Recommendations for Your First Audiobook Listen

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

By: Deesha Philyaw
Narrated by: Janina Edwards
Length: 4 hours 6 minutes

“A slim, sensual, and often sapphic collection of stories about women, relationships, and the church. Whether the tension breaks in laughter or tears, it will keep you neglecting real life in leu of listening. You will fall in love with these women. It's remarkable with Philyaw has accomplished in such a short little book. It's incredible. Read more

The Animators

A Novel

By: Kayla Rae Whitaker
Narrated by: Alex McKenna
Length: 15 hours 22 minutes

“A wildly original novel that pulses with heart and truth . . . That this powerful exploration of friendship, desire, ambition, and secrets manages to be ebullient, gripping, heartbreaking, and deeply deeply funny is a testament to Kayla Rae Whitaker’s formidable gifts. I was so sorry to reach the final page. Sharon and Mel will stay with me for... Read more

World War Z: The Complete Edition - Abridged

An Oral History of the Zombie War

By: Max Brooks
Narrated by: Various
Length: 12 hours 8 minutes

  World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition): An Oral History of the Zombie War is a new version of Max Brooks' episodic zombie novel. The abridged versions of the original stories are now joined with new, unabridged recordings of the episodes that were not included in the original (abridged) version of the audiobook. These... Read more

Daisy Jones & The Six (TV Tie-in Edition)

A Novel

By: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Narrated by: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer & Pablo Schreiber
Length: 9 hours 3 minutes

“Some books just have to be listened to for the ultimate experience! This audiobook is just so much fun. Follow rock band Daisy Jones and the Six through their meteoric rise to fame in the 1970s. This book has all the drugs and drama you’d expect, but also complex, human characters whose loves and losses you can’t help but be moved by. The... Read more

Mary Jane

A Novel

By: Jessica Anya Blau
Narrated by: Caitlin Kinnunen
Length: 9 hours 44 minutes

“Mary Jane, oh, Mary Jane... You'll be singing along too, I promise you, to the expert and pitch-perfect audio performed by Caitlin Kinnunen, best known for playing Emma Nolan in the musical The Prom, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. This tragicomic novel by Jessica Anya Blau was so fabulous, so fresh yet so nostalgic, it's... Read more

Circe

By: Madeline Miller
Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
Length: 12 hours 8 minutes

“A bold retelling of the Circe episode from Homer's Odyssey that not only captures the interlocking pieces of Greek mythology, but also gives each god, titan, and Grecian a pulsing complexity. Both Circe the book and the character are quiet, sensual and--at times--freewheeling, adventurous, and devastating. Perdita Week's performance here is... Read more

Will

By: Will Smith
Narrated by: Will Smith
Length: 16 hours 16 minutes

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the... Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

“Inspiring the next generation of antiracists, Jason Reynolds’ remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped From the Beginning is outstanding. This accessible book for young readers is read in Reynolds’ laid back voice, with transitions between chapters delightfully filled with hip hop. Reynolds’ voice also shines through in the text, which he adapts to be... Read more

The Dutch House

A Novel

By: Ann Patchett
Narrated by: Tom Hanks
Length: 9 hours 52 minutes

“Any novel by Ann Patchett is going to include little sparks of description that catch in the imagination, moments of dialogue so good that you forget later you weren't there, and stories that capture your heart as well as a zeitgeist. In The Dutch House, Patchett creates a narrator standing at the intersection of poverty, dream, privilege, and... Read more

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

By: Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman & Jake Silverstein
Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones & Full Cast
Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Marie Claire
 
In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of... Read more

Empire of Pain

The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

By: Patrick Radden Keefe
Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
Length: 18 hours 6 minutes

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINEE • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. From the prize-winning and bestselling author of... Read more

The House in the Cerulean Sea

By: TJ Klune
Narrated by: Daniel Henning
Length: 12 hours 12 minutes

“I adore this book. The story begins in a morose greyscale, setting you up with the story of a hard-working but not terribly inspired man, Linus Baker. Linus works for the equivalent of Magic CPS, evaluating the homes that care for magically gifted children. He is pulled out of his drab and grey life in the city when he is assigned to address a... Read more

The Hobbit

Lord of the Rings

By: J.R.R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Andy Serkis
Length: 10 hours 24 minutes

THE GREAT MODERN CLASSIC AND PRELUDE TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who
or what he was. He was Gollum—as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. He had a little
boat, and he rowed about quite quietly on the lake;... Read more

The Night Circus

By: Erin Morgenstern
Narrated by: Jim Dale
Length: 13 hours 38 minutes

“A modern classic and the book that dragged me back into the magical realism genre. I've listened to this book multiple times and still enjoy it on the umpteenth time around. Morgenstern captures that same wonder that you remember from whimsical children's fantasy, but matures it into a complex and emotional tale. Read more

Sadie

A Novel

By: Courtney Summers
Narrated by: Dan Bittner, Fred Berman, Gabra Zackman & Rebecca Soler
Length: 7 hours 57 minutes

“This book made me cry. I felt so deeply for Sadie as she goes in search of the man who hurt her sister. Sadie goes on a journey from place to place, fighting against her severe stutter along the way, all to find one man. I think the framing of this story was PERFECT. The author splits the narrative between a radio presenter, West McCray, as he... Read more

Beloved

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Toni Morrison
Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author. 

This "brutally powerful, mesmerizing story” (People) is an unflinchingly look into the abyss of slavery, from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner.

Sethe... Read more

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

An Oprah’s Book Club Novel

By: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton & Prentice Onayemi
Length: 29 hours 48 minutes

“A sweeping, multi-generational novel about a Southern Black family and their rich and complex ancestry. Focusing on the life of Hailey Pearl, a young woman coming of age in "the city" and her hometown of Chicasetta, GA, the novel jumps back and forth in time weaving together the triumphs and tragedies of her people and how these stories are... Read more

Becoming

By: Michelle Obama
Narrated by: Michelle Obama
Length: 19 hours 1 minute

“I adore our former president and I miss him. Yet I cannot help but be ecstatic that Michelle is coming out with a book about her own life so that I can learn more about this powerful, intelligent, and singularly awesome woman. Barack would be the first to say that his wife is a superstar, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Becoming to read... Read more

A Master of Djinn

Dead Djinn Universe: Book #1

By: P. Djèlí Clark
Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
Length: 15 hours 37 minutes

“'This is not your grandfather's Cairo.' That's for sure! Clark brings us to his alternate history Cairo where the year is 1912 and djinn roam the earth. When magic is used in a mass murder, Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities steps in to investigate. So much fun! I've already given this as... Read more

Razorblade Tears

A Novel

By: S. A. Cosby
Narrated by: Adam Lazarre-White
Length: 12 hours 22 minutes

“I often start books on audio but end up finishing in print. As a bookseller, I have the privilege of easy access to both. Well, I had a physical copy of Razorblade Tears I could have picked up at any point...even tried to once...but I couldn't bring myself to stop listening to the audio. Adam Lazarre-White does an outstanding job narrating this... Read more