I’m a super fidgety person, every time I sit down to read I think of a thousand other things I need to be doing like cleaning my room or writing out my grocery list. I also spend a lot of time knitting and crocheting and that just not possible with a book in my hands.
The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo These books are a total masterpiece. Based on the folklore of early Russia, the series starts with Shadow and Bone and follows the story of Alina Starkov, an orphan serving as a cartographer in the first army of her country Ravka. In a life or death situation she lets go of a power she had no idea she possessed and is then placed on a path to save her country from war.
This series is especially exceptional on audio because of the incredible performance by Lauren Fortgang, who takes every character and gives them a voice that is unique. In her work with Leigh Bardugo she won the Audie Award in 2018 and made it on USA Today’s must listen list for The Language of Thorns.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler This is a book that is pure delight to listen to. Amy narrates it herself and tells even the most mundane stories with humor. She talks about her early years as a performer, her kids, friends and ex-husband Will Arnett. She talks about her work, including SNL and Parks and Rec and the friends she made on those shows.
The part of the book that is so empowering is her talk about Feminism and her activist work. The reason I love the audio is because the power, passion and strength you hear in her voice rings like a gong and makes you love her, if possible, even more.
Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. This is the perfect road trip book, it’s only five hours long and it holds your attention. The book is about a man who returns to the town he lived in as a child and finds himself going to the farmhouse down the road from where his childhood home used to be. He then remembers all of the disturbing events from decades ago;
After a traumatic experience the unnamed narrator meets a girl named Lettie Hempstock who lives with her mother and grandmother, they soon help him through a sudden and disturbing change in his home life and they attempt to restore balance.
Gaiman is a master of fantasy and reads Ocean at the end of the Lane beautifully. It is a complex and mysterious story and Gaiman is probably the only one who can read it the way it is meant to be read. Hearing the story in the author’s own voice makes a huge difference in the way the story is interpreted.
Harry Potter by J.K Rowling (all of the books) Most people know the story of how Harry Potter survived an attack by the most powerful dark wizard of modern days, Lord Voldemort. He spends his years at school learning about the world he belongs to and facing obstacle after obstacle, waiting for the day he would once again be face to face with the wizard who murdered his parents.
Harry Potter is a series that I grew up reading and will probably always read. I’m sure I’ve read the books more than I’ve watched the movies and that is partially due to Jim Dale. Dale is the narrator for the entire series and, I swear, has a limitless number of voices he uses throughout all seven books (my favorite is the voice he uses for Hagrid).
The Gender Games by Bella Forrest Violet Bates is a criminal. She has been for eight years, ever since she tried to smuggle her brother into Patrus to help him escape his future in the salt mines. In the country of Matrus every boy is made to take a test to determine their level of aggression, if they fail they are shipped off and never seen again.
Violet is given a job by the queen of Matrus herself, to go to Patrus undercover and retrieve Matrean property stolen by the Patrean government. While there she meets Viggo Croft, a warden of Patrus and a professional fighter. They are thrown together to form a resistance to fix the broken systems in their countries.
I am obsessed with dystopian novels. This is one that pits women and men against each other in the form of two countries; Matrus and Patrus (I know it’s not that original). The best part about this book is the characters forrest develops throughout the seven book series. I also think it shows that the domination of one gender over the other, whether its men over women or women over men, never makes for a stable society.
The books are narrated by Rebecca Soler and Jason Clarke, who work together to create the perfect tone for the books. Jason Clarke is an Australian actor who, honestly, sounds way better as Viggo croft than he does in real life. Rebecca Soler is an American voice actress who has won multiple awards for her voice work and brings her talent to this series.