-
How to Read the Air
- Narrated by: Corey Allen
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
How to Read the Air
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,467
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,662
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,651
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Behold the Dreamers (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Imbolo Mbue
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,434
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,884
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,871
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself; his wife, Neni; and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty - and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses' summer home in the Hamptons.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Overhyped
- By Rochelle on 08-27-16
By: Imbolo Mbue
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 213,328
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 193,039
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 192,069
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 140
Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who offers a colorful debut work of fiction. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It's the `70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos - a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized by themilitary. He hopes for new prospects in D.C.'s gentrification process.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, wonderful reader
- By Lisbeth on 11-22-11
By: Dinaw Mengestu
-
Nightcrawling
- A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
- By: Leila Mottley
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,366
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,231
Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Metaphors - getcher Metaphors
- By Nicole Del Sesto on 08-09-22
By: Leila Mottley
-
Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 526
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 451
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
-
The Covenant of Water
- By: Abraham Verghese
- Narrated by: Abraham Verghese
- Length: 31 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,467
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,662
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,651
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Story Telling At Its Best
- By Regina on 05-06-23
By: Abraham Verghese
-
Behold the Dreamers (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
- By: Imbolo Mbue
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,434
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,884
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,871
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself; his wife, Neni; and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty - and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses' summer home in the Hamptons.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Overhyped
- By Rochelle on 08-27-16
By: Imbolo Mbue
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 213,328
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 193,039
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 192,069
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 140
Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who offers a colorful debut work of fiction. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It's the `70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos - a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized by themilitary. He hopes for new prospects in D.C.'s gentrification process.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, wonderful reader
- By Lisbeth on 11-22-11
By: Dinaw Mengestu
-
Nightcrawling
- A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
- By: Leila Mottley
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,366
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,231
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,231
Kiara and her brother, Marcus, are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Regal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the nine-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Metaphors - getcher Metaphors
- By Nicole Del Sesto on 08-09-22
By: Leila Mottley
-
Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 526
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 451
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
-
An American Family
- A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice
- By: Khizr Khan
- Narrated by: Khizr Khan
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 160
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 146
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 146
Khizr Khan electrified viewers around the world when he took the stage at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And when he offered to lend Donald Trump his own much-read and dog-eared pocket Constitution, his gesture perfectly encapsulated the feelings of millions.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Inspirational immigrant memoir
- By Mark on 04-16-18
By: Khizr Khan
-
What Is the What
- By: Dave Eggers
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 20 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,661
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,118
Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation, and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Story Aching to be Told
- By Susan on 04-24-13
By: Dave Eggers
-
The Last Year of the War
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 951
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 844
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 841
Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa 14-year-old in 1943 - aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal US resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity. The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Historical Fiction at its Best!
- By KAT M K on 04-06-19
By: Susan Meissner
-
Wait Till You See Me Dance: Stories
- By: Deb Olin Unferth
- Narrated by: Deb Olin Unferth, Edward Carey
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 20
An Unferth story lures you in with a voice that seems amiable and lighthearted, but it swerves in sudden and surprising ways that reveal, in terrifying clarity, the rage, despair, and profound mournfulness that have taken up residence at the heart of the American dream. These stories often take place in an exaggerated or heightened reality, a quality that is reminiscent of the work of Donald Barthelme, Lorrie Moore, and George Saunders, but in Unferth's unforgettable collection she carves out territory that is entirely her own.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Moving Stories, Quality Reading
- By Debra Hartrum on 01-09-18
By: Deb Olin Unferth
-
Leviathan
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 117
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 83
When his closest friend, Benjamin Sachs, accidentally blows himself up on a Wisconsin road, Peter Aaron attempts to piece together the life that led to Sachs' tragic demise and determine the reason for his death.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Better than the "trilogy"
- By P K on 06-09-11
By: Paul Auster
-
Moon Palace
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 140
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 111
Against the mythical dreamscape of America, Auster brilliantly weaves the bizarre narrative of Marco Stanley Fogg, an orphan searching for love, his father, and the key to the riddle of his origin and fate.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
I don't get it, I thoroughly enjoy it though.
