It’s audiobook month! But honestly, when is it not? As a busy person, you and I both probably listen to as many books as we read on paper or electronically, so here are six excellent audiobooks you may have missed (but definitely should read!) to queue up in your favorite listening app!
There’s nothing better than hearing a comedian’s memoir narrated by the comedian herself! Tina Fey’s personal and professional autobiography is among the gold standard in this genre—she not only narrates her rise to the icon she is today, but she also gives managerial advice like… hire creative people and then leave them alone. Or, if you’re so angry you could just cry, go ahead and cry because it terrifies everyone. This memoir released in 2011, so it doesn’t detail her latest tour with Amy Poehler from earlier this year, but it’s still one for the books!
I said there’s nothing better than hearing a comedian’s memoir narrated by the comedian herself, and I meant it! Another SNL staple, Leslie Jones, tells her life story—even though “bits might be a touch hazy. This audiobook also includes an extra 5+ hours of bonus content not included in the print version… so… go ahead and add it to your cart!
Rainn Wilson is definitely a (sometimes) comedic actor, but in this book, he brings his trademark humor and perspective to the philosophical discussion about the pandemic and where its tensions have left us as a society. He explains his hope for a “Soul Boom” and reprioritization of life’s biggest, most important questions… and naturally, it’s read by the author and actor himself!
It’s always refreshing to me when I get to hear very complex experimentation, interpretation, and analysis that is written for people to understand—even when it’s as specialized as this one! Here, Malcolm Gladwell narratees his nonfiction book on what makes some people so incredibly successful, focusing on where they’re from, including elements of their culture like family, generation, and how they were brought up. It’s pretty fascinating!
Twilight author is back at it, but this time with an espionage thriller. I don’t know about you, but nothing gets my house cleaner than a page-turner in audio format—I just never want to turn it off, so I start doing chores! In this audiobook, we follow an ex-government clandestine agent who knows too much. When her former agency (an organization so secretive it’s unnamed) kills the only person she still trusts, she knows they’re after her, too, and she has to go on the run. Unfortunately, the only way to clear herself as a target is to take one last job for them.
I had to include at least one true crime audiobook! This new release is not only true crime, but it’s also the memoir of a woman who lived through it. Anna Akbar was one of three successful, educated women who fell for Ethan Schuman. None of the women knew the others existed, and he managed to ensnare them not for money, but simply to manipulate them emotionally. After the women discover each other’s existence, they realize there was no way to bring “Ethan” down without a proper crime… and there was no reason for him to stop.
Mary Kay McBrayer is the author of America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster. You can find her short works at Oxford American, Narratively, Mental Floss, and FANGORIA, among other publications. She hosts the podcast about women in true crime, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. Follow Mary Kay McBrayer on Instagram and Twitter, or check out her author site here.
