Essays audiobooks

The Boys of My Youth

By: Jo Ann Beard

Narrated by: Jo Ann Beard

Length: 7 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

The "utterly compelling, uncommonly beautiful" collection of personal essays (Newsweek) that established Jo Ann Beard as one of the leading writers of her generation.

Cousins, mothers, sisters, dolls, dogs, best friends: these are the fixed points in Jo Ann Beard's universe, the constants that remain when the boys of her youth -- and then men... Read more

Soul at the White Heat

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Length: 15 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

A new collection of critical and personal essays on the writing life, from National Book Award—winning and New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates.“Why do we write?”With this question, Joyce Carol Oates, in this new collection of seminal essays and criticism, begins an imaginative exploration of the writing life and all its attendant... Read more

This Explains Everything

By: John Brockman

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot, Antony Ferguson, Michelle Ford &...

Length: 12 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

In This Explains Everything, John Brockman, founder and publisher of Edge.org, asked experts in numerous fields and disciplines to come up with their favorite explanations for everyday occurrences. Why do we recognize patterns? Is there such a thing as positive stress? Are we genetically programmed to be in conflict with each other? Those are... Read more

This Will Make You Smarter

By: John Brockman

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam & John Allen Nelson

Length: 12 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit? This is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org, posed to the world's most influential thinkers. Their visionary answers flow from the frontiers of psychology, philosophy, economics, physics, sociology, and more. Surprising and enlightening, these insights will... Read more

The Sweet Life in Paris

By: David Lebovitz

Narrated by: David Drummond

Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Like so many others, David Lebovitz dreamed about living in Paris ever since he first visited the city in the 1980s. Finally, after a nearly two-decade career as a pastry chef and cookbook author, he moved to Paris to start a new life. Having crammed all his worldly belongings into three suitcases, he arrived, hopes high, at his new apartment in... Read more

Select Essays

By: Michel de Montaigne

Narrated by: Clive Chafer

Length: 5 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Michel de Montaigne, one of the foremost writers of the French Renaissance and the originator of the genre of the essay, wrote on subjects ranging from friendship to imagination, from language to conscience. This collection includes twenty-two of Montaigne's essays, including "Of Prognostications," "Of the Custom of Wearing Clothes," "Of... Read more

Walden

By: Henry David Thoreau

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Length: 11 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Walden is the classic account of two years spent by Henry David Thoreau living at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. The story is detailed in its accounts of Thoreau's day-to-day activities, observations, and undertakings to survive out in the wilderness for two years. Thoreau's journal is an exquisite account of a man seeking a more... Read more

Hate Mail from Cheerleaders

By: Rick Reilly

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 10 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Each week, when Sports Illustrated's 21 million readers open up their magazine, many turn right to the last page because that's where to find SI's most popular feature: the Life of Reilly column written by bestselling author Rick Reilly. A twenty-one-year veteran of the magazine and ten-time Sportswriter of the Year, Reilly took over SI's back... Read more

Far and Away

By: Andrew Solomon

Narrated by: Andrew Solomon

Length: 22 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

From the winner of the National Book Award and the National Books Critics’ Circle Award—and one of the most original thinkers of our time—“Andrew Solomon’s magisterial Far and Away collects a quarter-century of soul-shaking essays” (Vanity Fair).

Far and Away chronicles Andrew Solomon’s writings about places undergoing seismic shifts—political,... Read more

The Bear in the Attic

By: Patrick F. McManus

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

Length: 7 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

With over two million copies of his works in print, Patrick McManus is an accomplished humor author. In The Bear in the Attic, he once again invites listeners to peek into his unique perspectives on life and his favorite topic, the great outdoors. Here listeners are treated to amazingly absurd tales of young male hijinks, camping mishaps and... Read more

The Colossus of New York

By: Colson Whitehead

Narrated by: Colson Whitehead

Length: 3 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

In a dazzlingly original work of nonfiction, the award-winning novelist Colson Whitehead re-creates the exuberance, the chaos, the promise, and the heartbreak of New York. Here is a literary love song that will entrance anyone who has lived in-or spent time-in the greatest of American cities. A masterful evocation of the city that never sleeps,... Read more

You Can't Touch My Hair

By: Phoebe Robinson

Narrated by: Phoebe Robinson, Jessica Williams & John Hodgman

Length: 7 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • "A must-read…Phoebe Robinson discusses race and feminism in such a funny, real, and specific way, it penetrates your brain and stays with you." –Ilana Glazer, co-creator and co-star of Broad City

A hilarious and timely essay collection about race, gender, and pop culture from upcoming comedy superstar and 2 Dope... Read more

I've Got Sand In All the Wrong Places

By: Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella

Narrated by: Lisa Scottoline & Francesca Serritella

Length: 5 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca Serritella are back with another audiobook collection of warm and witty stories that will strike a chord with every woman.

