Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

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  Memoirs Rooted in Place 17.09.2026 22мин

  Jo Reed talks with contributor Alan Minskoff about three memoirs shaped by home and the complicated question of where we belong. In All That’s Unseen, Emilee Hackney narrates the story of her journey from an insular Pentecostal community in Southwest Virginia to Harvard University, with an Appalachian accent that keeps her connection to home unmistakably present, even as her world expands. Vincent Coppola’s Gowanus Crossing, narrated by Paul Bellantoni, takes listeners to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Coppola’s childhood, capturing its Italian American families, Catholic schools, street life, and the rough world surrounding the Gowanus Canal. Earphones Award winner Bellantoni particularly shines when he takes on the voices and rhythms of the neighborhood. And in Scavenging Beauty, Angelica Glass narrates her account of walking nearly 2,900 miles through Santa Cruz County, using the landscape and the act of walking to look back at a difficult childhood. Three lives become stories about the places that form us—and how we carry those places with us as we move on.   Audiobooks Discussed: All That’s Unseen, written and narrated by Emilee Hackney (Penguin Audio) Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood by Vincent Coppola, read by Paul Bellantoni (Macmillan Audio) Scavenging Beauty, written and read by Angelica Glass (Penguin Audio)   Support for Kirkus’ Behind the Mic comes from Harper Audio, producer of audiobooks by HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing,  publishers of some of your favorite authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Savannah Guthrie, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  New Earphones Award Winners 10.09.2026 26мин

  Jo Reed talks with Laura Rossi about three Earphones Award–winning audiobooks that showcase the range and power of great narration. In Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear, Rebecca Lowman gives surprising dimension to a deeply unlikable trad-wife influencer whose carefully constructed life takes an unexpected turn. Jenny Jackson’s The Shampoo Effect, read by Marin Ireland, follows four complicated women through a summer in coastal Massachusetts, with Ireland making each character distinct through subtle shifts in rhythm, pitch, and attitude. And in Transcendent, Laverne Cox narrates her own story with vulnerability and candor, sharing painful experiences from her childhood and reflecting on gender, race, and the struggle to live as her authentic self. Three very different audiobooks, each offering its own reminder of what makes listening such a distinctive experience.   Audiobooks Discussed: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, read by Rebecca Lowman (Random House Audio) The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson, read by Marin Ireland (Penguin Audio) Transcendent: A Memoir written and read by Laverne Cox (Simon & Schuster Audio)   Support for Behind the Mic with Kirkus Reviews comes from Harper Audio, producer of audiobooks by HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Savannah Guthrie, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and so many more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Detectives on the Case 03.09.2026 22мин

  Jo Reed and Michele Cobb dig into three Earphones Award–winning police procedurals, each pairing a compelling investigator with a narrator who knows how to build suspense. In Missing by E.A. Jackson, Nicola Walker’s understated, magnetic performance and English accent capture Detective Inspector Martha Allen’s intelligence and persistence as a decades-old case pulls her back in. Dervla McTiernan’s Three Reasons for Revenge, read by Alison McGirr and set in Melbourne, Australia, follows Detective Sergeant Judith Lee through a brutal, psychologically driven investigation, with McGirr handling both the emotional stakes and the novel’s mounting tension. And in Michael Connelly’s Ironwood, narrator Will Damron returns as Detective Sergeant Stilwell, bringing a steady sense of urgency to an investigation on Catalina Island—with welcome appearances from Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch. Three very different detectives, three accomplished narrators, and three mystery audiobooks that earned their Earphones Awards.   Audiobooks Discussed: Missing by E.A. Jackson, read by Nicola Walker (Simon & Schuster Audio) Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan, read by Alison McGirr (Harper Audio) Ironwood by Michael Connelly, read by Will Damron (Hachette Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Made for Listening 27.08.2026 26мин

