Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

In today’s bonus edition of Behind the Mic, host Jo Reed is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Naxos AudioBooks with narrators David Timson and Rupert Degas. Naxos has been publishing their audiobooks with a focus on classic literature and classical music since 1994. Hear more about the extraordinary history of Naxos from narrators who have been with the publisher for decades. Get a behind-the-sc...

Adjoa Andoh narrates a short story collection of speculative fiction by Ann Leckie. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this collection that includes works in the worlds of the Imperial Radch and the Raven Tower, as well as stand-alone pieces. Andoh’s stellar skills are on display in every piece, making the stories of gods, humans, and other assorted beings incredibly compelling. A...

Zoë Chao and Noah Reid bring a delightful goofiness to this time-travel romance. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the fun and talent that goes into Cara Bastone’s latest full-cast romance. Five years ago, June stumbled into a wormhole, falling decades into the future. When her ancient phone turns on and lets her make a call, she finds Mikey, her bewildered colleague from the pas...

Alejandro Antonio Ruiz embodies all of the roiling emotions in this compelling queer teen love story. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Jonny Garza Villa’s dynamic audiobook and Ruiz’s skilled narration. Rafie learned his love of mariachi from his abuelo. He’s devastated when his abuelo dies yet is determined to bring home another first-place trophy from the Mariachi Extravaganza...

Emily Raboteau reads with purpose, a clear voice, and a conversational tone that works well for the personal essays on “Mothering Against ‘the Apocalypse’” in this satisfying audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Raboteau moves her prose and delivery between her varied subjects; a sense of wonder at identifying birds, exasperation at dealing with New York City real esta...

Anthony Rey Perez has just the right tone for this satirical debut novel, especially as he aptly mimics the protagonist’s self-justifying voice and truth twisting. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how Perez’s pace moves the story forward—no matter the circumstance. Javi Perez succeeds until he doesn’t by playing the victim “trifecta”: tragic circumstance (his drug-dealer father i...

Deepa Samuel reads crisply and does well with the various languages in this globe-spanning audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minksoff discuss how her carefully articulated style makes this history/memoir with travel stories vivid. The author, a Muslim Indian woman now living in Brooklyn, brings a unique point of view to this “irreverent history of travel.” As a woman of color, she has e...

Journalist Nicholas Kristof delivers his monumental memoir—by turns harrowing (think gunfire, rats, Darfur) and inspiring (he mentors young journalists, starts a nonprofit, and champions rural America). Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Kristof’s thoughtful narration as he covers his long and distinguished career. He’s worked four decades as a reporter, foreign correspondent, bure...

Alma Cuervo’s warm, rich timbre and measured style suit Julia Alvarez’s captivating audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this story of an author with a magical twist. A novelist leaves Vermont and returns to her native Dominican Republic to bury her untold (unfinished) works. She creates a cemetery for the stories, and their imaginary characters take over. Alvarez has craf...

Narrating his own work, Salman Rushdie offers an emotionally resonant account of the shocking knife attack that almost ended his life. Host Jo Reed and AudioFIle’s Michele Cobb discuss his memoir of the attack, its immediate aftermath, and the difficult recovery. Interwoven throughout are musings on literature, writing, politics, friendship, religion, and more, delivered with passion and more than...

Amy Lin’s performance of her memoir is so staggeringly beautiful it will break your heart. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Lin’s story of loss. Lin’s husband Kurtis was running a virtual half-marathon when he dropped dead for no discoverable reason. He was 32 years old. She was left absolutely broken. She tells her memoir in vignettes of meeting and losing Kurtis, and her grief i...

Journalist Kara Swisher specializes in reporting on the Internet, and she narrates her memoir with urgency and focus. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this history of Silicon Valley from Swisher’s perspective. With more than a decade of podcasting experience, Swisher has developed a well-honed, rapid-fire delivery; an aura of journalistic integrity; and a firsthand knowledge of te...

