I love true stories
that explore all the dark and twisty corners of being a human in this world. But you guys, I’m a huge chicken when it comes to the darkest and twistiest of all—true crime. While I’m curious enough to crawl into just about anyone’s skin, criminal minds are just a little too left of creepy. So I was pretty shocked to discover that I actually like true crime memoirs…maybe because they filter the cruel facts through a deeply personal perspective?Right now I’m obsessed with You All Grow Up and Leave Me by Piper Weiss, who took tennis lessons on New York’s Upper East Side from a man who would turn out to be a stalker-turned-botched-kidnapper. Weiss shows us her teen self in all its awkward, insecure glory, even admitting that she was a little jealous she wasn’t one of her coach’s stalking victims (!). I'm HERE for that brutal honesty. (And already queuing up my next true crime memoir.) Happy holidays and happy listening!
-
Holidays on Ice
- Featuring Six New Stories
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 3,778
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,174
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 3,169
David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French ("Jesus Shaves"); and what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm ("Let It Snow").
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Best When In SantaLand
- By Dave on 12-06-11
The best Christmas memoir of all time!!!
You didn’t think I was going to be *all* doom and gloom, did you?? Last night I picked up a bottle of brandy from the corner wine store, poured it with a splash of eggnog into my Fishs Eddy Turnt tumbler, and settled in for an evening of wrapping gifts and listening to David Sedaris’s Santaland Diaries from Holidays on Ice. His hilarious account of working as a department store elf is an absolute classic (shenanigans, obviously, ensue), and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do. 💚
Enter Santa's Workshop
-
Everything's Trash, but It's Okay
- By: Phoebe Robinson, Ilana Glazer - foreword
- Narrated by: Phoebe Robinson
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 913
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 806
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 803
New York Times best-selling author and star of 2 Dope Queens Phoebe Robinson is back with a new, hilarious, and timely essay collection on gender, race, dating, and the Dumpster fire that is our world. Written in her trademark unfiltered and witty style, Robinson's latest collection is a call to arms. Outfitted with on-point pop culture references, these essays tackle a wide range of topics: giving feminism a tough-love talk on intersectionality, telling society's beauty standards to kick rocks, and calling foul on our culture's obsession with work.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Hmmm...I don't know what to tell you on this one
- By cinda on 10-24-18
Hush, Phoebe says it's going to be okay
For me, nothing captures the spirit of 2018 more perfectly than Phoebe Robinson’s collection of personal essays, Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay. (Case in point: I’m trash for handing in my draft of this newsletter three days late. But it’s okay! Also: apologies to my colleague Aaron.) ETBIO is part memoir, part survival guide for all the noise of modern life, and is worth a listen for Robinson’s take on Tyra Banks’s iconic America’s Next Top Model monologue—I was rooting for you; we were all rooting for you!—alone.
Sorry for the Acronym 🙈
-
Heavy
- By: Kiese Laymon
- Narrated by: Kiese Laymon
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,055
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 5,470
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,446
Kiese Laymon is a fearless writer. In his essays, personal stories combine with piercing intellect to reflect both on the state of American society and on his experiences with abuse, which conjure conflicted feelings of shame, joy, confusion, and humiliation. Laymon invites us to consider the consequences of growing up in a nation wholly obsessed with progress yet wholly disinterested in the messy work of reckoning with where we’ve been.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Be prepared
- By Amy Eberle on 10-30-18
The year of the memoir
So many incredible memoirs came out in 2018 that, when the Audible editors sat down to hash out our picks for Best of the Year, it wasn’t a matter of whether a memoir would win, but rather which memoir it would be. And I was pretty stoked when, one by one, my fellow editors fell in love with Heavy by Kiese Laymon and named it our Best Audiobook of the Year. All in all, we rounded up 100+ fabulous listens for fans of all genres. (Any of which would make great gifts!!)
