Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Robin Miles gives voice to everything New York in this fantastical celebration of the city’s spirit. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss the latest audiobook from renowned author N.K. Jemisin and Golden Voice narrator Robin Miles. New York City is going through a transformation—it’s becoming sentient, embodied by six human avatars who represent the city’s five boroughs plus New Yor...

Narrator Edoardo Ballerini joins host Jo Reed to honor National Poetry Month and shares his thoughts on the power of poetry, especially in trying times. Edoardo has loved poetry from a young age, and it has a special place in his life as both a reader and a narrator. In this episode, Edoardo also narrates a poem for our podcast listeners, bringing a bit of brightness and hope into our dark spring...

Narrator George Guidall bestows his abundant gifts on this sprawling audiobook about the history of Texas. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten talk about Stephen Harrigan’s audiobook, which covers thousands of years of history and the people—famous, the infamous, and the obscure—who made Texas what it was and what it is today. Guidall’s melodious tone serves the outsized events and unusual...

Fear and mistrust are pervasive in an alternative Europe at the end of the 1980s. AudioFile’s Robin Whitten tells host Jo Reed about how this listen makes for a great escape into the past while still maintaining enough of a parallel to today to engage listeners. Narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt brings the wide cast of characters alive and builds the tension as the plot develops. His voicings of key prot...

Kirsten Potter expertly narrates this teen biography of the famed and controversial aviator Charles Lindberg. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss the many facets of Lindbergh’s public and private life, making this a biography that will hold listeners’ attention. Kirsten Potter’s strong and lively performance imbues the narrative with emotion, and it earned her AudioFile’s Earphones...

Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten celebrate all things poetry on today’s episode. April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., and there is a wealth of poetry on audio worthy of celebration. Choose from numerous excellent audio editions of collections from classic poets. Contemporary poets now record their own audiobooks beautifully and with intense emotion, with AudioFile’s favorites incl...

Natalie Naudus keeps listeners on the edge of our seats with her luscious voice and her clearly delineated characters. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb discuss the many dangers of small towns on the coast of Maine found in fictional worlds. Tess Henshaw is a teacher at the elite boarding school where she was once a student. When a teen is discovered dead on the seaside cliffs, Tess’s care...

Daniel Mallory Ortberg’s narration is undeniably powerful as he combines memoir, Biblical exegesis, and a trans retelling of fiction and myth into a book about gender and transition unlike any other. His narration is multilayered and alive, and even listeners who are unfamiliar with the author’s writing will be drawn in. It is a fresh listen—and odd in the best possible way. Every moment of this a...

Author Louise Erdrich gives a rewarding listening experience based on historical events of the 1950s, when the U.S. government sought to dissolve its treaty with the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. AudioFile’s Michele Cobb tells host Jo Reed why she enjoyed hearing the characters portrayed by the author herself, and how she was drawn into the minutiae of everyday life as the story’s mounting...

Robert Fass narrates this compelling and timely guide to eating a balanced diet to reduce our risk of disease. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Michele Cobb talk about how Mark Bittman and Dr. David L. Katz put food fads and trends into perspective and encourage common-sense decision-making when it comes to food. The audiobook is presented as an easy-to-digest “multi-course Q & A” to shatter myths abo...

AudioFile’s Michele Cobb tells host Jo Reed how this beautiful combination of text and performance makes for a wonderful listening escape. Casey is a young writer who is drowning in college debt and getting by as a waitress as she watches her friends find financial success. Narrator Stacey Glemboski disappears into the characters in this surprisingly funny story, and her warm voice has great narra...

Steven Weber returns to narrate the newest Harlan Coben thriller, and it’s a suspenseful listen. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Jonathan Smith talk about this audiobook that goes beyond just a missing person story to explore terrifying depictions of the vulnerability that arises from our reliance on social media for facts. Narrator Weber is perfectly in step with the pace of the action. When his cla...

A fascinating account of the industry of reuse, running the gamut from local thrift stores to Japanese vintage shops to used-goods enterprises in Ghana. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Jonathan Smith talk about the mystery of what happens to our unwanted, discarded, and donated stuff. Daniel Henning is a capable narrator who is easy on the ear, and he always sounds both interested and educational. It...

