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The audiobook category is expanding every day, and we certainly cant listen to everything.
Listening is like binging a really good TNT series, one certainly enhanced by Becks deliberate narration.
As much as I hate to admit it, lately Grisham has been pretty bulletproof on the audiobook front.
Hello nearly every Best of 2022 list (though not Vultures)!
so I decided to bite the bullet and give it a listen.
Good for a long journey.
In turn, listening to his posthumous memoir seemed like an exercise in sadness.
However, its actually a compelling artifact of a life of fame and addiction.
Williams passed away before he could read it himself, but Graham is a potent substitute.
He died in 2008.
Hes an amazing interpreter of Newmans intense self-analysis.
Dont listen to Everetts novel for the thrills, but more for the various jeux de mots.
Abdullah orates all of them with an admirable flatness.
Sometimes this feels like a seven-hour version of Abbott and Costellos Whos on First?
but in a really good way.
It quickly moves from there to his colon exploding.
For anyone with a sensitive stomach, thats like Buffalo-Bill-in-Silence-of-the-Lambsspine-chilling.
This is already an intimate book, made even more so by Perrys own audio narration.
Things get more uncomfortable when he starts talking about his sexual addiction.
But why else would you listen to a celebrity memoir?
This one takes place as Horowitz debuts a new play on the West End.
A nasty critic ends up dead, and Horowitz is fingered for the crime.
I usually read these books, but I decided to give this one a listen.
I can also see myself listening to this amazing audiobook on a regular basis.
It helps that Collins has a calming, folksy presence.
I wouldnt mind spending a half-hour with him every day; theres so much cleverness here.
And what was he doing out there anyway, hitchhiking all by himself?
These essays exploring his theories about writing are an illuminating breath of fresh air.
I felt like I was absorbing Murakamis good habits which mostly involve structure and repetition via aural osmosis.
Watanabes voice offers a complementary, casual spareness to the text.
To go Cindy Adams-ing is to go out collecting gossip.
Listening doesnt take too many brain cells thats a compliment, by the way.
I didnt always feel safe in the hands of the audio narrators, though.
Im pretty sure one of them mispronounces the name of the jeweler Jennifer Meyer.
Id read the novel a few months ago, but I wanted to try out the audio version too.
It doesnt disappoint, thanks to the innocence of Goodwins narration, which hides its own secrets.
An afterword about the genesis of the book is especially moving when Wilson reads it himself.
(Although Zanab and Coles shocking wedding inthis seasons finale ofLove Is Blindcomes close.)
But even at twice the speed, I didnt get much further than three and a half hours.
The outspoken Swedish model Porizkova, however, does not.
But his quirky voice comes through even in Ballerinis far more calming narration.
Hes so darn opinionated, and he loves a digressive sidebar.
But as audio bits and bites, a handful are quite interesting windows into celebrities as real people.
Im not sure we really need to know about Wus high-school jobs working at competing bread stores in Virginia.
Other parts are jaw-dropping.
When Wu goes off the rails, she kinda goes off in a great way.
Also, for a Hollywood actress, she talks a surprising amount about oral sex and boners.
She owns it, though.
Late in the book, Wu recognizes that male genitalia appears a lot in her writing.
I adore penii, she says.
Theyre obviously on my mind.
In solidarity, Im going to start calling my couch Medvedenko.
If I wanted a diet book, I would have listened to that.
Apparently, Im still working on em.
Her career blossomed at the same time that my love of movies did.
I think thats when I understood that she and I were soul mates.
Her impression of Penny Marshall is a hoot.
Steadman is an actress too, and she does a very good job at narrating her twisty tales.
Theres a rather large death count here, which I appreciated for a woman in jeopardy thriller.
Of course I wouldnt, I replied, though I did, a little bit.
And then I downloaded the audiobook for myself.
I happily discovered it was read, in part, by the incomparable Carrie Coon.
Picoult typically writes kitchen-sink melodrama, and this, with co-author Finney Boylan, is genuinely compelling kitchen-sink melodrama.
Olivia is a beekeeper in New Hampshire.
Her teenage son Asher begins dating Lily, a new girl in school.