- By Æ Mann on 08-16-17
By: Paul Auster
-
Oracle Night
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Paul Auster
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 172
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 103
Several months into his recovery from a near-fatal illness, 34-year-old novelist Sidney Orr enters a stationery shop in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn and buys a blue notebook. It is September 18, 1982, and for the next nine days Orr will live under the spell of this blank book, trapped inside a world of eerie premonitions and bewildering events that threaten to destroy his marriage and undermine his faith in reality.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Master Speaks
- By Dean on 09-20-05
By: Paul Auster
-
To Paradise
- A Novel
- By: Hanya Yanagihara
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Catherine Ho, BD Wong, and others
- Length: 28 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,038
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 923
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 926
To Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvelous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love—partners, lovers, children, friends, family, and even our fellow citizens—and the pain that ensues when we cannot.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fabulous
- By Patty66215 on 01-15-22
By: Hanya Yanagihara
-
The Brooklyn Follies
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Paul Auster
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 442
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 275
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 271
Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore, a far cry from the brilliant academic career he'd begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom's boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to the "ancient kingdom of Brooklyn, New York".
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brooklyn IS Still the World
- By Roni on 04-12-07
By: Paul Auster
-
The Prague Sonata
- By: Bradford Morrow
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 122
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 108
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
In the early days of the new millennium, pages of a worn and weathered original sonata manuscript - the gift of a Czech immigrant living out her final days in Queens - come into the hands of Meta Taverner, a young musicologist whose concert piano career was cut short by an injury. To Meta's eye, it appears to be an authentic 18th-century work; to her discerning ear, the music rendered there is commanding, hauntingly beautiful, clearly the undiscovered composition of a master. But there is no indication of who the composer might be.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful topic, writer gets in the way
- By Amber's mom on 07-31-18
By: Bradford Morrow
-
A Map for the Missing
- A Novel
- By: Belinda Huijuan Tang
- Narrated by: Austin Ku
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Tang Yitian has been living in America, estranged from his family, for almost a decade when he receives an urgent phone call from his mother: his father has disappeared from the family’s rural village in China. When Yitian returns home and attempts to piece together what may have happened, he struggles to navigate the country’s impenetrable bureaucracy as an outsider. So he seeks out a childhood friend: Tian Hanwen, who as a teenager was “sent down” from Shanghai to Yitian’s village as part of China’s rustication campaign.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful story, distractingly poor narration
- By Pen Name on 09-21-22
-
Winter Journal
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Paul Auster
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 89
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 93
Facing his 63rd winter, internationally acclaimed novelist Paul Auster sits down to write a history of his body and its sensations - both pleasurable and painful. Thirty years after the publication of The Invention of Solitude, in which he wrote so movingly about fatherhood, Auster gives us a second unconventional memoir in which he writes about his mother's life and death. Winter Journal is a highly personal meditation on the body, time, and memory, by one of our most intellectually elegant writers.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Memorable
- By Diane on 09-02-12
By: Paul Auster
Editorial reviews
Since How to Read the Air is full of characters who fail to communicate, it presents a challenge for Corey Allen: How do you narrate a book full of failures in communication? Allen tackles the text by choosing to almost never modify his voice as he switches from character to character. He is always Jonas, the main character and narrator, and he delivers the dialogue with the same flat, pained intonation whether the line is spoken by Jonas, a young schoolteacher living in New York City, or Jonas’ wife Angela, a lawyer he meets when she’s an intern. Allen only adds a slight accent when Jonas’ mother and father originally from Ethiopia are speaking.
The novel begins with Jonas recalling the story of his parents reuniting in Peoria, Illinois, after a three-year separation. Jonas’ mother is pregnant with him, though his father doesn’t know it yet. They are on their way to Nashville for a vacation, and it quickly becomes clear that their years apart have caused them to become something worse than strangers. The first half of the book toggles engagingly between the hauntingly written story of Yosef and Mariam’s car ride to Nashville and Jonas’ own story of meeting, falling in love with, and marrying Angela in a cold, metallic, post-9/11 New York City. The second half tackles Yosef’s immigration as Jonas imagines it, from Ethopia to Sudan and eventually to the States, as well as the dissolution of Jonas’ marriage.
