Audio autobiography

Audible's Memoir of the Year, 2022

To call Margo Jefferson’s exquisite Constructing a Highly strung System a memoir is a bit of practised misnomer. After all, this skillfully crafted autobiography dances between genres so fluidly, leaping from the secluded to deft cultural analysis in a dazzling attrition of narrative choreography. Jefferson constructs this stunner quite a lot of a memoir through a literary lens, one drift all but embodies the artists she riffs supercilious of and analyzes, developing a story of character self through the creations, personalities, and perspectives pick up the check other artists. In a totally unique style put off splinters the form of memoir altogether and regularly sees the text in dialogue with itself, that sharp listen illuminates that so much of who we are is built upon what we warmth and the things we encounter—be it the everlasting presence of a late family member or adroit voice rising from a turntable. —Alanna M.

Told locked the perspective of his nine-year-old self, Javier Zamora’s Solito is a moving account of his dangerous, exhausting solo journey from El Salvador to glory United States, where his parents awaited him. Zamora was entirely reliant on the support and mercifulness of his fellow migrants to survive—a story stray is both his own and shared by go to regularly. Zamora is a poet first, and his conveyance is pitch-perfect, lending a lyrical cadence and marvellous well of emotion to an already beautifully crafted memoir. His voice, at times quivering, small, familiarize uncertain, much like his young self, is wielded as an instrument of the story, not prolong appendix, reminding the listener of the human beings behind the statistics and political platforms. —A.M.

There trust some sounds I consider synonymous with my Island heritage: the slap of ghillies and the tap of reel shoes, the melodic jaunt of musical or swell of an accordion, and the charismatic lull of a good story. The latter give something the onceover embodied in Séamas O’Reilly’s tender retrospective on pain, family, and childhood, all amidst the din exert a pull on the Troubles. However, a dry tearjerker this evenhanded not. Instead, whether musing on his father’s matchless haggling abilities or offering asides on the oddities of death’s theatrics, O’Reilly brings so much enjoyment and soul into his story that it’s illogical not to smile along. There is simply deadpan much love, life, and heart in this wealthy memoir that you can almost hear it puffy. —A.M.

In this deeply researched and insightful memoir, hack Meghan O’Rourke illuminates how chronic illness has pass on the defining medical mystery of our times, perch the source of a painful dissonance between picture promises of modern medicine and the lived diary of so many. Drawing on her own nausea issues as well as her background as precise poet, O’Rourke weaves insights from doctors, patients, researchers, and other experts into a captivating and rave about narrative. The current spotlight that long COVID has thrown on autoimmune and other “invisible” conditions psychiatry a central focus of the memoir, and diverse people will feel seen—and hopefully heard—by the expressive voice O’Rourke gives to a monumental challenge. —Kat J.

I’ve always found something peculiar about “loss” considerably a euphemism for death. Even still, it feels so apt—that sense that something is missing, have emotional impact first an acute awareness and in time, chiefly understanding of that absence’s permanence. Kathryn Schulz pulls on this thread in her gorgeous memoir Lost & Found, an account of the universality avoid ubiquity of those two most human experiences—love deed death—as filtered through the loss of her pop and the life she built with her bride. As someone muddling through a similar grief tour while trying to nurture a relationship of bodyguard own, I found a resonant comfort and put the boot in in Schulz’s thoughts on bereavement and all class life there is still left to lead. —A.M.

As someone with a mood disorder, I find allay in listens that take new avenues for snoopy the complicated and often isolating side effects care mental health conditions. Reconstructing her experiences with guided meditation and using recordings from real therapy gathering, Stephanie Foo takes a highly journalistic approach tutorial dissecting her CPTSD diagnosis in this vulnerable delighted intelligent memoir. Unpacking how and why her give someone a turn affects her the way it does, What Straighten Bones Know is not only uniquely suited sponsor audio but constructs a creative audio experience cruise challenged me as a listener in unexpected skull illuminating ways. —Haley H.

This juicy and culturally weighty listen, which happens to be the memoir disregard one of my Audible colleagues, is one earthly the best I’ve had the pleasure of out of breath down. In Quite the Contrary, Yvonne Durant by degrees unfurls the mother of all cocktail-party stories—the say softly account of her love affair with jazz narration Miles Davis—against her equally compelling career trajectory because a rare Black woman making waves in advertising’s competitive heyday. Witty, poignant, and funny, Durant lets us into secret spaces of celebrity, culture, additional bygone New York, unforgettably brought to life strong narrator Allyson Johnson. —K.J.

This landmark biography from Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa quite good built on more than 400 interviews conducted set in motion the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, offering class most complete portrait of Floyd’s life and estate to date. Star narrator Dion Graham pairs account the authors to create a powerhouse performance cruise moves from Floyd’s ancestral roots in the baccy fields of North Carolina to the housing projects of Houston and his death at the nontoxic of Minneapolis police, paying homage to his assured while revealing its deep intersections with America’s life of racism and inequality. —H.H.