  Jo Reed talks with contributor Stephen Cummings about three memoirs created with audio at their center, using performance, archival clips, live recordings, and the human voice to tell their stories. Billy Eichner looks back at his Queens childhood, his rise through Billy on the Street, and the creation of the film Bros in Billy on Billy, an audio-only memoir that mixes his narration with clips from his career and reveals a more reflective side of the famously confrontational comedian. In Peeing in an Empty Bottle, comedian Roz Hernandez takes listeners along on a solo tour through the South and Midwest, combining exuberant narration with live performances and recorded conversations that explore comedy, community, and the realities of traveling through America as a transgender woman. Voice actor Billy West draws on his extraordinary vocal range in Voice-A-Versa, a memoir in which his honesty is as striking as his virtuosity. West moves from a painful childhood to the many characters he created for dozens of commercials and TV programs such as The Ren & Stimpy Show and Futurama (among many others), as well as his years on The Howard Stern Show. Together, the three audiobooks show what happens when memoir is conceived for the ear, making the voices, performances, and sounds of a life part of the storytelling itself.   Audiobooks Discussed: Billy on Billy: An Audio Memoir, written and read by Billy Eichner (Macmillan Audio) Peeing in an Empty Bottle (And Other Glamorous Shenanigans of an Almost-Famous Transgender Comedienne on the Road), written and read by Roz Hernandez (Simon & Schuster Audio) Voice-A-Versa: Finding My Voice(s) Behind the Mic, written and read by Billy West (Recorded Books Inc.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Listening to Contemporary Fiction 20.08.2026 24мин

  Host Jo Reed and contributor Leslie Fine explore three distinctive novels and the narrators who shape the listening experience. In Sarah Damoff’s The Burning Side, Stacy Gonzalez, Timothy Andrés Pabon, and Jackie Sanders portray members of a family in crisis, with Sanders’ warm, multidimensional performance as the family matriarch a particular standout. Elizabeth Strout’s extraordinary The Things We Never Say finds an ideal interpreter in Golden Voice Robert Petkoff, whose beautifully restrained Earphones Award–winning performance captures Artie’s loneliness and vulnerability while allowing Strout’s remarkable portrait of community, connection, and ordinary life to speak for itself. And in Emma Straub’s American Fantasy, Marin Ireland brings humanity and personality to three very different characters aboard a boy-band nostalgia cruise, making a light, pleasant novel considerably richer in audio. Jo and Leslie consider what happens when narrators know exactly how much—or how little—to do, and how the right performance can deepen an already exceptional novel or add dimension to a lighter one.   Audiobooks Discussed: The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff, read by Stacy Gonzalez, Timothy Andrés Pabon & Jackie Sanders (Simon & Schuster Audio) The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, read by Robert Petkoff (Random House Audio) American Fantasy by Emma Straub, read by Marin Ireland (Penguin Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Disability in Three Voices 13.08.2026 25мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Kendra Winchester about three audiobooks that explore disability and offer distinct perspectives on community, resilience, and belonging. They begin with Mother Tongue by Sara Nović, narrated by Lisa Flanagan, a memoir that blends personal experience with Deaf history and culture while using inventive audio production to incorporate ASL into the listening experience. Next is A Way Home by Cinelle Barnes, read by the author, a brilliantly written, emotionally layered memoir that interweaves recovery from a brain aneurysm, an overdue return to the Philippines, and a search for home and self, with Barnes’ authentic narration adding another dimension to the listening experience. They conclude with All My Dead Cats and Other Losses by s.e. smith, performed by Em Grosland, which uses the stories of the author's cats as springboards for a thoughtful exploration of grief, disability, memory, and the many ways we mourn, with Grosland’s restrained, deeply empathetic narration giving Smith's reflections room to resonate. Together, these three audiobooks invite listeners to rethink disability—not as a single experience but as a rich and varied part of what it means to be human.   Audiobooks Discussed Mother Tongue by Sara Nović, read by Lisa Flanagan (Random House Audio) A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself, and the Beauty of Returning written and read by Cinelle Barnes (Brilliance Audio) All My Dead Cats and Other Losses: Practicing Good Grief in a Culture That Fears Mourning by s.e. smith, read by Em Grosland (Harper Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Sports, Belonging, and Growing Up 06.08.2026 23мин

