Essays audiobooks

I'm Wearing Tunics Now

By: Wendi Aarons

Narrated by: Wendi Aarons

Length: 7 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

An honest and hilarious memoir about second acts, self-acceptance, and celebrating what happens when a woman gets older, wiser, and a lot more excited by sales at Eileen Fisher.
A late bloomer who came to her career later in life, humorist Wendi Aarons shares the joys, stumbles, and outfit mishaps she’s experienced on her road to no longer giving... Read more

Late Migrations

By: Margaret Renkl

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

Length: 5 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Selected as a TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna book club pick, Late Migrations is an unusual, captivating portrait of a family―and of the cycles of joy and grief that inscribe human lives within the natural world―from beloved New York Times opinion writer Margaret Renkl.Growing up in Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and... Read more

Walking in My Joy

By: Jenifer Lewis

Narrated by: Jenifer Lewis

Length: 7 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

A new offering from the author of the hugely successful Mother of Black Hollywood.Walking in My Joy is a collection of electric stories by the one and only, super hilarious Jenifer Lewis. Her commentary on what’s happening in the world today, told through her outrageous real-life adventures, will have you laughing out loud, while her insightful... Read more

The Truth About Animals

By: Lucy Cooke

Narrated by: Lucy Cooke

Length: 10 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Mary Roach meets Bill Bryson in this "surefire summer winner" (Janet Maslin, New York Times), an uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world

Humans have gone to the Moon and discovered the Higgs boson, but when it comes to understanding animals, we've still got a long way to go. Whether we're seeing a viral... Read more

Sex with a Brain Injury

By: Annie Liontas

Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

Length: 9 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner of the Stonewall Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award

This powerful and deeply personal memoir in essays “reflects on history, philosophy, and love while living with head trauma” (The New York Times Book Review).

“An infuriatingly gorgeous, important book.” —Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties * “A riveting book about... Read more

You Get What You Pay For

By: Morgan Parker

Narrated by: Morgan Parker

Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

In her “witty and searing” first essay collection, award-winning poet Morgan Parker examines “the cultural legacy of Black womanhood and the meaning of finding ‘well-being’ in a world that wasn’t built for you” (Vogue).

“Riveting and deeply personal . . . filled with poignant insights.”—Cosmopolitan

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Electric Lit, Chicago... Read more

Why We Read

By: Shannon Reed

Narrated by: Paige McKinney

Length: 8 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a teacher, bibliophile, and Thurber Prize Semifinalist

We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the... Read more

How to Catch a Mole

By: Marc Hamer

Narrated by: Marc Hamer

Length: 3 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

In this evocative and heart-wrenching memoir, a hard-working Welsh molecatcher reveals his double life as a poet and a dreamer • “A wonderful memoir … hands down the most charming book I read last year.”—Margaret Renkl, The New York Times“How to Catch a Mole is a small book of many things. In quiet, crystalline prose, it blends memoir, keen... Read more

Body Horror

By: Anne Elizabeth Moore

Narrated by: Anne Elizabeth Moore

Length: 8 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

Whether for entertainment, under the guise of medicine, or to propel consumerism, heinous acts are perpetrated daily on women’s bodies. In Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes, award-winning journalist Anne Elizabeth Moore catalogs the global toll of capitalism on our physical autonomy. Weaving together unflinching research and... Read more

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

By: Joan Didion

Narrated by: Maya Hawke

Length: 6 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by actor and singer-songwriter Maya Hawke, star of Netflix's Stranger Things.

"Narrating in a voice as clear and sustaining as a cool glass of water, Hawke’s unflashy approach allows the words to reveal their magic."—The Orange County Register

"Didion’s timeless essays shine with Hawke at the helm. This audiobook will bring... Read more

Theft by Finding

By: David Sedaris

Narrated by: David Sedaris

Length: 13 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the most anticipated books of 2017: Boston Globe, New York Times Book Review, New York's "Vulture", The Week, Bustle, BookRiot
An NPR Best Book of 2017An AV Club Favorite Book of 2017A Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2017A Goodreads Choice Awards nominee

David Sedaris tells all in a book that is, literally, a lifetime in the making.

For... Read more

My Mess Is a Bit of a Life

By: Georgia Pritchett

Narrated by: Katherine Parkinson

Length: 4 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

“Georgia Pritchett is a singularly hilarious person. Her book is a delightful and perfect reflection of her. Its tenderness sneaks up on you and really packs a punch. What a magnificent read!”—Julia Louis DreyfusJenny Lawson meets Nora Ephron in this joyful memoir-in-vignettes on living—and thriving—with anxiety from a multiple Emmy... Read more

The Book of (More) Delights

By: Ross Gay

Narrated by: Ross Gay

Length: 6 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

From bestselling author of The Book of Delights and award-winning poet, a book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us.