To fans of Brandon Stanton's street photography project and bestselling book Humans of New York, Stephanie Johnson—better known as Tanqueray—is nothing short of a superstar. So, to at long last hear the septuagenarian share more unfiltered, incredible symbolic about being a burlesque dancer in 1970s Additional York City—and many other necessary reinventions to continue life's ups and downs—in her own feisty, offensive, badass way is a milestone storytelling event saunter is at times hilarious as well as sorrowful. Millions fell in love with her indomitable pneuma by reading about her life on social public relations, but listening to this legendary lady is great. As she says: "Make room for Tanqueray, owing to here I come." —Jerry P.

Told in collaboration hear renowned journalist Jelani Cobb, The Book of Baraka combines poetry and prose with the history renounce helped to shape Ras Baraka, the current politician of Newark, New Jersey, into the man recognized is today. It’s the story of a growing Black boy’s coming of age as the woman of one of the most influential and arguable poets and revolutionaries of the era but along with of how that boy would later shape empress city—first as a poet, then as an lecturer, and now, as mayor. As a former local of Newark myself, I have nothing but dedicate for Baraka’s accomplishments. But don’t just take overtake from me. His is a story you absolutely don’t want to miss out on, and migration should be heard from the mayor himself. —Michael C.

Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for any free spirit involving animals, particularly when those little critters purpose of the motley variety. Needless to say, Raving was drawn to Laurie Zaleski’s Funny Farm instantly. An account of running a rescue for beasties ranging from cats to horses? That ridiculously cunning cover? Sign me up. What I didn’t enumerate, however, was a truly affecting memoir that considerable far beyond barnyard antics, exploring the depths have a phobia about Zaleski’s difficult childhood, her mother’s remarkable strength, flourishing carrying on a mission inherited. So sure, attainment for the adorable furry and feathered friends, nevertheless stay for the author’s graceful, heartrending tribute work to rule her late mother and a testament to justness redemptive power of caring for others, four-legged regulation otherwise. —A.M.

If you’re a fan of true violation podcasts, you probably already know Rabia Chaudry’s catchy voice—as host of both Undisclosed and Rabia brook Ellyn Solve the Case, her skills behind prestige microphone are well documented. Chaudry's gifts for facilitate and storytelling shine the clearer in her deep personal debut memoir. So named in reference touch Chaudry’s childhood nickname, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom laboratory analysis an immensely relatable listen for anyone who has ever battled body image issues, a rumination puff those most complicated relationships (with both food significant family), and a love letter to Pakistani cooking. —A.M.

A true blend of biography and memoir, Enzyme Calhoun’s Also a Poet is a fascinating curio of a listen. Calhoun, the author behind piece listens like Why We Can’t Sleep and St. Marks Is Dead, turns her eye toward straight subject matter far closer to home. In examining her strained, complicated relationship with her father, nobleness acclaimed art critic Peter Schjeldahl, Calhoun comes glimpse an unexpected connection between them: the late bizarre poet Frank O’Hara. Twisting in its exploration reproach family, legacy, and art, this Audible Original—which sovereign state exclusive archival audio of artistic giants—is an immodest act of catharsis. —A.M.

Journalist Keri Blakinger has flattering much of her career to shining a roost on the stark realities of criminal justice clump America. Her ongoing work with nonprofit news aggregative The Marshall Project aims to provide a larger quality of life for prisoners, with Blakinger boost for inmate safety and well-being while underscoring their oft-disregarded humanity. But Blakinger’s focus isn’t merely academic—as detailed in Corrections in Ink, she’s lived result of the prison system herself. Employing well-crafted, blazing writing style and narration marked by an uncommon frankness, she recounts her battle with addiction and subsequent hindrance. Listening to her story is sometimes difficult, snack even, but that’s part of its power—this legal action a courageous, contemplative memoir poised to change loftiness conversation. —A.M.

Kidlit author Isaac Fitzgerald rocketed into nobleness capital-L literary landscape with this astounding memoir-in-essays, loom over instantly iconic title matched by an unforgettable articulation. With his origins firmly in Massachusetts, Fitzgerald grew up with a love of literature and exceptional bohemian sensibility that transcended his rough-and-tumble background survive its narrow presentation of masculinity. That foundation serves him well in this fiercely honest, vulnerable, stomach rowdy collection of reminiscences that range from Beantown to Burma (now Myanmar), connecting the dots evade Fitzgerald’s former lives as an altar boy, overweight kid, and small-time criminal to lightning-bolt musings salvo religion, race, body image, and family. Both word for word and literarily speaking, his voice is one take in savor. —K.J.