New Reviews: Biography & Memoir

In a 12-episode podcast memoir, Jeff Daniels tells biographical stories, does sketches, sings folksy songs, and adds sound effects. He might remind listeners of Garrison Keillor, if momentarily. Daniels comes from a small town in Michigan, but his recollections mostly spotlight his acting career, with occasional un-Lake-Wobegon mentions of marijuana use, for example. Daniels... Read More

Chanté McCormick rises to the challenge of narrating Jacobs's comprehensive biography of Althea Gibson with grace, energy, and a rich voice. Gibson charted a host of firsts. She was the first Black tennis player to win Wimbledon and the US Open--and to be ranked Number 1 in the world. She was also the first Black player in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. These... Read More

This extensive anthology captures the histories of Persian and Afghan women who have fought and defended their country over centuries. The ensemble cast of narrators, including the author, come together to represent these varied profiles in all their vividness. With the production's mixture of male and female voices, fans of history and international fiction will find much to... Read More

Timothy Andrés Pabon speaks softly as he narrates Morillo's first-person account of his childhood. Morillo, who immigrated to New York from Ecuador with his mother, is now a systems engineer for Blue Origin. Previously, he worked on the Mars 2020 team. Pabon puts determination into Morillo's words as the space engineer recalls his drive to learn. At one point, Pabon delivers a... Read More

Katalin Karikó is an incredibly determined scientist from Hungary who won the Nobel Prize, along with Drew Weissman, for discoveries in mRNA that led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. Eva Magyar, a Hungarian actress with a clear timbre and a Hungarian accent, performs this audiobook with perceptive insight and energy. While it may take a few minutes to get used to the... Read More

Christine Rendel brings her delightful British voice to this biography of the artist Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). Known as "the father of Impressionism," Pissarro was born into a Jewish family on St. Thomas but settled in Paris for his career. While associating closely with the innovative painters of the time, including Monet, Degas, Cassatt, and Cézanne, Pissarro remained an... Read More

Scott Eyman, literary critic for the PALM BEACH POST, offers a biography of Hollywood icon Charlie Chaplin. The British actor bridged the transition from silent to talking films and started his own studio. Deep-voiced Phil Thron provides a workmanlike narration. While the audiobook is a biography overall, it focuses on the politics and personal circumstances that caused... Read More

Stephanie Land, who wrote MAID, had a laser-focused goal to succeed as a writer, and this memoir proves that in spades. Her presentation of her life, which included an abusive husband, an unpredictable father to her daughter, and financial challenges, would send anyone over the edge. It all got her down, but she never gave up. Land's exacting words and notable phrasing immerse... Read More

Karen Cass's mellow voice and brisk cadence enliven the background, travels, and experiences of the wife of a prosperous man of industry in Victorian England. Fashion historian and museum curator Kate Strasdin unfolds the captivating life of Mrs. Anne Sykes, which is told through pieces of fabric from various items of her clothing, which she kept in an annotated scrapbook.... Read More

Walter Isaacson offers a well-researched, if stodgy, biography of Elon Musk--the dramatic innovator and inventor we associate primarily with Tesla and SpaceX. Isaacson himself straightforwardly narrates the prologue without noticeable emphasis or engagement for the listener. Jeremy Bobb then assumes the narration and has his hands full with this weighty challenge. Employing... Read More

Meghan Riordan Jarvis is honest and expressive as she describes her grief and therapy after her mother's death leaves her completely unmoored and unable to function. Jarvis, a therapist herself, had been in therapy before to process childhood trauma. She slowly climbs out of this new pain after entering the residential treatment facility she recommends to some of her patients.... Read More

Werner Herzog is a strange and fascinating film director (also an actor, novelist, and opera director). Judging by this autobiography, he is a strange and fascinating individual as well. Narrating his own story, he jumps around in time and place but within the general chronology of his life and career--after his childhood, mostly his career. Herzog has a strong Bavarian accent,... Read More

Curtis Chin smoothly narrates this memoir of his life and his family's Chinese restaurant, where he worked while growing up. Don't listen to this audiobook when you're hungry--all the food sounds delicious! Chin was raised in Detroit in the 1980s by a mother who set high standards for him and his siblings because she herself wasn't allowed to finish school. He learns how to... Read More