The famously hoarse, hesitant, and always interested voice of renowned public radio host Diane Rehm is a trustworthy guide for listeners to her excellent new audiobook about allowing terminally ill patients control the time and manner of their deaths. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Jonathan Smith discuss this audiobook that blends personal anecdotes, reportage, and interviews with patients, doctors,...

An absorbing audiobook with vivid stories that bring each American president’s struggles with his writing (or ghostwriting) alive. AudioFile’s Jonathan Smith and host Jo Reed discuss this surprising audiobook packed with tales of presidents and their writing habits, and how the reading public evolved over our country’s history. Fred Sanders narrates with a warm voice and clear diction, revealing t...

Listeners will be on the edge of their seats while listening to John Lee’s superb narration of Winston Churchill’s first year as Britain’s prime minister, 1940-41. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Jonathan Smith discuss this most perilous year in Britain’s history, as told through Erik Larson’s captivating writing and Lee’s polished and expressive narration. The German invasion was expected at any mom...

Billie Fulford-Brown narrates this enemies-to-lovers romance that is above all an ode to skilled professionals doing their jobs amazingly well. AudioFile’s Emily Connelly tells host Jo Reed why she loved escaping into this audiobook by Lucy Parker, a new sequel to THE AUSTEN PLAYBOOK. Set in London, the story centers on two competitive television hosts, Sabrina and Nick, who have to combine their...

R. Eric Thomas is known for his essays on current events and for his talents with storytelling live on stage. He narrates his own memoir in a warm and familiar voice. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Thomas’s essays, which touch on the complexities of identity, faith, and internet culture. His perspective comes from his intersecting identities—he is a gay black man, a writer in...

Narrator Ron Butler lends expertise, elegance, and expressiveness to his heartbreakingly beautiful performance of King, a black tween whose older brother has died. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly discuss Kacen Callender’s must-listen audiobook for middle graders. Butler’s narration mirrors all of King’s emotions as the story sensitively explores racism, homophobia, child abuse, death,...

Listeners will want to have a pen and a journal at the ready as they work through Layla F. Saad’s 28 days of examining the ways white supremacy is acting through them. AudioFile’s Emily Connelly tells host Jo Reed about the impact of this workbook that requires real listener participation. Saad first shared the Me and White Supremacy challenge on Instagram in 2018, and the challenge went viral. Wh...

Glennon Doyle opens her heart to listeners in her vivid new memoir. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Emily Connelly talk about the power of Doyle’s writing and her moving narration. Doyle is a bestselling author, motivational speaker, and philanthropist, and she narrates with passion as she gets incredibly personal with her storytelling. She speaks about how society has “tamed” women to act and live i...

An extraordinary production of Pulitzer Prize-winner Elizabeth Strout’s novel of the same name. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this dramatic adaptation of MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON, voiced by actor Laura Linney, who also stars in the Broadway play. Linney alternately transforms herself into tough yet fragile Lucy and Lucy’s croak-voiced mother. Rona Munro’s exquisite adaptation pa...

The plot of EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS is ready-made for classic mystery buffs. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this twisty and surprising audiobook. Narrator Graham Halstead is genuine with his dialogue, especially as Malcolm Kershaw, the crime fiction bookstore owner who seduces listeners into trusting him. Kershaw posted a blog describing eight mysteries in which the murderer succ...

Dive into an alternative history where Princess Elizabeth and Margaret were sent to Clonmillis Hall in Ireland during the London Blitz. Host Jo Reed and AudioFile’s Robin Whitten discuss this new look at World War II from Benjamin Black. Barrie Kreinik narrates with admirable skill, giving the secreted away “Ellen” and “Mary” believable voices, with an imperial no-nonsense voice for the future que...

AudioFile’s Josephine Reed spoke with author and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds about STAMPED, a remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING for young people. Highly recommended as a work for young readers, STAMPED, which Reynolds also narrates, is accessible to anyone interested in learning about how racism and antiracism developed in America. In all of...