  Host Jo Reed and Kirkus young readers’ editor Laura Simeon discuss three audiobooks for young listeners that use sports to explore identity, family, culture, and social change. In Medicine Wheels by Byron Graves, narrator Meegwun Fairbrother captures both the turmoil and the exhilaration of an Ojibwe teenager who discovers skateboarding—and a new connection to his late father. Eva Kaminsky brings clarity and urgency to Elizabeth Rusch’s A Greater Goal, a gripping account of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay and the solidarity that sustained it. Finally, in Malia Maunakea’s The Shark Prince, narrator Noah Keawekane captures the humor and vulnerability of a Native Hawaiian teenager trying to understand both his changing body and his dangerous inheritance as a descendant of the shark king. Together, these audiobooks move beyond the action of skateboarding, soccer, and surfing to explore family ties, cultural identity, and the power of solidarity.   Audiobooks Discussed: Medicine Wheels by Byron Graves, read by Meegwun Fairbrother (Harper Audio) A Greater Goal: The Epic Battle for Equal Pay in Women’s Soccer—And Beyond by Elizabeth Rusch, read by Eva Kaminsky (Harper Audio) The Shark Prince by Malia Maunakea, read by Noah Keawekane (Listening Library) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Call of the Wild 30.07.2026 23мин

  Three audiobooks explore people whose patience, curiosity, and determination changed how we understand—and protect—the natural world. Contributor Alan Minskoff joins host Jo Reed to discuss Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller by Miriam Horn, a biography of the pioneering wildlife biologist whose decades of patient fieldwork transformed our understanding of animals in the wild. Timothy Andrés Pabon's restrained narration mirrors Schaller's own quiet, methodical approach, allowing the extraordinary scope of his life and work to unfold naturally. Next comes Bernd Heinrich's The Common Uncommon: A Forest Journey, warmly yet authoritatively read by Steve Marvel, which blends memoir, science, and quiet delight in the natural world, inviting listeners to experience it with Heinrich’s infectious sense of wonder. Rounding out the episode is James H. McCommons’ The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds, narrated by Colin White, whose calm, measured narration keeps the focus on the remarkable history of America’s birds, the people who nearly destroyed them, and the unlikely coalition that fought to save them. Together, these audiobooks make a fascinating trio about discovery, conservation, and the enduring rewards of paying close attention.   Audiobooks Discussed: Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller by Miriam Horn, read by Timothy Andrés Pabon & Claudia Dunn (Penguin Audio) The Common Uncommon: A Forest Journey by Bernd Heinrich, read by Steve Marvel (Tantor Media) The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds by James H. McCommons, read by Colin White (Tantor Media) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Many Faces of Horror 23.07.2026 23мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Alex Richey about three audiobooks whose outstanding narrators bring emotional depth to stories of ghosts, murder, and terrifying change. They begin with The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, in which Natalie Naudus’ emotionally precise narration guides listeners through a haunting tale set in wartime Hong Kong, balancing gothic fantasy and historical fiction. Next is Craig DiLouie’s The Summer Fun Massacre; here narrator Garrett Michael Brown anchors a grisly summer camp mystery with understated authority, while Elizabeth Cappuccino’s brief appearances as survivors add an intimate counterpoint. Jo and Alex conclude with Luke Dumas's Nothing Tastes as Good, where Graham Halstead’s deeply empathetic performance and an ensemble cast narrating news reports and social media posts transform a horror novel into a thoughtful examination of fatphobia, shame, and public judgment. Whether confronting ghosts, revisiting old crimes, or exploring the consequences of impossible choices, these audiobooks demonstrate how exceptional narration adds emotional depth to even the darkest stories.   Audiobooks Discussed: The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, read by Natalie Naudus (Macmillan Audio) The Summer Fun Massacre by Craig DiLouie, read by Garrett Michael Brown and Elizabeth Cappuccino (Hachette Audio) Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas, read by Graham Halstead with Ali Andre Ali, Raquel Beattie, Cassandra Campbell, and James Anderson Foster (Simon & Schuster Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  New Earphones Award Winners 16.07.2026 27мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Laura Rossi about three Earphones Award–winning audiobooks whose narrators transport listeners in strikingly different ways. Recorded live before audiences across the country, The Land and Its People captures David Sedaris at his best: His impeccable timing and disarming honesty create an immersive listening experience that can be as moving as it is funny. Andrew Sean Greer's Villa Coco, read by Edoardo Ballerini, carries listeners to Tuscany, where Ballerini's exceptional performance turns a wonderful book into an unforgettable listen. Jo and Laura close by previewing Hallie Cantor’s novel, Like This, but Funnier, with Helen Laser’s deft narration capturing both the wit and vulnerability of a flawed screenwriter at a professional crossroads. From David Sedaris’s unmistakable voice to Edoardo Ballerini’s immersive storytelling and Helen Laser’s razor-sharp comic timing, this episode celebrates narrators whose performances don't simply accompany a book—they shape the entire listening experience.   Audiobooks Discussed: The Land and Its People, written and read by David Sedaris (Hachette Audio) Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer, read by Edoardo Ballerini (Random HouseAudio) Like This, But Funnier by Hallie Cantor, read by Helen Laser (Simon & Schuster Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Golden Voices: Hollywood, Romance, and Revenge 09.07.2026 26мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Michele Cobb about three audiobooks full of unexpected turns, each narrated by Golden Voice performers at the top of their craft. Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Howard Hughes feel uncannily real in The Original by Priya Parmar, as Cassandra Campbell's nuanced narration blurs the line between historical fact and imaginative fiction. Walter Mosley's Ghalen: A Romance in Black begins as a love story before shifting into a coming-of-age story of family, grief, and community, a transition made seamless by Dion Graham's emotionally intuitive narration. They wrap up with The Divorce by Frieda McFadden, where Marin Ireland, January LaVoy, and Edoardo Ballerini deliver performances that keep a fast-moving psychological thriller compelling through every twist, turn, and implausible revelation. Whether it's historical fiction that feels like memoir, a romance novel that defies expectations, or a thriller powered by an exceptional ensemble cast, these audiobooks show how masterful narration can make every surprise land.   Audiobooks Discussed: The Original: A Novel written by Priya Parmar, read by Cassandra Campbell (Random House Audio) Ghalen: A Romance in Black written by Walter Mosley, read by Dion Graham (HarperAudio) The Divorce written by Frieda McFadden, read by January LaVoy, Marin Ireland and Edoardo Ballerini (Dreamscape) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Writing a Life, Reading It Aloud 02.07.2026 31мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Stephen Cummings about three celebrity memoirs that reveal the many ways that authors tell their own stories in audio. They begin with Arsenio by Arsenio Hall and Alan Eisenstock, narrated by Hall, whose lively, charismatic performance revisits the groundbreaking years of The Arsenio Hall Show and its cultural impact. Then they discuss Famesick, written and read by Lena Dunham, a candid and often unsettling memoir that examines fame, illness, ambition, and the costs of living in public. Finally, they turn to True Crime, narrated by Patricia Cornwell, whose measured delivery guides listeners through a difficult Southern childhood and the winding path that led her to create Kay Scarpetta. Together, these audiobooks show how memoir narration can become a second act of storytelling, with each author using voice, pacing, and perspective to reshape the stories they tell about themselves.   Audiobooks discussed: Arsenio by Arsenio Hall with Alan Eisenstock, read by the Arsenio Hall (Simon & Schuster Audio) Famesick, written and read by Lena Dunham (Random House Audio) True Crime, written and read by Patricia Cornwell (Hachette Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Listening to Short Stories That Linger 25.06.2026 28мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Kendra Winchester about three inventive story collections that reveal just how expansive audiobook storytelling can be. They begin with Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg, performed by a seven-person cast including Marin Ireland and Samantha Desz, where stories centered on fatness, vulnerability, and community take on added intimacy through distinct narrative voices. Then they discuss My Dear You by Rachel Khong, narrated by Xiaoling Pan, Rachel Khong, Zhen Zhao, and Annie Q. Riegel, a wildly imaginative collection that moves effortlessly between speculative fiction, satire, emotional realism, and the uncanny. Finally, they turn to Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar, with narrator Rachel Elizabeth Smith bringing warmth, precision, and quiet intensity to stories filled with fairy tales, scholarship, women’s lives, and acts of self-rescue. Together, these audiobooks demonstrate how short fiction thrives in audio—each narrator shaping tone, atmosphere, and emotional texture in ways that make every story feel immediate and distinct.   Audio Books Discussed: Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg, read by Kristen DiMercurio, MW Cartozian Wilson, Marin Ireland, Lindsey Dorcus, Chrysanthy Balis, Samantha Desz, and Kristen Sieh (Random House Audio) My Dear You by Rachel Khong, read by Jialing Pan, Rachel Khong, Jen Zhao, and Annie Q. Riegel (Random House Audio) Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar, read by Rachel Elizabeth Smith (Macmillan Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Kids Confront a Changing World 18.06.2026 29мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with Kirkus young readers’ editor Laura Simeon about three middle-grade audiobooks that explore difficult subjects with honesty, empathy, and respect for young listeners. In Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, narrator Emma Ladji brings warmth and steadiness to young Harper’s story as she navigates her parents’ divorce, shifting friendships, and the rescued horse who becomes central to her new life. Karise Yansen’s calm, measured narration of Matthew Fox’s The Lovely Dark grounds a lyrical story of grief, loss, and the afterlife in vivid emotional reality. And in Tae Keller’s When Tomorrow Burns, a seamless ensemble cast—Eddy Lee, Annie Q. Riegel, Sara Matsui-Colby, Emily Woo Zeller, and Tae Keller—captures the uncertainty and intensity of middle school friendships unfolding against the backdrop of climate anxiety and change. Together, these audiobooks recognize that middle-grade kids confront complicated situations and deserve stories that speak to those uncertainties with honesty and care.   Audiobooks Discussed: Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, read by Emma Ladji (Listening Library)   The Lovely Dark by Matthew Fox, read by Karise Yansen (Hachette Audio)   When Tomorrow Burns by Tae Keller, read by Eddy Lee, Annie Q. Riegel, Sara Matsui-Colby, and Emily Woo Zeller (Listening Library)     Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Savannah Guthrie, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Finding the Voice 11.06.2026 24мин

  Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Leslie Fine about three audiobooks that range from memoir to thriller to literary biography. They begin with Unread: A Memoir of Learning (and Loving) To Read on TikTok by Oliver James, where narrator James Shippy brings warmth and enthusiasm to the author’s account of achieving literacy as an adult and discovering the enduring pleasures of books. Then, they turn to Tiffany Crum’s This Story Might Save Your Life. Driven by the energetic, emotionally layered narration of Julia Whelan and Sean Patrick Hopkins, its use of podcast clips, voicemail messages, and layered audio production heightens a suspenseful missing-person mystery. And they end with Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer; Molly Ringwald’s warm, quietly authoritative narration guides listeners through the career of an author whose books have shaped generations of readers. Together, these audiobooks prove that the right narrator can turn a good story into an irresistible listen. Audiobooks Discussed: Unread: A Memoir of Learning (and Loving) To Read on TikTok by Oliver James, read by James Shippy (Hachette Audio) This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum, read by Julia Whelan and Sean Patrick Hopkins (Macmillan Audio) Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer, read by Molly Ringwald and Mark Oppenheimer (Penguin Random House Audio)   Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus, and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Savannah Guthrie, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Navigating The Divorce by Freida McFadden 05.06.2026 16мин

  On this special sponsored episode of Behind the Mic, Kirkus’ Michele Cobb is joined by acclaimed narrator January LaVoy. Together, they go behind the scenes of recording Freida McFadden’s latest bestseller, The Divorce—without spoilers. The novel explores the unraveling of a marriage, and the audiobook is performed by a trio of narrators portraying the three characters at its center: January LaVoy, Edoardo Ballerini, and Marin Ireland. Michele and January discuss the importance of honoring the author’s words, collaborating with her fellow narrators, and how January created the voice for and built the character of Veronica, the other, younger woman.   Audiobook Discussed: The Divorce by Freida McFadden, read by January LaVoy, Edoardo Ballerini & Marin Ireland (Dreamscape Media)   This episode of Behind the Mic is brought to you by Dreamscape Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Three Very Different Roads Through Fiction 04.06.2026 21мин