Then Lily (read affectingly by Taw) turns up dead.
Rickman made me realize a diary entry can be rhythmic and flip instead of emotional and in-depth.
and her wise, 79-year-old timber swept me away.
Tina Fey reading The Mom of Bold Action is by far the standout.
Colleen HooversIt Starts With Us, read by Colin Donnell and Olivia Song.
I liked this fine enough, though I definitely preferVerity.
A locked shed in the backyard?
The first 12 or so hours ofFairy Taleare creepy, grounded Stephen King.
Afterward, it gets a bitWizard of Ozvia H.P.
Lovecraft, somehow managing to be all over the place and familiar at the same time.
If you get lost midway, heres permission to skip to the end.
Thats a pretty fabulous pairing of high culture and low.
Theres nothing truly scary here, butLessonssomehow chilled me more than this months Stephen King.
I wish they were darker, creepier, moreTarthanShe Said.
I also wish there were fewer references to septum piercings.
But you cant have it all.
A Magic 8 Ball gets out of control.
Theres a bloody bachelorette party.
And, of course, a psycho doll shows up.
All the narrators are solid; its a good shake up the week listen for your Monday commute.
Its a rom-com about the making of a Hallmark Channellike Christmas movie.
Theres not much merry, cute, or even little about this book.
Still, I laughed a lot, mostly because its so jaw-droppingly audacious and absurd.
theJackassstar asks early on here.
As with all self-help books, I guess I was hoping formy life to change dramaticallyafter listening to it.
Everyone, Enninful narrates, burst into peels of laughter.
Thats a tale on the precipice of what Steve-O might call insufferable douche, but I loved it.
Enninful reads the rest of this book with deep sensitivity.
This one sounded a little bit like Jess WaltersBeautiful Ruins, so I gave it a shot.
(If you cant tell, I love a book about Hollywood.)
Atherton keeps things brisk.
Im not really comfortable around fish.
Jonathan Escofferys rhythmic, interconnected short-story collectionIf I Survive You,fervently narrated by Torian Brackett.
Ive never watchediCarly, but I have a strong affinity for aMiranda Cosgrove meme.
I listened straight through; its hard to take a break from McCurdys take-no-prisoners narration.
Is it better to read or listen toCarrie Soto?
This is a fascinating companion piece.
It was first published in 1985, but Priscilla Presley only recently recorded an audiobook edition.
Theres a ton of bananas behavior in here: Elvis courts Priscilla at 14 years old.
Elvis asks Priscilla for a break in their relationship when shes seven months pregnant.
Elvis takes a lot and I mean a lot of pills.
I guess its refreshing that she has a sense of humor about this time in her life?
With that in mind, this book, only available on audio, is a crazy hoot.
Ithinkits about a babysitter stuck with twins on Halloween Eve in a haunted house.
Hes kind of magic.
Read by:Nancy WuLength:4 hours, 38 minutesSpeed I listened:2x
What a weird, funny comedy of manners.
Ms. Shibata tells her colleagues that shes pregnant.
A quick, bizarre escape.
Zhus book chronicles a particularly emotionally abusive relationship and the recovery thereafter.
The narration is especially charged.
Its such a simple gesture, but the effect is incredible.
Its about a lawyer who witnesses her son commit a crime.
but the audio is elevated by Lesley Sharps deliciously haughty take.
The book is mostly read by Kim except for a short fever dream by Cihi.
Im glad I did.
This one has a female magician as its center.
Her name is Violet Volk.
It elevates the experience far beyond the books less interesting kitchen-sink drama.
I didnt read or watch it, but I might go back because I enjoyed this follow-up so much.
Emma is a politician who has an affair with a journalist.
Somehow the journalist ends up dead inside Emmas home.
You could do a hell of a lot worse this summer.
Did I get a kick out of this trip down memory lane with the movies writer-director?
Youre probably familiar withmany of the sordid detailsin this book, and at 20 hours, it isnt short.
Aulettas reporting is mostly firsthand, and hearing it cumulatively is jaw-dropping.
Also kudos to the drippingly ironic title.
Teleporting to the scary future of Blake CrouchsUpgrade,read by Henry Levya.
