AUGUST 9, 2019
Remembering Toni Morrison.
The literary world and beyond are mourning the passing of Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, who died on August 5. Morrison’s impact is almost immeasurable. Her many works, such as Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Jazz, centered Black women in her beautiful and lyrical storytelling and gave voice and visibility to a hitherto unseen slice of American life. A granddaughter of slaves and a single mother of two, she’d go on to become the first Black woman to receive the Pulitzer for fiction, amassing many more accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her work is undoubtedly a permanent piece of the literary canon, and there are simply not enough words to describe how much Toni Morrison’s work and very existence in this world has meant to so many of us. We are so sad about her death but so grateful for her life.Love is a many-splendored thing.
I don’t think that polyamory is somehow more evolved than monogamy,a sex researcher says in a viral New York Times story on polyamory. “But it should be an option. People should have more options.” We’re not sure what’s more fascinating, the fact that a single option is still so overwhelmingly pervasive in a country that can’t seem to agree on anything else, or the thoughtful ways in which some people are experimenting with alternatives. The subject inspires endless FAQs (like, how do you not go bonkers with jealousy, for one?) and for answers we prescribe Many Love, Sophie Lucido Johnson’s candid and completely charming memoir about going from serial monogamist to proud polyamorist (er, polyamemoirist?).
tl;dr: there are water bears living on the moon!
When an Israeli lunar lander tried to land on the moon this April, it crashed and left behind a DVD-sized archive that included human DNA samples and thousands of microscopic animals that look like tiny, hairless, hibernating bears. Their official name—tardigrades—is a mouthful, so we’re going with their much cuter moniker, water bears. The catch? Water bears can survive without food or water for years, even in space! It’s probably nothing, but we plan to study up on microbes before water bears colonize the moon…just in case. It’s the only neighborly thing to do. Hmmmm, maybe we should get baking some welcome-to-the-neighborhood cookies, too. 🤔Someone should’ve yelled ‘clear’ before she hit me with the paddles to the chest…
As we know firsthand from her appearance on Audicted, self-development powerhouse Rachel Hollis is not shy about going after what she wants. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the same applies to her relationship with her husband, Dave Hollis. According to audio of him reading from his upcoming release Get Out of Your Own Way: A Skeptic’s Guide to Growth and Fulfillment, a “hard, hard conversation” initiated by Rachel led to Dave’s eventual transformation as a husband, father, and human (click that link to hear the clip for yourself, btw). And this being the Hollises, that brutal discussion led to a breakthrough in their relationship—and this book. Now if only this unstoppable couple could fast-forward us all to March 2020 so we could listen to the full thing…
Get caught up.
We love it when our favorite stories make it to the screen—and we’re firm believers that it’s always best to listen to the book first. If you agree with us, here are some books to add to your TBLT list before you check out their adaptations!- From the mind of a very special canine, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it. Fall in (puppy) love before you see it on the big screen.
- Anyone else can’t stop watching Hulu’s new trailer for Looking for Alaska? That’s right, John Green’s debut (!) novel will premiere as a limited series this October. The Printz-winning book has everything you’d expect from Green—great dialogue, sophisticated (yet angst-ridden) characters, and high school kids dealing with very adult situations.
- If you have a Netflix account, chances are you haven’t been able to log in recently without being served up Otherhood. Before you give in to the temptation, check out the novel that inspired it by William Sutcliffe.
- In probably the juiciest book news this week, Monica Lewinsky will be producing the latest season of American Crime Story based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book about the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. There’s so much to unpack here, but for now we’ll just be diving back in to A Vast Conspiracy and enjoying the shade...
—the audible editors
Audiobooks in This Edition
-
Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
-
-
Author-read Books
- By John R Williford on 07-14-06
-
Jazz
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 3 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe’s wife, Violet, attacks the girl’s corpse. This novel “transforms a familiar refrain of jilted love into a bold, sustaining time of self-knowledge and discovery. Its rhythms are infectious” (People).
-
-
The audio is not the same as the book
- By Rocio on 03-29-16
-
The Wives
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, and because of this unconventional arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. But you love him so much you don’t care. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself. But one day, while you’re doing laundry, you find a scrap of paper in his pocket—an appointment reminder for a woman named Hannah, and you just know it’s another of the wives.
-
-
Unlikeable main character, author cheats
- By Timothy Masters on 02-12-20
-
Many Love
- A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s)
- By: Sophie Lucido Johnson
- Narrated by: Sophie Lucido Johnson
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After trying for years to emulate her boomer parents’ 40-year and still-going-strong marriage, Sophie realized that maybe the love she was looking for was down a road less traveled. In this bold, graphic memoir, she explores her sexuality, her values, and the versions of love our society accepts and practices.
-
-
greatly enjoyed and informative
- By Kindle Customer on 10-23-19
-
I Contain Multitudes
- The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
- By: Ed Yong
- Narrated by: Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin - a "microbe's-eye view" of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on Earth.
-
-
Undoes what you've learned from the headlines
- By Tristan on 10-14-16
-
The Bluest Eye
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
-
-
Amazing
- By psiegler on 07-25-18
-
Beloved
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
-
-
Author-read Books
- By John R Williford on 07-14-06
-
Jazz
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 3 hrs
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe’s wife, Violet, attacks the girl’s corpse. This novel “transforms a familiar refrain of jilted love into a bold, sustaining time of self-knowledge and discovery. Its rhythms are infectious” (People).
-
-
The audio is not the same as the book
- By Rocio on 03-29-16
-
The Wives
- By: Tarryn Fisher
- Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, and because of this unconventional arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. But you love him so much you don’t care. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself. But one day, while you’re doing laundry, you find a scrap of paper in his pocket—an appointment reminder for a woman named Hannah, and you just know it’s another of the wives.
-
-
Unlikeable main character, author cheats
- By Timothy Masters on 02-12-20
-
Many Love
- A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s)
- By: Sophie Lucido Johnson
- Narrated by: Sophie Lucido Johnson
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After trying for years to emulate her boomer parents’ 40-year and still-going-strong marriage, Sophie realized that maybe the love she was looking for was down a road less traveled. In this bold, graphic memoir, she explores her sexuality, her values, and the versions of love our society accepts and practices.
-
-
greatly enjoyed and informative
- By Kindle Customer on 10-23-19
-
I Contain Multitudes
- The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
- By: Ed Yong
- Narrated by: Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joining the ranks of popular science classics like The Botany of Desire and The Selfish Gene, a groundbreaking, wondrously informative, and vastly entertaining examination of the most significant revolution in biology since Darwin - a "microbe's-eye view" of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on Earth.
-
-
Undoes what you've learned from the headlines
- By Tristan on 10-14-16
-
The Bluest Eye
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the story of 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning and the tragedy of its fulfillment.
-
-
Amazing
- By psiegler on 07-25-18