Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote the novel EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, published in 2005, offers a smartly written nonfiction look at eating creatures that provide us with meat—from pork and beef to poultry and fish. Listeners may find the tone of his argument smug, even irritating, as he makes his well-researched, emotional plea for "ethical vegetarianism." Sometimes downright Swiftian in his suggestions, Foer says, "When we eat factory-farmed meat, we live, literally, on tortured flesh." Jonathan Ross narrates Foer's data, stories, and anecdotes intelligently. Ross neatly handles concerns about the environmental impact of meat-eating, including food-borne illnesses and the rivers of animal fecal matter contaminating our waterways, as well as augments his case with horrific descriptions of inhumane industrial slaughterhouses. Foer’s chilling treatise will leave the carnivores among us chewing on this gastronomical dilemma.
Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2009
Duration: 10 hrs, 15 mins
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Claudette Monica Powell wanted to be a nun since she watched the movie A NUN'S STORY at age 7. Now she is Sister Monica Clare, Sister Superior of the Community of Saint John Baptist, an Episcopal order of women in rural New Jersey. A former acting student at New York University, Sister Monica Clare delivers an approachable, folksy account of her long and often painful path to the convent. Her chaotic and abusive childhood led to a loveless marriage, intensifying her already towering insecurity. Now she has a TikTok, @nunsenseforthepeople, with 200,000 followers. An energetic and engaging storyteller, Sister Monica Clare relays tidbits from her Hollywood days, as well as details of monastic life in this warm and engrossing memoir.
Pub Date: April 29, 2025
Duration: 8 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217064878
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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
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