In Jonas’ telling, his parents are estranged from each other and their son, and his wife becomes completely isolated from him; all four insist on interacting with the world from a balled-up fetal position. Yet Allen is able to capture the connections that run through these characters despite their fervent struggles to disconnect. By the end of the novel, because Allen never modulates his voice or intonation, the characters develop into a unified voice that speaks a powerful moral. Maggie Frank
Publisher's summary
African-born author Dinaw Mengestu’s prose is praised as “heart-rending and indelible” (Publishers Weekly), and his debut novel The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears was a New York Times Notable Book. In How to Read the Air, Mengestu crafts a moving tale about one man’s search for identity.
After his estranged Ethiopian immigrant father dies, Jonas hopes to answer questions about his heritage and culture. So he leaves his wife and home in New York and sets out across the trail his own parents took when they first arrived in America.
Critic reviews
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
All Our Names
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Korey Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 84
All Our Names is the story of a young man who comes of age during an African revolution, drawn from the hushed halls of his university into the intensifying clamor of the streets outside. But as the line between idealism and violence becomes increasingly blurred, and the path of revolution leads to almost certain destruction, he leaves behind his country and friends for America. There, pretending to be an exchange student, he falls in love with a social worker and settles into the routines of small-town life. Yet this idyll is inescapably darkened by the secrets of his past....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Tale of Two Continents
- By David on 07-31-14
By: Dinaw Mengestu
-
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 140
Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who offers a colorful debut work of fiction. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It's the `70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos - a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized by themilitary. He hopes for new prospects in D.C.'s gentrification process.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, wonderful reader
- By Lisbeth on 11-22-11
By: Dinaw Mengestu
-
The Company You Keep
- By: Neil Gordon
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 36
Set against the rise and fall of the radical antiwar group the Weather Underground, The Company You Keep is a sweeping American saga about sacrifice, the ecstatic righteousness of youth, and the tension between political ideals and family loyalties. When Jason Sinai, one of the last Vietnam-era fugitives still wanted on murder charges for a robbery gone wrong in 1974, encounters a young newspaper reporter in search of a story, he must abandon years of safe underground life for the dangerous life of the road.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Audiobook of the Year
- By connie on 05-13-12
By: Neil Gordon
-
A Chance in the World
- An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home
- By: Steve Pemberton
- Narrated by: Steve Pemberton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 148
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 126
A Chance in the World is the unbelievably true story of a wounded and broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good Book
- By Amazon Customer on 08-19-20
By: Steve Pemberton
-
Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 526
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 451
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
-
Vatican Waltz
- A Novel
- By: Roland Merullo
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 138
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 127
Cynthia Piantedosi lives a quiet, unassuming life with her elderly father just outside of Boston. When she loses her beloved grandmother as a child, her faith takes a turn for the devout, and she begins experiencing what she describes as "spells" - moments of such intense prayer that she loses herself. Uninterested in boys and a social life, she develops a deep friendship with the parish priest, whose ideas are often seen as too provocative by his congregation but who encourages her to explore her spells.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I enjoyed it until the last page.