This six book series is among the best reviewed humor books published today and has been compared to the late greats, Erma Bombeck and Nora Ephron. Delia Ephron said of the fifth... Read more

Hogs Wild

By: Ian Frazier

Narrated by: Ian Frazier

Length: 12 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

"A master of both distilled insight and utter nonsense" (The Believer), Ian Frazier is one of the most gifted chroniclers of contemporary America. Hogs Wild assembles a decade's worth of his finest essays and reportage, and demonstrates the irrepressible passions and artful digressions that distinguish his enduring body of work.

Part muckraker,... Read more

Rescuing Penny Jane

By: Amy Sutherland

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 7 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Drawing on her work at a shelter, her experiences living with two rescue dogs of her own, and years of research, bestselling author and Boston Globe columnist Amy Sutherland takes us on an unforgettable journey into the special world of rescue and shelter dogs—and the growing number of dedicated people who are deeply invested in saving these... Read more

Hands of Stone

By: Christian Giudice

Narrated by: Ozzie Rodriguez

Length: 14 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

The subject of the major motion picture Hands of Stone starring Ana de Armas, Ellen Barkin, Robert De Niro, and Edgar Ramirez. 

Roberto Duran is a sporting legend. Often called the greatest boxer of all time, he held world titles at four different weights and is the only boxer in history to have fought in five different decades. His bouts with... Read more

A Lowcountry Heart

By: Pat Conroy

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 6 hours

Abridged: No

Final words and heartfelt remembrances from bestselling author Pat Conroy take center stage in this winning nonfiction collection, supplemented by touching pieces from Conroy’s many friends.

This new volume of Pat Conroy’s nonfiction brings together some of the most charming interviews, magazine articles, speeches, and letters from his long... Read more

Know This

By: John Brockman

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman & Dan John Miller

Length: 14 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

The latest volume in the bestselling series from Edge.org—dubbed “the world’s smartest website” by The Guardian—brings together 175 of the world’s most innovative and brilliant thinkers to discuss recent scientific breakthroughs that will shape the future.Scientific developments radically alter our understanding of the world. Whether it’s... Read more

Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy

By: Nicholas Reynolds

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Length: 9 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

A former CIA officer and curator of the CIA Museum unveils the shocking, untold story of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway’s secret life as a spy for both the Americans and the Soviets before and during World War II.While he was the curator of the CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime military intelligence expert, began to discover... Read more

Pure Heart

By: Troylyn Ball & Bret Witter

Narrated by: Rosemary Benson

Length: 8 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

Troylyn Bell and her husband, Charlie, an engineer and real estate investor, had spent their entire lives in Texas. But after a near fatal trip to the emergency room with their mute, wheelchair-bound son Marshall, they admitted the dust and the heat were too dangerous. To save their boys, the Balls cashed out, sold their beloved farm, and moved... Read more

Fresh Air Fiend

By: Paul Theroux

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

Length: 22 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Internationally acclaimed author Paul Theroux adds Fresh Air Fiend, named a New York Times Notable Book, to his highly praised travel writings. A collection of essays, this intimate and fascinating book explores five continents and many cultures, while delving deep into the mind of Theroux. From one adventure to the next, listeners will be... Read more

The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank

By: Erma Bombeck

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat

Length: 4 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

Erma Bombeck's humorous insights about family life always tickle readers' funny bones. Her New York Times best-sellers have sold millions of copies to gleeful readers around the world. In The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, Bombeck joins the station wagon train to the suburbs. In new lands like the Suburbian Gems subdivision,... Read more

Ballplayer

By: Chipper Jones & Carroll Rogers Walton

Narrated by: Mark Deakins & Chipper Jones

Length: 10 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones—one of the greatest switch-hitters in baseball history—shares his remarkable story, while capturing the magic nostalgia that sets baseball apart from every other sport.
 
Before Chipper Jones became an eight-time All-Star who amassed Hall of Fame–worthy statistics during a nineteen-year career with the... Read more

Had I Known

By: Barbara Ehrenreich

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Length: 10 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner of the 2021 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, HAD I KNOWN contains the most provocative, incendiary, and career-making pieces by bestselling author, essayist, political activist, and "veteran muckraker" Barbara Ehrenreich (The New Yorker).

A self-proclaimed "myth buster by trade," Barbara Ehrenreich has covered an... Read more