Amaranthine April Staff Picks

On Cats

By: Charles Bukowski
Narrated by: Roger Wayne
Length: 1 hour 18 minutes

A raw and tenderly funny look at the human-cat relationship, from one of our most treasured and transgressive writers.“The cat is the beautiful devil.”Felines touched a vulnerable spot in Charles Bukowski’s crusty soul. For the writer, there was something majestic and elemental about these inscrutable creatures he admired, sentient beings whose... Read more

Flowerheart

By: Catherine Bakewell
Narrated by: Morag Sims
Length: 9 hours 25 minutes

“Flowerheart is like a garden in full bloom: vibrant and sweet, whimsical and wondrous.” —Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder MagicPerfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Tamora Pierce, this stand-alone YA debut is a cozy, cottagecore fantasy romance about a girl with powerful and violent magic that she must learn... Read more

Where the Crawdads Sing: Reese's Book Club

By: Delia Owens
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 12 hours 11 minutes

“Where the Crawdads Sing is a stunning and beautiful novel that readers will want to simultaneously savor and devour with every luxurious word. You’ll hear the gulls cry on the beach through these pages, you’ll see the light flickering through the marsh trees, you’ll smell the homemade grits sizzling on the stovetop. Your heart will ache for the... Read more

Ella Enchanted

By: Gail Carson Levine
Narrated by: Eden Riegel
Length: 5 hours 41 minutes

“Ella is accidentally 'blessed' with a curse of obedience at birth by a fairy named Lucinda. She must obey anyone who tells her to do something, which lands her in some sticky and unfortunate situations. However, she doesn’t let that stop her from living her life. After her mother passes, Ella sets out to discover her freedom and escape her... Read more

I Have Some Questions for You

A Novel

By: Rebecca Makkai
Narrated by: Julia Whelan & JD Jackson
Length: 14 hours 3 minutes

“If you are a true crime podcast enthusiast like me, you will love this book! It hits all the satisfying notes of a thorough investigation with a great mix of drama and introspection. Makkai masterfully weaves delicate themes - racism, misogyny, the #MeToo movement, prison industrial complex, and the injustice baked into our justice system - into... Read more

The Creative Act

A Way of Being

By: Rick Rubin
Narrated by: Rick Rubin
Length: 5 hours 44 minutes

“The Creative Act by Rick Rubin is a wise and inspiring discussion of what it means to be an artist, a maker. He emphasizes that creativity is a way of being in the world - open, attentive, accepting of awe. And makes the case that each of us has a unique vantage onto the world and that expressing how life looks and feels to us is worth... Read more

In the Lives of Puppets

By: TJ Klune
Narrated by: Daniel Henning
Length: 15 hours 22 minutes

“The only way to make Klune's stories even more enjoyable is to listen to them. Daniel Henning does a glorious job of bringing the characters to life, in voices that I never could create in my own mind while reading the print version. So SO good. Read more

Weyward

A Novel

By: Emilia Hart
Narrated by: Aysha Kala, Helen Keeley & Nell Barlow
Length: 10 hours 51 minutes

“Three timelines of strong and powerful women converge at the end of the book with a melding of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world. Lush descriptions. A favorite of mine. Read more

Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold)

By: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Narrated by: Ruth Livier
Length: 5 hours 24 minutes

Esperanza Rising joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!Esperanza thought she'd always live a privileged life on her family's ranch in Mexico. She'd always have fancy dresses, a beautiful home filled with servants, and Mama, Papa, and Abuelita to care for her. But a... Read more

Big Tree

By: Brian Selznick
Narrated by: Meryl Streep
Length: 2 hours 28 minutes

“Selznick’s latest offering has been 5 years in the making, and the results do not disappoint. His classic, meticulously detailed art style takes a fresh new narrative direction as he explores life from the perspectives of two seedlings, Merwin and Louise, during the Cretaceous era. Their journey of survival, family, and love is well researched,... Read more

Iceberg

By: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Narrated by: Rosie Jones
Length: 8 hours 36 minutes

The thrilling story of a young girl who stows away onboard the Titanicand as she explores, attempting to find answers to her many questions about the ship, suddenly finds herself caught up in the desperate struggle to survive after it strikes an iceberg.Hazel Rothbury is traveling all alone from her home in England aboard the celebrated ship... Read more

The Perfumist of Paris

The Jaipur Trilogy: Book #3

By: Alka Joshi
Narrated by: Sneha Mathan
Length: 11 hours 44 minutes

 
"A stunning portrait of a woman blossoming into her full power…this is Alka Joshi's best book yet!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye

From the author of Reese's Book Club Pick The Henna Artist, the final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy takes readers to 1970s Paris, where Radha’s... Read more

For Every One

By: Jason Reynolds
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 25 minutes

“A lyrical masterpiece.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers, this stirring and inspirational poem is New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds’s rallying... Read more

Hang the Moon

A Novel

By: Jeannette Walls
Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
Length: 12 hours 28 minutes

“A rollicking tale.” —The Washington Post *“Propulsive.” —Associated Press * “Wild, smart, energetic.” —Los Angeles Times * “Brilliant and effervescent.” —NPR

From the #1 bestselling author of The Glass Castle, the instant New York Times bestseller a “rip-roaring, action-packed” (The New York Times) novel about an indomitable young woman in... Read more

Inheritance Games

By: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Narrated by: Christie Moreau
Length: 10 hours 44 minutes

“Traps Upon Traps and Riddles Upon Riddles. When inheriting billions from a stranger things can get tricky. Throw in secret passages, codes to decipher, and word play a plenty and you’re in for a fun roller coaster of a ride. The Inheritance Games is a fun, fast paced read full of riddles, wit, and cute boys. If you’re a fan of escape rooms and... Read more

Kingdom of the Wicked

Kingdom of the Wicked: Book #1

By: Kerri Maniscalco
Narrated by: Marisa Calin
Length: 12 hours 5 minutes

“This series follows Emilia, a Sicilian witch, who is trying to uncover the mystery behind her sister's death. Emilia accidently conjures Wrath, one of the Seven Princes of Hell, and they form an unlikely alliance. This book is fun, dark, sexy, and frustrating (in a good way). Full of demons, witches, and Catholic brotherhood this is a wild ride... Read more

A Single Rose

By: Muriel Barbery
Narrated by: Hannah Curtis
Length: 4 hours 30 minutes

From the best-selling author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes a story about a woman's journey to discover the father she never knew and a love she never thought possible.   Rose has just turned forty when she gets a call from a lawyer asking her to come to Kyoto for the reading of her estranged father’s will. And so for the first time in... Read more

Dust Child

By: Que Mai Phan Nguyen
Narrated by: Quyen Ngo
Length: 12 hours 28 minutes

From the internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing, a suspenseful and moving saga about family secrets, hidden trauma, and the overriding power of forgiveness, set during the war and in present-day Việt Nam. 
 
In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become... Read more

GO AS A RIVER

A Novel

By: Shelley Read
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
Length: 9 hours 58 minutes

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERSet amid Colorado’s wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter. A tragic and uplifting novel of love and loss, family and survival—and hope—for readers of Great Circle, The Four Winds, and Where the Crawdads Sing.Seventeen-year-old... Read more

Something Wild & Wonderful

Nashville Love: Book #2

By: Anita Kelly
Narrated by: Mark Sanderlin
Length: 10 hours 34 minutes

From the author of Love & Other Disasters comes a sparkling sullen-meets-sunshine romance featuring two men's sweeping journey across the Western wilderness. 

Alexei Lebedev’s journey on the Pacific Crest Trail begins with a single snake. And it is angling for the hot stranger who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Lex is prepared for... Read more