- By Pam on 08-15-16
By: Roland Merullo
-
All Our Names
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Korey Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 94
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 84
All Our Names is the story of a young man who comes of age during an African revolution, drawn from the hushed halls of his university into the intensifying clamor of the streets outside. But as the line between idealism and violence becomes increasingly blurred, and the path of revolution leads to almost certain destruction, he leaves behind his country and friends for America. There, pretending to be an exchange student, he falls in love with a social worker and settles into the routines of small-town life. Yet this idyll is inescapably darkened by the secrets of his past....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Tale of Two Continents
- By David on 07-31-14
By: Dinaw Mengestu
-
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
- By: Dinaw Mengestu
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 140
Ethiopian émigré Dinaw Mengestu is a skilled observer of people who offers a colorful debut work of fiction. Insightful and swiftly paced, this novel evokes past and present in the course of its compelling narrative. It's the `70s, and one D.C. neighborhood is undergoing big changes. In the mix is Ethiopian grocery owner Sepha Stephanos - a man with a complex past who fled his homeland after seeing his father brutalized by themilitary. He hopes for new prospects in D.C.'s gentrification process.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book, wonderful reader
- By Lisbeth on 11-22-11
By: Dinaw Mengestu
-
The Company You Keep
- By: Neil Gordon
- Narrated by: Donald Corren, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne, and others
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 48
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 36
Set against the rise and fall of the radical antiwar group the Weather Underground, The Company You Keep is a sweeping American saga about sacrifice, the ecstatic righteousness of youth, and the tension between political ideals and family loyalties. When Jason Sinai, one of the last Vietnam-era fugitives still wanted on murder charges for a robbery gone wrong in 1974, encounters a young newspaper reporter in search of a story, he must abandon years of safe underground life for the dangerous life of the road.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Audiobook of the Year
- By connie on 05-13-12
By: Neil Gordon
-
A Chance in the World
- An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home
- By: Steve Pemberton
- Narrated by: Steve Pemberton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 148
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 126
A Chance in the World is the unbelievably true story of a wounded and broken boy destined to become a man of resilience, determination, and vision. Through it all, Steve's story teaches us that no matter how broken our past, no matter how great our misfortunes, we have it in us to create a new beginning and to build a place where love awaits.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Good Book
- By Amazon Customer on 08-19-20
By: Steve Pemberton
-
Dreams from My Father
- A Story of Race and Inheritance
- By: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 526
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 455
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 451
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
-
Vatican Waltz
- A Novel
- By: Roland Merullo
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 138
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 127
Cynthia Piantedosi lives a quiet, unassuming life with her elderly father just outside of Boston. When she loses her beloved grandmother as a child, her faith takes a turn for the devout, and she begins experiencing what she describes as "spells" - moments of such intense prayer that she loses herself. Uninterested in boys and a social life, she develops a deep friendship with the parish priest, whose ideas are often seen as too provocative by his congregation but who encourages her to explore her spells.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I enjoyed it until the last page.
- By Pam on 08-15-16
By: Roland Merullo
-
The Book of Separation
- A Memoir
- By: Tova Mirvis
- Narrated by: Tova Mirvis
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 105
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
Born and raised in a tight-knit Orthodox Jewish family, Tova Mirvis committed herself to observing the rules and rituals prescribed by this way of life. After all, to observe was to be accepted and to be accepted was to be loved. She married a man from within the fold and quickly began a family. But over the years, her doubts became noisier than her faith, and at age 40 she could no longer breathe in what had become a suffocating existence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So many parallels
- By Cortney on 01-05-18
By: Tova Mirvis
-
The Return
- Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between
- By: Hisham Matar
- Narrated by: Hisham Matar
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 975
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 866
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 867
When Hisham Matar was a 19-year-old university student in England, his father was kidnapped. One of the Qaddafi regime's most prominent opponents in exile, he was held in a secret prison in Libya. Hisham would never see him again. But he never gave up hope that his father might still be alive. "Hope," as he writes, "is cunning and persistent." Twenty-two years later, after the fall of Qaddafi, the prison cells were empty, and there was no sign of Jaballa Matar. Hisham returned with his mother and wife to the homeland he never thought he'd go back to again.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Touching memoir. Consider hard copy
- By Joschka Philipps on 02-22-18
By: Hisham Matar
-
The Red-Haired Woman
- A Novel
- By: Orhan Pamuk
- Narrated by: John Lee, Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 75
On the outskirts of a town 30 miles from Istanbul, a master well digger and his young apprentice are hired to find water on a barren plain. As they struggle in the summer heat, excavating without luck meter by meter, the two will develop a filial bond neither has known before - not the poor middle-aged bachelor nor the middle-class boy whose father disappeared after being arrested for politically subversive activities. The pair will come to depend on each other and exchange stories reflecting disparate views of the world.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Drags On
- By T. Conrad on 10-25-17
By: Orhan Pamuk
-
The Darling
- By: Russell Banks
- Narrated by: Mary Beth Hurt
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 378
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 128
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 133
The Darling is Hannah Musgrave's story, told emotionally and convincingly years later by Hannah herself. A political radical and member of the Weather Underground, Hannah has fled America to West Africa, where she and her Liberian husband become friends and colleagues of Charles Taylor, the notorious warlord and now ex-president of Liberia. When Taylor leaves for the United States in an effort to escape embezzlement charges, he's immediately placed in prison.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Complex and compelling
- By Ellen H. Anderson on 02-05-05
By: Russell Banks
-
In the Light of What We Know
- By: Zia Haider Rahman
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 82
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 82
One September morning in 2008, an investment banker approaching forty, his career in collapse and his marriage unraveling, receives a surprise visitor at his West London townhouse. In the disheveled figure of a South Asian male carrying a backpack the banker recognizes a long-lost friend, a mathematics prodigy who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
dreadful
- By sam on 06-05-15
-
The UnAmericans
- Stories
- By: Molly Antopol
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 111
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 111
Again and again, Molly Antopol’s deeply sympathetic characters struggle for footing in an uncertain world, hounded by forces beyond their control. Their voices are intimate and powerful and they resonate with searing beauty. Antopol is a superb young talent, and The UnAmericans will long be remembered for its wit, humanity, and heart.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sensational stories! Brilliant new author.