Ross Gay’s essays have been called “exquisite” (Tracy K. Smith), “imperative” (the New York Times Book Review), and “brilliant” (Ada Limón). Now,... Read more

Legitimate Kid

By: Aida Rodriguez

Narrated by: Aida Rodriguez

Length: 8 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

“Aida Rodriguez is part of the next wave of talented comedic storytellers that I dreamt about when I was trying to break down barriers in the industry. Besides being a fierce Latina powerhouse, she’s FUNNY AS HELL! So buy this book. No really, BUY THIS BOOK!!! I don’t want any problems, ya heard?!”—John Leguizamo, Emmy and Tony Award–winning... Read more

Sing a Black Girl's Song

By: Ntozake Shange

Narrated by: Alfre Woodard, D. Woods, Regina Taylor, Lynn Wh...

Length: 9 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

The Millions “Most Anticipated” Books of 2023

Never-before-seen unpublished works by award-winning American literary icon Ntozake Shange, featuring essays, plays, and poems from the archives of the seminal Black feminist writer who stands alongside giants like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, curated by National Book Award winner Imani Perry with... Read more

The Best Cook in the World

By: Rick Bragg

Narrated by: Rick Bragg

Length: 19 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

From the beloved, best-selling author of All Over but the Shoutin', a delectable, rollicking food memoir, cookbook, and loving tribute to a region, a vanishing history, a family, and, especially, to his mother.

Margaret Bragg does not own a single cookbook. She measures in "dabs" and "smidgens" and "tads" and "you know, hon, just some." She... Read more

Like Streams to the Ocean

By: Jedidiah Jenkins

Narrated by: Jedidiah Jenkins

Length: 7 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “As inviting, wide-ranging, and philosophical as an all-night conversation with a best friend, and as revealing and thought-provoking as the diary of a curious adventurer.”—Sasha Sagan, author of For Small Creatures Such as We

You can travel the world looking for yourself, but if you don't know what you're looking for,... Read more

Brown Album

By: Porochista Khakpour

Narrated by: Porochista Khakpour

Length: 6 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

From the much-acclaimed novelist and essayist, a beautifully rendered, poignant collection of personal essays, chronicling immigrant and Iranian-American life in our contemporary moment.

Novelist Porochista Khakpour's family moved to Los Angeles after fleeing the Iranian Revolution, giving up their successes only to be greeted by an alienating... Read more

The Geography of Genius

By: Eric Weiner

Narrated by: Eric Weiner

Length: 14 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Tag along on this New York Times bestselling “witty, entertaining romp” (The New York Times Book Review) as Eric Weiner travels the world, from Athens to Silicon Valley—and back through history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times.

In this “intellectual odyssey, traveler’s diary, and comic novel all... Read more

Eat Like a Fish

By: Bren Smith

Narrated by: Bren Smith

Length: 7 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Part memoir, part manifesto, in Eat Like a Fish Bren Smith—a former commercial fisherman turned restorative ocean farmer—shares a bold new vision for the future of food: seaweed.

Through tales that span from his childhood in Newfoundland to his early years on the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers, from pioneering new forms of ocean... Read more

Taming the Potted Beast

By: Molly Williams

Narrated by: Molly Williams

Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

The colorful, peculiar history of the houseplant—from ancient Rome to Victorian England to Instagram—a botanical adventure full of histrionic highs, devastating lows, and sensational turning points along the way.

From the hanging gardens of Babylon to that fiddle-leaf fig in your living room, houseplants have been humanity's companions for a... Read more

Pops

By: Michael Chabon

Narrated by: Michael Chabon

Length: 2 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

“Magical prose stylist” Michael Chabon (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times) delivers a collection of essays—heartfelt, humorous, insightful, wise—on the meaning of fatherhood.For the September 2016 issue of GQ, Michael Chabon wrote a piece about accompanying his son Abraham Chabon, then thirteen, to Paris Men’s Fashion Week. Possessed with a... Read more

Buffering

By: Hannah Hart

Narrated by: Hannah Hart & Judy Young

Length: 5 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

The wildly popular YouTube personality and author of the New York Times bestseller My Drunk Kitchen is back! This time, she’s stirring up memories and tales from her past.By combing through the journals that Hannah has kept for much of her life, this collection of narrative essays deliver a fuller picture of her life, her experiences, and the... Read more

Arguably

By: Christopher Hitchens

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 28 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

"All first-rate criticism first defines what we are confronting," the late, great jazz critic Whitney Balliett once wrote. By that measure, the essays of Christopher Hitchens are in the first tier. For nearly four decades, Hitchens has been telling us, in pitch-perfect prose, what we confront when we grapple with first principles-the principles... Read more