Colm Tóibín's consummate narration of his new collection of essays charms and educates in equal measure. The 11 pieces, written between 1995 and 2022, explore topics ranging from Catholic popes and the author Marilyn Robinson to Tóibín's homosexuality, treatment for testicular cancer, and childhood in Ireland. An award-winning journalist, novelist, and poet, Tóibín is analytical, elegiac, and often very funny, with a great eye for the telling detail. His soft, slightly nasal tenor and gentle Irish intonation are interestingly mellifluous; "power" becomes "paar" and "carefully" is "kerfully." He narrates deliberately, giving listeners time to absorb the writing. Occasionally, he lingers over words and phrases for maximum effect. It's a poet's approach, which works. The result is entrancing.
Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781797153230
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Inspiring collections of Angelou reading her poetry. These selections showcase Angelou's smooth, lyrical voice and her warm vitality. Her innate rhythm celebrates her verse and offers the poems to listeners as they should be remembered. Occasionally Angelou comments between the selections, and occasionally she interjects a resonant laugh.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Listeners will be caught up in this cat-and-mouse game between a leading Russian capitalist and young Stalin.
Author and narrator Brunt builds unexpected suspense in this lively biography of Emanuel Nobel, Alfred Nobel’s forgotten nephew, who built and owned Russia’s oil industry prior to 1917. Brunt casts Emanuel Nobel’s story against the hapless final reign of the Romanovs and the tumult of war, revolution, and the Bolshevik coup that replaced it. Rising in the new government was a former oil worker and labor agitator with a particular hatred of Emmanuel Nobel—Josef Stalin. Nobel maneuvers to stay on Russian ground but outside Communist territory, and to keep control of Russia’s oil while resisting the Bolsheviks’ invitation to come to Moscow.
Listeners will be caught up in this cat-and-mouse game between a leading Russian capitalist and young Stalin.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
Duration: 9 hrs, 55 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668117088
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: today
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