- By MidwestGeek on 05-04-14
By: Molly Antopol
-
The Night Ocean
- By: Paul La Farge
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 126
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 117
Marina Willett, MD, has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H. P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends - or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Frustratingly Uneven Due to Clumsy Plot Structure
- By Adam on 06-15-17
By: Paul La Farge
-
After the Eclipse
- A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
A fierce memoir of a mother's murder, a daughter's coming-of-age in the wake of immense loss, and her ultimate mission to know the woman who gave her life.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
True crime memoir
- By Julie on 11-03-17
By: Sarah Perry
-
Speak
- A Novel
- By: Louisa Hall
- Narrated by: Suzan Crowley, Christopher Ashman, Adrienne Rusk, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 84
In a narrative that spans geography and time, from the Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century to a correctional institute in Texas in the near future, and told from the perspectives of five very different characters, Speak considers what it means to be human and what it means to be less than fully alive.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Like nothing else
- By Anonymous User on 06-22-17
By: Louisa Hall
-
They Said They Wanted Revolution
- A Memoir of My Parents
- By: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Narrated by: Neda Toloui-Semnani
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
In 1979, Neda Toloui-Semnani’s parents left the United States for Iran to join the revolution. But the promise of those early heady days in Tehran was warped by the rise of the Islamic Republic. With the new regime came international isolation, cultural devastation, and profound personal loss for Neda. Her father was arrested and her mother was forced to make a desperate escape, pregnant and with Neda in tow.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
I learned so much. Great pacing, felt like I time-traveled
- By Jess Fuchs on 02-07-22
-
The Song and the Silence
- A Story About Family, Race, and What Was Revealed in a Small Town in the Mississippi Delta While Searching for Booker Wright
- By: Yvette Johnson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 204
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 184
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 183
"Have to keep that smile", said Booker Wright in the 1966 NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self-Portrait. At the time Wright was a waiter in a Whites-only restaurant and a local business owner who would become an unwitting icon of the civil rights movement. For he did the unthinkable: Before a national audience, he described what life was truly like for the Black people of Greenwood, Mississippi.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Exceeded every expectation
- By ZeeJ84 on 05-23-21
By: Yvette Johnson
-
The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
- By: Robin Sharma
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
After a bizarre encounter with his lost cousin, Jonathan Landry is compelled to travel across the planet to retrieve letters and mementos that carry the extraordinary secrets that Julian discovered throughout his life. On a remarkable journey that includes visits to the sensual tango halls of Buenos Aires, the haunting catacombs of Paris, the gleaming towers of Shanghai and the mystical deserts of Sedona, The Secret Letters of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari reveals astounding insights on reclaiming your personal power, being true to yourself, and fearlessly living your dreams.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Very Enlightening
- By Jocelyne Ramos on 04-23-19
By: Robin Sharma
What listeners say about How to Read the Air
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Jean
- 06-12-23
Monotonous Tone
I’m not sure if it was the prose or the narrator or both but I couldn’t finish listening to the novel. Perhaps, I’ll try their first novel.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!