Nudge Nudge Wink Wink
New Releases
-
Brutally Honest
- Mel B’s tell-all memoir
- By: Melanie Brown, Louise Gannon
- Narrated by: Melanie Brown, Phoenix Chi Gulzar Brown, Andrea Brown, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 756
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 692
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 690
As one-fifth of the iconic Spice Girls and judge on X Factor and America's Got Talent, Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, has been an international star since the age of 19. And yet there are sides of Mel that no one has ever seen, or really known. Brutally Honest is an exposé of the struggles and acute pain that lay behind the glamour and success. With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and Melanie’s trademark Yorkshire humour, this audiobook removes the mask of fame and reveals the mother, wife and daughter behind the Spice Girl everyone thinks they know.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I'm touched
- By Faith on 11-29-18
-
Struck
- A Husband’s Memoir of Trauma and Triumph
- By: Douglas Segal
- Narrated by: Douglas Segal
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 12
One of life's biggest cliches becomes a horrific reality when Douglas Segal's wife and young daughter are hit head-on by a Los Angeles city bus. Miraculously, his daughter was unharmed, but his wife faced a series of life-threatening injuries. Following the accident, Segal began sending regular email updates to their circle of friends and family - a list that continued to grow as others heard of the event. Segal's compelling memoir is an intimate and honest chronicle built around these email updates and is a profound example of how people show up for one another in times of crisis.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Heart Piercing
- By Jwoodward H on 11-13-19
-
A Sucky Love Story
- Overcoming Unhappily Ever After
- By: Brittani Louise Taylor
- Narrated by: Brittani Louise Taylor
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,780
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,777
Where does a moderately popular internet star who never leaves her house look for potential suitors? Online. Tinder, Bumble, Match.com, OkCupid - I tried them all. My 31-year-old self clicked and swiped her little heart out, leading to more dates than I could count, and more disappointment than I was prepared for. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know all too well the perils of modern dating.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining and insightful!
- By ahealthier#life on 12-10-18
-
Never Grow Up
- By: Jackie Chan, Zhu Mo
- Narrated by: Daxing Zhang, Jennifer Lim
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 553
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 487
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 485
Everyone knows Jackie Chan. Whether it’s from Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, The Karate Kid, or Kung Fu Panda, Jackie is admired by generations of moviegoers for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and mind-bending stunts. In Never Grow Up, the global superstar reflects on his early life, including his childhood years at the China Drama Academy (in which he was enrolled at the age of six), his big breaks (and setbacks) in Hong Kong and Hollywood, his numerous brushes with death (both on and off film sets), and his life as a husband and father.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A solid bio but the male narration is poor
- By Sau Cheung on 12-07-18
-
Brutally Honest
- Mel B’s tell-all memoir
- By: Melanie Brown, Louise Gannon
- Narrated by: Melanie Brown, Phoenix Chi Gulzar Brown, Andrea Brown, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 756
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 692
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 690
As one-fifth of the iconic Spice Girls and judge on X Factor and America's Got Talent, Melanie Brown, aka Scary Spice, has been an international star since the age of 19. And yet there are sides of Mel that no one has ever seen, or really known. Brutally Honest is an exposé of the struggles and acute pain that lay behind the glamour and success. With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and Melanie’s trademark Yorkshire humour, this audiobook removes the mask of fame and reveals the mother, wife and daughter behind the Spice Girl everyone thinks they know.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I'm touched
- By Faith on 11-29-18
-
Struck
- A Husband’s Memoir of Trauma and Triumph
- By: Douglas Segal
- Narrated by: Douglas Segal
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 12
One of life's biggest cliches becomes a horrific reality when Douglas Segal's wife and young daughter are hit head-on by a Los Angeles city bus. Miraculously, his daughter was unharmed, but his wife faced a series of life-threatening injuries. Following the accident, Segal began sending regular email updates to their circle of friends and family - a list that continued to grow as others heard of the event. Segal's compelling memoir is an intimate and honest chronicle built around these email updates and is a profound example of how people show up for one another in times of crisis.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Heart Piercing
- By Jwoodward H on 11-13-19
-
A Sucky Love Story
- Overcoming Unhappily Ever After
- By: Brittani Louise Taylor
- Narrated by: Brittani Louise Taylor
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,335
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,780
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,777
Where does a moderately popular internet star who never leaves her house look for potential suitors? Online. Tinder, Bumble, Match.com, OkCupid - I tried them all. My 31-year-old self clicked and swiped her little heart out, leading to more dates than I could count, and more disappointment than I was prepared for. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know all too well the perils of modern dating.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Entertaining and insightful!
- By ahealthier#life on 12-10-18
-
Never Grow Up
- By: Jackie Chan, Zhu Mo
- Narrated by: Daxing Zhang, Jennifer Lim
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 553
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 487
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 485
Everyone knows Jackie Chan. Whether it’s from Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, The Karate Kid, or Kung Fu Panda, Jackie is admired by generations of moviegoers for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, and mind-bending stunts. In Never Grow Up, the global superstar reflects on his early life, including his childhood years at the China Drama Academy (in which he was enrolled at the age of six), his big breaks (and setbacks) in Hong Kong and Hollywood, his numerous brushes with death (both on and off film sets), and his life as a husband and father.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A solid bio but the male narration is poor
- By Sau Cheung on 12-07-18