Have a journal and pen at the ready before listening to Layla F. Saad's powerful call to action. In her clear voice and British accent, Saad demands that listeners with white privilege recognize and dismantle it in themselves and their communities. She outlines specific goals for listeners and pushes back against every possible protest. Smoothly narrating 28 days of journaling prompts, Saad includes specific examples and reasons why listeners need to examine them. Listeners must be ready to engage with each topic by pausing to write out responses, not just passively listening. Saad includes personal and historical anecdotes to provide context--which is all the more powerful to hear from the author herself.
Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
Duration: 5 hrs, 15 mins
DD ISBN: 9781094135434
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Griffiths narrates her poetic memoir, marked by two traumatic life events, with precision. Griffiths' emotive narration takes measure of the joys and sorrows she experiences in tender moments spent with her best friend, Kamilah Aisha Moon, a talented poet, as they share a deep connection and support each other's work. Despair comes on "the best and worst day" of her life, when Aisha dies on the same day that Griffiths weds author Salman Rushdie. Despite her own marital bliss, Griffiths is consumed by an overwhelming grief, and it has only begun to subside a year later when Rushdie is stabbed, nearly fatally. Again, Griffiths is plunged into depression. This story of love and loss is as strong in emotion as it is in poignant imagery and lyricism.
Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
Duration: 8 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217176441
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Only author Roy Wood Jr. could have imbued this narration with such empathy as he unflinchingly tells his life story, a cautionary tale for his newborn son. The comedian and actor recounts his complicated relationship with his own, mostly absent, father--a civil rights leader and respected radio announcer with another family who never divorced Wood's mother. She forced her estranged husband to take her and Wood Jr. in after a misadventure by young Roy. Wood Sr. dispensed wisdom and advice to hundreds but was judgmental and aloof to the one person who needed him most, his son. Even so, Wood Jr. learned what to do and not to do from his father and the other men who floated in and out of his life.
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
Duration: 8 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9798217165780
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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