Sean Barrett's performance of these 67 essays written by Henning Mankell between his diagnosis with lung cancer and his death faithfully encapsulates the Swedish author's sense of seriousness and social justice. Mankell ranges across his life, letting us glimpse childhood memories, his satisfaction with running a theater in Mozambique, embarrassment at asking a teenager dying of AIDS if she was afraid of death, and grave concern about the storage of nuclear waste in Finland for 100,000 years. Barrett's voice and tone expertly incorporate a vague sense of being European and of language translation. His timing and rhythm are so perfect that we can hear the melancholy and joy that shape Mankell's reflections. Mankell fears being dead for a long time. We, at least, have the large body of work he left behind to enjoy.
Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2017
Duration: 9 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781524756949
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
This author-narrated audiobook blends memories and poems with some mind-bending moments--as Elizabeth Gilbert talks with her late lover and converses with God. A practiced speaker, Gilbert performs this excruciatingly honest work with passion and restraint. The memoir is about addiction and how Gilbert healed after the death of her friend, lover, global-traveling companion, and one-time hairdresser, Rayya, a "badass," streetwise recovering addict until not long before her death from cancer. Composed in fragments--stories, recollections, poems, aphorisms--that are connected by guitar bridges, it ends in the present. Gilbert describes herself as a "sex and love addict," and much of the text reveals her struggles. She's been in a 12-step program for five years, stayed celibate, stopped drinking and drugs, and has buzz cut her hair.
Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
Duration: 10 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217156726
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Former FBI Agent Robert Hilland and world-famous psychic John Edward narrate the story of their longstanding collaboration in solving cold cases. Their partnership--first distrusting and then blossoming into a true brotherhood--spanned two-and-a-half decades. Most of the story focuses on the famous John Smith murders, but it covers other fascinating cases, as well. Hilland narrates the bulk of the story, taking listeners from his skepticism toward John Edward to his developing awareness of his own psychic energy and spirit guides. Edward narrates dialogue so naturally that listeners will hear his conviction and picture his thoughtful gaze as he directs Hilland's focus. Hilland becomes a strong believer, and listeners will as well.
Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
Duration: 11 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250381569
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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