backbone on which strange and beautiful flowers grow. Jennings’ use of syntax is utterly unique. Words that should bump and snap at each other instead morph and burst into unforgettable sentences. This is a... fairy tale? An allegory? A murder mystery? I’m not entirely sure. It doesn’t matter. Trying to categorize this wonderful novel would be like putting a unicorn into a horse box. It wouldn’t fit and the horn would shatter the wood. Best to leave it unbound and wild, admire it for what it is, and wonder at what it’s not.”
Aimee Keeble, Main Street Books Davidson
The City We Became
A Novel
The Great Cities Trilogy: Book #1
By N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 16 hours 12 minutes
The City We Became
“I love N.K. Jemisin’s books, I love New York City, and I love this book about the soul and personification of New York. The City We Became might just be my favorite book to be published in 2020. This story is filled with tension, humor, and great characters, with a guest appearance near and dear to me. While this book is the beginning of a trilogy, it is completely satisfying as a stand-alone novel. Read it and be happy.”
Doug Chase, Powell's Books
The Fifth Season
The Broken Earth: Book #1
By N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hours 27 minutes
The Fifth Season
“The Fifth Season is an amazing, dark, and gripping work that will hook you from the first sentence. I cannot express to you how much this book stunned me. Robin's narration is well paced and engaging. While I wish this was a book for everyone to listen to, it isn't; destruction, trauma, and rage follow the women and girls who tell their stories. This book is about the end of the world, that you actually don't want to stop reading.”
Jessica, Once Upon A Time
The Obelisk Gate: Booktrack Edition
The Broken Earth: Book #2
By N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 13 hours 19 minutes
Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR)
The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night.
Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead... Read more »
The Stone Sky
The Broken Earth: Book #3
By N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 14 hours 16 minutes
Humanity will finally be saved or destroyed in the shattering conclusion to the post-apocalyptic and highly acclaimed NYT bestselling trilogy that won the Hugo Award three years in a row.
The Moon will soon return. Whether this heralds the destruction of humankind or something worse will depend on two women.
Essun has inherited the power of... Read more »