Send your book question to What Do I Read Next? our new personalized advice column for book lovers. Let the Ravenous Readers—our readers' advisory professionals—send some reading love your way!
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I need audiobook recommendations. No mystery or horror, please! I’d love something to listen to on the lighter side, with a positive or uplifting theme. It would be great if there were no death or tragedy involved. I’ll take adult fiction, young adult fiction, biographies, or nonfiction memoirs, as long as they’re well written. I’ve recently read the entire Clan of the Cave Bear series, a Billy Crystal biography, and am currently waiting for Juliet by Anne Fortier. Help me out?
Signed,
Lost Listener
Dear Listener,
Audiobooks are great, aren’t they? You can immerse yourself in a story like a conversation with a good friend. Here are a few that are fun, engaging, and engrossing!
Amy Poehler’s Yes Please is a quick but punchy memoir-essay collection. It's not always a ball of laughs, but she can sure tell stories. The audiobook has the bonus of a live chapter and a few interjections from some of her friends.
Or maybe you want to go a completely different direction and start an epic story of an alternate history in which dragons were used to fight the Napoleonic Wars. His Majesty's Dragon is about the relationship that develops between a pilot and his dragon; and of course that pesky war, as well. There are several installments to this series already, so you could fall in love with Temeraire and his human over the course of many weeks!
Catherine the Great was a boss. She might have considered herself a “benevolent despot” but she did a lot of stuff for Russia, and honestly her humanist ideals are probably worth considering for the present. Also, she was a riot. And totally scandalous.
How about some science fiction? Crosstalk is set in the near future, and is an interesting look at our culture of information, to the point where soulmates can get a procedure done to hear each other's thoughts. But it goes wrong for our heroine. Good thing there's someone she can count on to help her through it! Connie Willis is spectacular at witty sci-fi, and the narrator grasps that in this book.
There’s nothing more positive and uplifting than a romance, especially one set in the aftermath of a terrible war. Through the Storm is the first in a series centered around three brothers who are part of the Gens de Couleurs Libres during and after the Civil War who find love with strong, independent women. In this installment, Sable and Raimond are fun and endearing, and the narration is supple.
In The Amulet of Samarkand, the narrator wins. If you like snarky djinn and young wizards that aren’t really like Harry Potter at all, you’ll definitely enjoy this book, which is the first in a trilogy.
Looking for more? You can always wander around our Audiobooks page!
Enjoy!
JP from Ravenous Readers
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Any other ideas for Lost Listener?? Let us know in the comments below!