It might make you feel as if youve had an upgrade the faster you listen to it.
(That said, I do know a thing or two aboutduck decoys.
Id start with that book before readingFlying Solo; its more of a full meal.
(Both are read warmly by Julia Whelan, a total pro.
)Flying Solois more of a light lunch, an adorable listen for when youre cleaning the summer house.
In this one, Laurie, a jilted bride, returns to Maine to sort her great-aunt Dots estate.
Regardless of the tropes, its all about Bernadette Dunnes performance.
The flap copy suggests the plot is inspired by Meghan Duchess Markle and Prince Harry.
I suppose its not that much of a stretch.
Ihung out with Marklea bit when she was married to her first husband.
We nicknamed her So Delicious because she endearingly knew all the lyrics of Fergalicious.
Like many books of this ilk, the narrators alternate reading chapters.
Antony Fergusons are a bit flat.
He voices Duchess as if shes a southern Belle fromSteel Magnolias.
Wesleigh Siobhan, however, is delightful.
Sometimes I bumped on the names of the characters, which felt right out ofSearch Party.
(In real life, hes also gotten into somehot waterlately.)
But I guess selling trillions of books makes you look like Kevin Costner.
I expected Patterson to have a booming movie-trailer voice, but instead its just regular and squawky.
The early chapters in this collection of quick bites can be annoying.
But before I knew it, Patterson was ingratiating himself in my life.
He hooked me when he called Jeffrey Epstein a piece of human garbage.
(Pattersonco-authored a 2016 bookabout his Palm Beach neighbor Epstein, which became a Netflix documentary.)
He wishes that Hollywood would make a decent movie or TV show out of one of his properties.
Loggins famously recorded Danger Zone, from the firstTop Gunfilm.
They were going to have a naked wedding, but it ended up being too cold outside.
Loggins has an affable, chatty demeanor that provides a nice complement to Perez as Ronnie Spector.
Definitely stay for his great story about becoming pals with John Travolta and shortly thereafter ending their friendship.
But something pulled me back toNightcrawling, and at that point, frankly, I couldnt turn it off.
It was suddenly riveting, heartbreaking, and wise beyond its years.
(Leila Mottley started writing the book at 16 and finished it at 20.)
Since it was published in 2013, Ive readSong of Spider-Mantwice.
Now its being released for the first time on audio.
Sedaris spent a lot of time on the Upper East Side during the pandemic.
He bought one apartment, he writes, and then another one upstairs to have some alone time.
They both write what might be considered elevated womens fiction.
Are they meant for each other?
Check out the title and give it a guess.
Hewitt and Petkoff narrate alternating chapters more than pleasantly.
They make the book go down like a pitcher of frose.
I especially enjoyed Hewitts frosty take on Cates South African fashion-model roommate.
She chose to write a memoir.
Driver makes you believe she actually knows what the word Proustian means.
Its a surprisingly perceptive conversation that includes one of my favorite topics: mistrusting celebrities who dont read books.
He started with being an extra onPacific Rimand actuallyenjoyedit.
And he really loves boba tea.
I get that the title of this memoir is a reference toDirty Dancing.
Why didnt Grey take a big swing and call this bookLegend Lasagna?
Thats just a marvelous expression that transcends pastaandcelebrity.
We get great digressions about Matthew Broderick, Johnny Depp, and a terrible appearance onJohnny Carson.
Things only get sappy in the end, once she winsDancing With the Stars.
They spent the pandemic there simplifying their life.
They dont serve stuffing-flavored potato chips at the Met Ball, do they?
Ive listened to a lot of celebrity memoirs, and I cant remember a narrator crying so much.
But thats what makes it real.
verify you stick around for the acknowledgments.
Blairs thank-yous to a lengthy list of celebrity friends is a real trip.
In fact, I didnt even know said podcast existed.
Am I going to start listening to it now?
Theres a service element, too.
Fischer and Kinsey give impeccable advice on attending awards shows and red-carpet events: Always eat before you go.
Go to the bathroom with a buddy.
And, when trying to meet people like Meryl Streep, use the lap-around-the-room laughing approach.
