Books On Tape

We’re thrilled to celebrate our 2020 RUSA Listen List Winners! As the committee explains on their page: “The final juried list of thirteen titles highlights extraordinary narrators and listening experiences that merit special attention by a general adult audience and the librarians who advise them.” Do you offer these 7 outstanding BOT titles in your audio collections?

Becoming

Author: Michelle Obama
Read by: Michelle Obama

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Her narration is clear and poignant, bringing a level of intimacy rarely heard.”—RUSA Listen List
Also a YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults and GRAMMY Award Winner!

Listen-Alike: My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor. Narrated by Rita Moreno

Daisy Jones & The Six

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Read By: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer and Pablo Schreiber

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Reid’s behind-the-scenes oral history of a fictional 70’s rock band is so convincing that listeners may be fooled into looking for their records. The all-star cast creates an engrossing drama filled with gossipy details and a spot-on view of band life.”—RUSA Listen List
Also a YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults

Listen-Alikes: Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) written and read by Jeff Tweedy and More Fun in the New World by John Doe & Tom Desavia, read by the Authors with an Ensemble of Narrators

Good Talk

Author: Mira Jacob
Read By: Mira Jacob, Kivlighan de Montebello and Full Cast

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Multiple voices and sound effects make this groundbreaking audio graphic memoir a treat for the ears.”—RUSA Listen List

Notes from a Young Black Chef

Author: Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein
Read by: Kwame Onwuachi

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Onwuachi forges his own path from his mother’s kitchen in the Bronx to high-end D.C. dining with a raw, authentic self-narrated memoir that will appeal to listeners beyond the foodie.”—RUSA Listen List
Also a YALSA Amazing Audiobook for Young Adults

Listen-Alike: Mind and Matter by Louisa Thomas & John Urschel, read by Sullivan Jones

The Poison Thread

Author: Laura Purcell
Read By: Jayne Entwistle and Elizabeth Knowelden

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Dual narrators Knowelden and Entwistle use accents to highlight class divides, communicating a palpable atmosphere of misery and menace.”—RUSA Listen List

Red at the Bone

Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Read By: Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small and Bahni Turpin

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Multiple narrators, including the author, evoke the complexities of race, class, religion and sexuality in this heartfelt tale of choices and their aftermath.”—RUSA Listen List

We Cast a Shadow

Author: Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Read by: Dion Graham

LISTEN TO A CLIP: audio

“Veteran narrator Graham throws himself into a performance that fully embodies this dystopian debut’s brooding, complex lead. With acute emotion and sly humor, he invites listeners into the mind of an African American father in the satirical, segregated, near-future South–where anyone with too much melanin faces a life of impossible odds.”—RUSA Listen List

Listen-Alike: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, read by Joe Morton