Entertainer Whoopi Goldberg’s raspy timbre and amused tone make her the only person appropriate to narrate her memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss what Michele calls an “audio must.” The story of Goldberg’s career is skillfully woven into anecdotes featuring her exceptional mother, Emma Johnson, and her unique older brother, Clyde. All will remain in listeners’ thoughts after...

Narrating her memoir, Sloane Crosley delivers ironic humor that balances the horror of back-to-back traumas. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the bite that Crosley brings to her memoir. Admitting the unlikelihood and disorientation of what happened, Crosley links the vulnerability she felt at a burgled apartment and, a month later, at the suicide of her boss and friend, Russell Pe...

Hanako Footman performs this quiet novel featuring Koishi and her father, Nagare. They run the Kamogawa Diner, a small restaurant on a side road in Kyoto. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss Hisashi Kashiwai’s story of food and connections. Koishi and Nagare help customers find lost meals from their past, researching down to the most minute details. Footman’s narration captures...

Eunice Wong performs Lisa Ko’s novel about a decades-long friendship between three Asian American women. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss what Kendra calls one of the must-listens of the year. Giselle Chin, Chackie Ong, and Ellen Ng come of age in the ’80s and ’90s, trying to make their way in the world. Wong’s performance captures the friends’ perspectives, giving each a uni...

Pete Cross performs Garrard Conley’s debut novel of a star-crossed love affair. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this beautifully devastating story of love between minister Nathaniel Whitfield and physician Arthur Lyman in Puritan New England. Cross’s narration captures the intense relationship between the two men; he performs their dialogue with deep emotion. As the two men’...

Writer Morgan Parker, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, performs her collection of essays that revolve around religious trauma, mental health, racial justice, and life as a single person in America. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this intimate collection. Parker’s performance expresses her complex feelings, giving her ideas additional emotional weight. A bea...

Jason Grasl performs Ned Blackhawk’s National Book Award-winning history of the Native peoples of what is now known as the United States. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Kendra Winchester discuss this sweeping work that illuminates the histories of Indigenous peoples, from contact with early conquistadors of New Spain to the Indigenous activists of the mid-twentieth century. A must-listen for any his...

Shaun Taylor-Corbett seamlessly narrates the majority of this haunted novel with a masterful assist by Charley Flyte. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss a magical addition to Cynthia Leitich Smith’s young adult novels. Hughie Wolfe, an avid actor, is asked to volunteer at a Halloween haunted house near the crossroads of his small Kansas town. Hughie and a group of friends have beg...

Maya Saroya gives an expressive performance in Hafsah Faizal’s thrilling YA historical fantasy filled with vampires, action, romance, and tea. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this compelling story set in a richly built world packed with secrets—performed beautifully. Saroya portrays Arthie Casimir in a smooth, deadly tone that highlights her fierce determination to protect thos...

Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest book is a transcendent feat of poetry, memoir, and—well, magic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Abdurraqib’s mesmerizing narration and rich writing. His narration is as breathless and beautiful as his prose, and you can hear the love in his voice as he performs it. It’s an ode to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio; a love letter to basketball; a meditation...

Julia Whelan performs Emily Henry’s funny story, much like a Shakespearean comedy is a funny story, of a woman who falls in love with her ex-fiancé’s new girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the joy of getting to hear another excellent Emily Henry and Julia Whelan audiobook pairing. When Daphne’s fiance, Peter, realizes he’s in love with his formerly plato...

Narrators Natalie Beran and Jackson Bliss portray queer Russian-Maori siblings Greta and Valdin in this wise, hilarious novel about a loving and chaotic New Zealand family. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Rebecca K. Reilly’s novel, now released in the U.S. Beran depicts Greta, a 20-something PhD student in a perky, wry tone that is dripping with millennial angst. Bliss narrates...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss a celebrated YA novel that is featured in AudioFile’s new Audiobook Club. Narrator Jesse Nobess establishes a determined voice for high school sophomore Tre Brun. After losing his older brother who was a star on their high school basketball team, he finds his own passion for the game. Nobess captures Tre’s emotions as he pushes himself to reach hi...