Behind the Mic with AudioFile Magazine
Find your next great audiobook on our podcast, Behind The Mic with AudioFile Magazine. Every Tuesday, AudioFile Editors and host Jo Reed recommend the very best audiobooks and narrators. It’s the perfect way to keep up with new releases and hear about audiobooks you may have missed. Want more? Listen to our bonus episodes featuring in-depth conversations with the most talented voices in audiobooks today.
Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Visit our website: AudioFileMagazine.com the #1 review source for audiobooks.
1626
THE BRITISH ARE COMING by Rick Atkinson, read b...
The first in a trilogy about the American Revolution by Pulitzer Prize-winner historian Atkinson. George Newbern’s engaging narration makes the history come alive through pace and emphasis, allowing listeners to absorb minute details.
5 min
1627
NOW'S THE TIME by Larry Strauss, read by Kim Fi...
African-American jazz culture sets the stage for this must-listen audiobook. A young jazz trumpeter crisscrosses the country, searching for a recording of her father’s last jazz performance. An Earphones Award winner.
5 min
1628
FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE by Taffy Brodesser-Akne...
A brilliant, timely exploration of marriage, divorce, and the challenges women face in relationships—in working, parenting, and partnering. Narrator Ryan delivers just the right amount of sympathy, skepticism, and when called for, great emotional force.
5 min
1629
FKA USA by Reed King, read by Dan Bittner, Pete...
In this cross between THE WIZARD OF OZ and HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE, 16-year-old Truckee Wallace, our unlikely, unwilling hero, finds himself in the middle of an international incident. The year is 2085. Two narrators make the humor and satire memorable.
5 min
1630
THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT by Misa Sugiura, re...
While CJ Katsuyama is happy helping out at her family’s flower shop, she’s never lived up to her mother’s high expectations. Then, everything changes. Joy Osmanski highlights all the emotions and wit as CJ’s confidence grows in the face of injustice.
5 min
1631
THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mo...
Two rival agents face each other across a burning battlefield. One leaves a note that says “burn before reading.” Farrell and Woo Zeller’s dual narrations emphasize the agents’ divergent personalities and their conflicting emotions as they fall in love.
5 min
1632
WE ARE GRATEFUL: OTSALIHELIGA by Traci Sorell, ...
Follow a year of Cherokee celebrations with this read-along for the award-winning picture book. Five narrators lend their voices to a story of contemporary Cherokee life while crackling campfires, lively music, and quiet conversations add ambience.
4 min
1633
BROKEN PLACES & OUTER SPACES by Nnedi Okorafor,...
An inspiring memoir narrated with confidence by a masterful writer. Now known for her Africanfutirist fiction for teens and adults, Okorafor tells the story of the surprising source of her passion and skill for creating fictional worlds.
5 min
1634
THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead, read by JD...
Elwood Curtis is an earnest high school student on his way to college classes when he’s sentenced to serve time at Nickel Academy, a segregated reform school. Whitehead’s new novel is a haunting tale of America’s buried legacy of racism and violence.
5 min
1635
MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner, read by Ari...
Two narrators deliver a long, lush story of two sisters who grew up in a Jewish household in Detroit from the 1950s up to 2016. As their paths diverge, listeners think about women and how they move through all the challenges in their lives.
4 min
1636
BUNNY by Mona Awad, read by Sophie Amoss
A scholarship student doesn’t connect with her rich female classmates, until—against her better judgment—she goes to one of their parties. Narrator Sophie Amoss get an Earphones Award for her animated performance that enhances the story’s emotional punch.
5 min
1637
WHISPER NETWORK by Chandler Baker, read by Alma...
A Reese’s Book Club pick. The narrator’s skill and energy ease this intense listen about women who triumph over injustice in the workplace. Four women are determined to make sure that a man known to sexually harass women isn't chosen as their next CEO.
5 min
1638
STAY SEXY & DON'T GET MURDERED by Karen Kilgari...
Are you a fan of the true crime podcast MY FAVORITE MURDER? The dual memoir by hosts Kilgariff and Hardstark offers a combination of not-so-happy moments in their lives with laughs. A section recorded in front of a live audience is a standout.
5 min
1639
CONVICTION by Denise Mina, read by Cathleen McC...
Mina’s latest darkly funny suspense is captured in Cathleen McCarron’s Scottish lilt. Anna is betrayed by her best friend, who runs off with her husband and her children. Then a true crime podcast triggers a surprising connection to her past life.
4 min
1640
EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes, read b...
Pop Culture Happy Hour host Linda Holmes’s debut novel is the story of a widow who doesn’t miss her husband and how she builds a new life with a baseball pitcher who has lost his skill. Julia Whelan’s performance is lively and bright.
4 min
1641
RANGE by David Epstein, read by Will Damron
Sports writer David Epstein’s message on why it is better to be a jack-of-all-trades than a specialist is a fascinating exploration in our culture of experts and diverse and broad learning. He uses anecdotes about sports heroes, musicians, and scientists.
4 min
1642
GHOSTS OF GOLD MOUNTAIN by Gordon H. Chang, rea...
Photos of the “Golden Spike” immortalize the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. Chang’s serious history reveals the contributions of thousands of Chinese workers, “the Railroad Chinese,” to the building of modern America.
4 min
1643
GREEK MYTHOLOGY EXPLAINED by Marios Christou, D...
Listeners are reminded why the Greek myths have endured through centuries of tellings and retellings. Six classic tales are explored with a modern retelling brilliantly presented by Derek Perkins and an insightful short essay after each tale.
5 min
1644
BIG SKY by Kate Atkinson, read by Jason Isaacs
PI Jackson Brodie encounters the grim crimes of human trafficking and child abuse in Atkinson’s fifth outing with the lonely British detective. Narrator Jason Isaacs plays Brodie in the BBC series “Case Histories.”
5 min
1645
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller, read by Jay O. Sanders
Rediscover the absurdist classic recently adapted for the small screen by George Clooney. Actor Jay O. Sanders narrates the large cast of characters with a friendly and earnest tone as they examine questions of rationality, sanity, war, and peace.
6 min
1646
MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL by Adam Higginbotham, rea...
The 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl is illuminated through this detailed account. Jacques Roy’s masterful narration enhances Higginbotham’s stark and terrifying history of one of the world’s greatest disasters.
4 min
1647
THIS STORM by James Ellroy, read by Craig Wasson
It’s 1942, and L.A. is experiencing torrential storms—and is caught in the storm of WWII. The gritty story picks up after PERFIDIA, with dirty cops, lost gold, found bodies, racist propaganda, and Japanese internment camps creating a dark atmosphere.
4 min
1648
ZORA AND LANGSTON by Yuval Taylor, read by Bahn...
Explore the friendship and collaboration of two luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Huges. Golden Voice Bahni Turpin gives voice to Hurston and Huges as listeners learn about their deep friendship and their falling out.
5 min
1649
THE PORPOISE by Mark Haddon, read by Tim McInnerny
A powerful modern retelling of Shakespeare’s PERICLES made even more compelling by Tim McInnerny’s dramatic narration. In this new novel by Mark Haddon, we meet a young woman whose harsh entry into life foreshadows more hardships to come.
5 min
1650
VIRAL by Ann Bausum, read by Vikas Adam, Ann Ba...
Essential nonfiction listening for teens and adults alike. Ann Bausum revisits the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and Vikas Adam narrates with urgency and sincerity. Listeners will be drawn in and motivated to learn more.
4 min