  From haunted New Jersey suburbs to melancholy Irish landscapes to the contested wilds of the American West, Alan Minskoff joins host Jo Reed to discuss three sharply different works of fiction in audio. Tom Perrotta’s Ghost Town, narrated by Robert Petkoff, blends grief, adolescence, and the supernatural through Petkoff’s nuanced character work, while Derbhle Crotty and Darragh Shannon bring quiet emotional precision to The News From Dublin, evoking the atmosphere of longing and displacement in Colm Tóibín’s story collection. The conversation closes with Taylor Brown’s Wolvers, read by Ramiz Monsef, whose vivid performance captures the tensions between ranchers, militias, environmentalists, and wolves in the modern West. These audiobooks may share little besides the genre of fiction, but each narrator creates a fully realized world listeners can step into and stay with long after the final chapter.   Audiobooks Discussed: Ghost Town by Tom Perrotta, read by Robert Petkoff (Simon & Schuster Audio) The News From Dublin: Stories by Colm Tóibín, read by Derbhle Crotty and Darragh Shannon (Simon & Schuster Audio) Wolvers by Taylor Brown, read by Ramiz Monsef (Recorded Books Inc.)   Support for Behind the Mic comes from HarperCollins Focus and HarperCollins Christian Publishing, publishers of some of your favorite audiobooks and authors, including Reba McEntire, Bob Goff, Savannah Guthrie, Max Lucado, Lysa TerKeurst, and many more.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Still Here: Three Memoirs That Don’t Look Away 28.05.2026 25мин

  Three women tell deeply personal stories in audiobooks that gain even more force through performance. Michele Cobb joins host Jo Reed to discuss A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot, who discovered that her husband had drugged her and arranged to have dozens of men assault her over the course of many years. The book recounts her life, the trial, and the reckoning that followed, all narrated by Emma Thompson with remarkable restraint and empathy. Next comes a discussion of The End of My Life Is Killing Me by Annabelle Gurwitch, read by the author with warmth, comic timing, and mischievous candor as she navigates stage 4 lung cancer and divorce. Finally, they discuss You With the Sad Eyes, written and read by actor Christina Applegate, who reflects on childhood trauma, fame, cancer, and living with multiple sclerosis; her unguarded narration—complete with journal entries, cracked laughter, and tearful moments—gives the book unusual emotional immediacy.  These memoirs don’t offer neat resolutions, but they do reveal the special intimacy that happens when difficult stories are spoken aloud.   Audiobooks Discussed: A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides by Gisèle Pelicot with Judith Perrignon; translated by Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver; read by Emma Thompson (Penguin Random House Audio)   The End of My Life is Killing Me: The Unexpected Joys of a Cancer Slacker by Annabelle Gurwitch, read by the author and Andie MacDowell (Zibby Books)   You With the Sad Eyes: A Memoir written and read by Christina Applegate (Hachette Audio)   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Working Lives in Three Audiobooks 21.05.2026 29мин

  Contributor Stephen Cummings joins host Jo Reed to talk about David Pogue’s Apple: The First 50 Years, which Pogue narrates with the confidence and curiosity of a longtime tech journalist, weaving in archival clips and company lore. They turn to Noam Scheiber’s Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, where André Santana’s restrained and intelligent narration underscores the frustrations of workers organizing at companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and Apple. Finally, Woody Brown’s Upward Bound employs a strong cast led by T. R. Knight to explore life inside an underfunded adult day program, giving its central character a vivid and deeply affecting inner voice. All three audiobooks look closely at ambition, labor, and the gap between how work is imagined and how it’s lived. Audiobooks Discussed: Apple: The First 50 Years written and read by David Pogue (Simon & Schuster Audio)   Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class by Noam Scheiber,  read by André Santana (Macmillan Audio)   Upward Bound  by Woody Brown, read by T.R. Knight, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Alex Edelman, Pete Holmes, Midori Francis, Carlos Miranda, Brandon Flynn, and Nikki M. James (Random House Audio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Exploring Kathryn Stockett’s The Calamity Club 15.05.2026 13мин

  On this special sponsored episode of Behind the Mic, Kirkus’ Michele Cobb is joined by Amy Metsch, associate publisher and director of audio programming at Spiegel & Grau, to talk about Kathryn Stockett’s highly anticipated new novel, The Calamity Club, narrated by the powerhouse team of January LaVoy and Jenna Lamia. Stockett’s new novel, her first since The Help in 2009, is about female friendship, rising to the occasion in the face of constant adversity, and some of the darker parts of our collective history. Michele and Amy discuss the creation of the audiobook and how Lamia and LaVoy bring to life two distinct narrative voices, 11-year-old Meg and 24-year-old Bertie.   Audiobook Discussed: The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett, read by January LaVoy & Jenna Lamia (Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks)   This episode of Behind the Mic is brought to you by Spiegel & Grau Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices