Book & Booze Reads

Leviathan Wakes

The Expanse: Book #1

By: James S. A. Corey
Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
Length: 20 hours 55 minutes

From a New York Times bestselling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl. With over 10 million copies sold, The Expanse has become one of the biggest science... Read more

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

By: Grady Hendrix
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 13 hours 48 minutes

“1990's Southern hospitality? True crime book clubs? Sweetly affected accents? An almost too charming nextdoor neighbor who just might also want to suck your blood? This southern vampire masterpiece follows the life of Patricia, who, aside from having an overworking husband, a senile mother-in-law, and two hormonal children, looks forward to her... Read more

What Moves the Dead

Sworn Soldier: Book #1

By: T. Kingfisher
Narrated by: Avi Roque
Length: 5 hours 25 minutes

“Anyone looking for a little murder with your mycology or a little genderqueer with your gothic fiction? This fungi-infested retelling of Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher is so satisfyingly creepy, deliciously gross, and made fantastically new and even stranger. The horror elements will get under your skin, but lovable non-binary sworn-soldier... Read more

Sleeping Giants

The Themis Files: Book #1

By: Sylvain Neuvel
Narrated by: Various
Length: 8 hours 27 minutes

“Sleeping Giants reads like a military dossier, interview after interview given with the serious intent of laying out the scientific tale of a discovered history that will change everyone's lives forever. At the age of 10, Rose falls through a hole in the ground and lands in a large metal hand that had been buried. Seventeen years later, she is... Read more

Neverwhere

By: Neil Gaiman
Narrated by: Neil Gaiman
Length: 13 hours 48 minutes

National BestsellerSelected as one of NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of All TimeThe #1 New York Times bestselling author’s wildly successful first novel featuring his new Neverwhere tale, “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back.” Richard Mayhew is a young man with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he... Read more

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

A Novel

The Carls: Book #1

By: Hank Green
Narrated by: Kristen Sieh & Hank Green
Length: 9 hours 24 minutes

“This book is so much fun. When April May stumbles across the first ‘Carl,’ she initially thinks it’s an art installation. It turns out these giant statues turned up overnight in major cities around the globe. Due to the viral video she made with her friend Andy, April May finds herself in the middle of a worldwide conversation and trying to... Read more

The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem Series: Book #1

By: Cixin Liu
Narrated by: Luke Daniels
Length: 13 hours 25 minutes

“I finally picked this book up at the behest of our former Commander-in-Chief, who claimed he read it as a way to escape. While certainly this is an immersive book, it is also one that challenges you, forces you to think and learn every moment you are reading it. As a work in translation it is phenomenal, with the translator’s notes prodding you... Read more

Severance

A Novel

By: Ling Ma
Narrated by: Nancy Wu
Length: 9 hours 53 minutes

“Will it take the end of the world for the world to wake up? Read more

Ninth House

Ninth House Series: Book #1

By: Leigh Bardugo
Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang & Michael David Axtell
Length: 16 hours 22 minutes

“Queen Leigh’s first foray into adult fantasy is a sensational success! One of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a long while, Ninth House contains Yale secret societies, ghosts, magic, morally gray characters, and murder. Bardugo balances dual timelines with intricate precision, and the history and world-building of her fantastical New Haven... Read more

The Name of the Wind

Kingkiller Chronicle: Book #1

By: Patrick Rothfuss
Narrated by: Nick Podehl
Length: 27 hours 55 minutes

“The Name of the Wind is a very straightforward book which you absolutely should not take at face value just because of its upfront nature. Rothfuss builds a slow burn fantasy narrative meant to keep you warm throughout dark nights of literary pursuits, rather than a showy bonfire that burns through all its material in order to hook you. Kvothe,... Read more

The Mountain in the Sea

A Novel

By: Ray Nayler
Narrated by: Eunice Wong
Length: 11 hours 5 minutes

“This is my literary Arrival. Immensely smart and precise, this book touches on identity, consciousness, climate disaster, late stage corporatocracy, linguistics, the creation of religion, ethics and care that have to go into creating artificial intelligence for both our own good and theirs - all things that I find fascinating and in need of... Read more

Legends & Lattes

A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes

Legends & Lattes

By: Travis Baldree
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
Length: 7 hours 18 minutes

“Cozy mysteries are a huge subgenre, but have you heard of cozy sci-fi/fantasy? If you’re new to the trend and could use something rich and sweet to warm you up, this story of a warrior orc named Viv who decides to pursue her dream of opening a cafe in a city that’s never heard of coffee is a gentle, affirming read. I especially enjoyed the... Read more

Babel

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi & Billie Fulford-Brown
Length: 21 hours 45 minutes

“A wildly creative and engrossing tale of magic that centers around the power of translation, set against the backdrop of Victorian England and all of its colonial misgivings. Read more

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

A Monk and Robot Book

Monk & Robot: Book #1

By: Becky Chambers
Narrated by: Em Grosland
Length: 4 hours 8 minutes

“"A Psalm for the Wild-Built" watered my crops, cleared my pores, and brewed the best, fullest, most comforting cup of tea for me. I love this book. I love Dex and Mosscap and their philosophies and wide, wonderful world. More, please Read more

Black Sun

Between Earth and Sky: Book #1

By: Rebecca Roanhorse
Narrated by: Cara Gee, Nicole Lewis, Kaipo Schwab & Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Length: 12 hours 46 minutes

“AHHHH!! READ THIS BOOK!! This is wonderfully written and epic with world building. From a swashbuckling sea woman to a harbinger of death (and crows) and a glorified sun priestess—this book has it all! I want to get lost in this book. More importantly, I want Serapio and Xiala to have a happy ending... Where is book two?? Read more

The Book Eaters

By: Sunyi Dean
Narrated by: Katie Erich
Length: 13 hours 27 minutes

“A deliciously different approach to the vampire story about the power of love and motherhood and the lengths one young mother goes to when she realizes her diet of fairytales is not enough and discovers her insular existence in a patriarchal world is filled with unexpected monsters. It asks what makes for a monster? What does good mean? Who is... Read more

Certain Dark Things

A Novel

By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Narrated by: Aida Reluzco
Length: 8 hours 46 minutes

“What an engrossing, vibrant, new take on vampires. Part forbidden love story, part revenge caper, part bloodbath, this is easily one of my favorite vampire stories now. I love how Moreno-Garcia creates complex social structures and vampire-specific physical attributes to heighten tensions. This divide between vampires, as well as the... Read more

Magic for Liars

A Novel

By: Sarah Gailey
Narrated by: Xe Sands
Length: 9 hours 7 minutes

“When Ivy was a child, her sister went off to a school for mages, leaving her feeling abandoned in the non-magical world. So when her sister’s boss turns up at Ivy’s detective practice a couple of decades later and asks her to solve a murder, she’s less than enthused. Mixing noir tropes with the classic setting of a school for practitioners of... Read more

Sorrowland

A Novel

By: Rivers Solomon
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Length: 12 hours 1 minute

“Vern is fleeing an abusive cult that targets Black people. As their body mutates into something entirely new, Vern must face the past before they can move towards their future. This book is many things: an adult fairytale, a Southern gothic horror, a thriller that twists and turns. A testament to forging pain into strength, this book is unlike... Read more

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle: Book #1

By: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
Length: 8 hours 36 minutes

A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and ALA Notable and Best of the Year in Young Adult Fiction, Howl's Moving Castle by acclaimed fantasy writer Diana Wynne Jones was transformed into an Academy Award-nominated animated motion picture by Hayao Miyazaki. On a rare venture out from her step-mother's hat shop, Sophie attracts the attention of a... Read more