Performing this revealing look at the complexities of the revered jazz pioneer Billie Holiday, actress Maya Days connects with every ounce of the brilliance and tragedy of the singer’s life. Strategic pauses in Days’s phrasing and spot-on dialect for dialogue make her sentences sing with auditory variety. But it’s her heartfelt resonance with Holiday’s difficult life that makes the author’s evocative writing so riveting. Despite Holiday’s experiences with racism, her drug and alcohol history, and her long relationship with an exploitive, abusive romantic partner, she never felt like a victim. The details of her earlier life and her final year portray her as a lifelong survivor and a hustler, someone who knew what she wanted: to express her pathos, connect with audiences, and interpret songs like no one else.
Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
Duration: 12 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593825464
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
A TikTok phenom, Olsen studied musical theater, and his love of performance comes through.
Olsen’s memoir knits together two threads of his young life. His audiobook is at once a cleareyed look at his addiction to alcohol and cocaine as well as his coming-of-age as a gay man. He grew up within a dysfunctional family. His mother, who is initially portrayed as an organized supermom, goes through rehab numerous times for alcohol use. Rehab is a theme: Olsen spends nearly a year in a Florida institution. A long, fraught romantic relationship is recounted in too much detail, while listeners hope instead for more about his meteoric rise as a social media celebrity.
A TikTok phenom, Olsen studied musical theater, and his love of performance comes through.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
Duration: 10 hrs, 42 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668132401
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2026
A different kind of rock star memoir, rooted in astrology and conveyed with gentle grace and intelligence.
Orzabal relates his history as a rock star with a conscience. Orzabal is a member of Tears for Fears, the 1980s pop duo that continues to record and perform. Their early ubiquitous hits remain staples on streaming services and movie soundtracks. Orzabal relates his unique path to stardom and shares the difficult story of his life of artistry and tragedy in a weathered British lilt. While his artistic compatriots may have enjoyed the usual spoils of pop stardom, Orzabal sought primal scream therapy. Orzabal's performance here is engaging and therapeutic.
A different kind of rock star memoir, rooted in astrology and conveyed with gentle grace and intelligence.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2026
Duration: 10 hrs, 18 mins
DD ISBN: 9780063455153
Publisher: Harper Audio
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2026
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