Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Cindy Kay narrates a violent retelling of Romeo & Juliet set in the underworld of 1926 Shanghai with a cool voice that matches the tone of the story. Host Jo Reed & AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this captivating YA audiobook. Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov are members of opposing gangs who must work together to save their city from a horrifying new threat. Juliette is a fierce and angry young...

Fall in love with Eve and Jacob in Talia Hibbert’s final Brown sisters novel, narrated with warmth and enthusiasm by Ione Butler. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this sweet, steamy, and hilarious romance. Eve has a hard time sticking to a career, and when her parents confront her, she drives off and stumbles across a picturesque B&B with a help wanted sign. Despite initially bu...

Have you listened to a Victorian novel lately? Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the joy of this ensemble narration of Wilkie Collins’s classic NO NAME. The talented Nicholas Boulton is the primary narrator, and his ability to mimic the elite and humble and capture their cadence and tone is unrivaled. His subtle inflections shape this long but satisfying performance. The stalwart...

This four-character production from L.A. Theatre Works and playwright Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) is a send-up of woke culture, a satire of political correctness, and a most entertaining listening experience. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this production that captures the zeitgeist with controlled mayhem. Liza Weil plays well-meaning Logan, who is directing an el...

A practiced narrator and elegant stylist, Gretel Ehrlich delivers her memoir in a poetic voice. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss how the author of THE SOLACE OF OPEN SPACES narrates in a conversational tone, making for a relaxed listening experience that belies the intense adventures she recounts. She travels to some of the most remote places on earth, mapping the ravages of clim...

Narrator Rebecca Lowman is an excellent choice for Elizabeth Kolbert’s report on the future of our environment. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Lowman’s clear, precise narration that brings a sense of immediacy while bringing energy and intelligence to her narration. The audiobook examines the sinking of New Orleans, carbon capture in Iceland, invasive carp on the Mississippi ri...

An outstanding cast of 87 narrators brings these essays and poems vividly to life. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss this stunning audiobook collection of essays and poems covering 400 years of African American history. Of the many incandescent narrators called upon to bring the stories to life, JD Jackson (“Upon Arrival”), Kevin R. Free (“Cotton”), January LaVoy (“Sally Hemmings”...

Narrator Julia Whelan brings vivid characterizations to Kristin Hannah’s saga about the 1930s Dust Bowl, from the perspective of Elsa Wolcott. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Whelan’s skill at becoming characters and making us ache, smile, and cry for them, their hardships, and their grit. Elsa Wolcott is tall, gangly, unloved by her family, and trapped in a spinster’s life in a...

Anne Lamott’s reading sounds relaxed at first, but as the audio unfolds and listeners come to know how she sees the world, her tone and pacing begin to sound beautiful. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Anne Lamott’s narration of her memoir and how her stream of consciousness style is well suited to audio. She’s a snappy storyteller who charms with her self-effacing perspectives a...

Robert Petkoff narrates a thriller that ricochets listeners from a Florida swamp to the wilds of northern Maine. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten talk about Petkoff’s skill narrating this fast-paced listen. Nina once testified against her wealthy boss when his lethal crimes were revealed, and she was forced to leave her husband and young kids behind in order to protect them. Ten years la...

Zeno Robinson returns to narrate the fifth in Ide’s IQ series. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss Robinson’s skilled narration that grounds this audiobook using his gift for dialogue and skill with action sequences. Robinson eases listeners inside Isaiah Quintabe’s (IQ’s) weary mind as he departs L.A. to look for peace and rejuvenation in Northern California. But trouble follows, a...

Morven Christie’s limpid, Scottish-inflected voice and gentle, enticing tone combine to lure listeners into Sarah Moss’s astonishing seventh novel as effectively as mermaids tempt sailors into the sea. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this memorable tale set at a Scottish holiday camp over the course of a long, rainy day, written in a series of linked vignettes. Each is its own v...

Lex tries hard to ignore her past, when she was known as Girl A in the aftermath of escaping her abusive parents. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Lex’s story, narrated by Ell Potter with a strong yet subtle performance that helps build the psychological tension in the story. The narrative shifts time frames, and Potter’s characterization helps to distinguish the young Lex from th...

Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar are sisters and co-narrators on a hilarious, rapid romp through a series of unfortunate events with the racially ignorant. Host Jo Reed and Michele Cobb discuss the comedic tone of the audiobook’s narration, which also simultaneously peels back the layers of how often and how absurdly poorly Lacey is treated. It is simultaneously infuriating and laugh-out-loud funny, t...

After a deeply touching foreword by Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis and an introduction from Cicely Tyson herself, narrator Robin Miles picks up the torch and delivers 16 riveting, thought-provoking hours of the life and times of the author. AudioFile’s Michele Cobb tells host Jo Reed how this was one of her favorite celebrity autobiographies that she’s ever listened to, and especially poignant gi...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss this collection of Katherine Anne Porter’s fiction, which brings three of her novellas to audio. Until now, her only fiction on audiobook has been SHIP OF FOOLS. Chelsea Stephens gives this matchless storyteller her due in a precise, subtly nuanced performance. These three novellas, among the best in American literature, live as vibrantly here as t...

Narrator Dion Graham shines bright in this YA prequel, set 17 years before Thomas’s bestseller THE HATE U GIVE. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss Graham’s skill at bringing this work to life. Listeners get to know Starr’s father, Maverick, at a sudden shift in his life--he’s become a father and is thrust into a whole new role as a caregiver. Graham adds to the emotional connection...

Ryan Do and Vyvy Nguyen charm listeners in a story of star-crossed lovers and mouthwatering foods, told in fast-paced alternating first-person chapters. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss this sweet YA romance about two teens who fall for each other despite their family’s long-running rivalries. Bao Nguyen waits tables in his family’s Vietnamese restaurant, and Do conveys his anxi...

Kenny Ramos and DeLanna Studi bring a memorable intertribal powwow to life for listeners. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about this exciting new audiobook for children, featuring short stories from sixteen Indigenous authors. Diverse stories with overlapping narratives showcase the joys of coming together as a community while also highlighting the kids’ many different personaliti...

Janina Edwards’s steady and friendly narration suits this children’s biography about the life and activism of Claudette Colvin, who, when she was 15 years old, helped launch the Montgomery bus boycotts by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss how this new audiobook, part of the SHE PERSISTED chapter book series, can inspire young lis...

Imani Parks brings a vibrancy to her narration of this brilliant new fantasy audiobook. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss B.B. Alston’s incredible debut, featuring a young Black girl launched into a supernatural adventure. Amari is worried -- her older brother Quinton has been missing for months. When she gets a mysterious package delivered, she suddenly learns that her brother w...

Narrator Greta Jung captures both the youthful and the adult voices in this Newbery Medal-winning story about family and magic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about Jung’s skills at bringing the characters to life. Author Tae Keller’s story captures intergenerational relationships and blends Korean mythology into the story seamlessly. Lily is a quiet and thoughtful girl who wants...

In today’s bonus edition of Behind the Mic, Nicholas Boulton joins host Jo Reed to discuss his narrations of classics, historical romances, and more. Nicholas’s narration of Dickens’s DAVID COPPERFIELD is the star of our new podcast, Audiobook Break with AudioFile Magazine, and he and Jo share their thoughts on the character work that goes into voicing a Dickens classic and the challenges of narra...

This interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 masterpiece by narrator Sean Astin adds a new layer of pathos and empathy to the classic story. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss Astin’s interpretation that gives millionaire Jay Gatsby’s story new emotions, and adds new insight into the tragic love story between Daisy Buchanan and Gatsby. Nailing the ending, Astin channels Nick’s...

Pete Cross does an excellent job narrating this hard-edged audiobook taking on the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, but with relevance to today’s COVID-19 pandemic. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Alan Minskoff discuss the crisp voice Cross uses to narrate Harvard epidemiologist Paul Farmer’s true and sad account, one that gives listeners the gnawing sense that in pandemics and epidemics, care should a...