Alice Carrière opens her memoir with a matter-of-fact narration that belies the privilege she experienced growing up in a 17,000-square-foot building in New York City, where she shared rooms with fruit trees and roses that climbed a staircase and with visiting celebrities. Though her narration grows emotional periodically, it is, for the most part, straightforward. Her style is... Read More

James Langton's accent reflects the background of Jonathan Raban, a gifted British writer who relocated to Washington state. Enunciation and emotions are clear as Langton recounts Raban's moment-to-moment responses to a hemorrhagic stroke and the paralysis that followed. Langton smoothly embraces the elements of Raban's memoir--literary criticism combined with stories of his... Read More

With this audiobook, listeners are immersed in the exotic environment of the Florida Everglades and the bizarre underworld of alligator poaching. John Pirhalla offers a first-rate narration. His facility with accents gives atmosphere to this true-crime work. He varies his tone, pitch, and cadence to good effect, and effectively handles both its hard-boiled police procedural... Read More

David Holt raises the level of this unadorned but deeply researched biography of George Harrison--the reluctant, shy, sometimes overlooked Beatle. The dichotomies and contradictions of his complicated life abound, a life sadly cut short by cancer. His excessive cocaine use is discussed as continuously as his life journey with deep meditation. Holt has a relaxed, comfortable... Read More

Hilarie Burton Morgan shares new stories from Mischief Farm, expanding upon the relationship she began with listeners with her first memoir. Traditionally, a grimoire is a book of magic spells. Morgan's unique twist begins with her definition of a grimoire: a personal collection of practices, beliefs, and knowledge to be handed down to her children. Morgan describes how... Read More

Simon Vance's pleasant, inviting tones draw listeners into Chaney's expansive examination of J.M. Barrie's remarkable life. Chaney traces Barrie's modest beginnings as a Scottish weaver's son whose mother paid little attention to him, preferring instead his older brother, David. Sadly, David died in a skating accident at 13, and Jamie made up stories to assuage his mother's... Read More

David de Vries has a fine time delivering this comic tribute to life in a 1920s New York luxury hotel. He narrates in a rich tone and lively style that fits this satire of the opulent life of the Hotel Splendide, a slightly fictionalized version of the Ritz, where Bemelmans worked as a waiter. He ably does the necessary French and German accents and captures the demimonde of... Read More

Zac Aleman begins Perez's memoir tenderly as the author gazes at the house on G street that was his father's Cuban home. It's a formerly elegant building now moving toward ruin, a house that represents his past and that of many Cubans. So begins this ambitious memoir, which merges the personal and the political as it ranges from nineteenth-century Castilian Spain to... Read More

Memoirs narrated by their authors always sound more authentic. This audiobook is no different. Jonathan Conyers, who works with at-risk communities in Brooklyn, shares his complex personal story of growing up in a chaotic household with two parents whose drug addictions often kept the family homeless. Yet they were committed to their children obtaining an education. Conyers's... Read More

Author Alicia Roth Weigel takes listeners through her life as an intersex person and her activism in a world that fears differences in sexuality. Born with both male and female reproductive organs, Weigel experienced life-changing surgery and procedures performed long before having the ability to consent. As an adult, she found a passion for politics and became an activist to... Read More

Motivational speaker and former "Survivor" contestant Alexis Jones shares stories of her life that come straight from her heart. Her radically honest sharing of her strengths and challenges becomes clear in her account of discovering that the father she knew all her life was not her biological father. Jones's nonstop energy and fierce pursuit of her interests have driven her... Read More

Mark Elstob is especially effective at narrating classical history, medieval fantasy, and complicated scientific and theoretical narratives. His deliberate pace, expressive diction, and carefully calibrated tone are invaluable to the listener who is less informed about subjects remote, specialized, or abstract. Those skills prove essential in this portrayal of the sixth-century... Read More

Donald Bogle's narration may fall short of sounding polished, but he performs with relaxed confidence that will draw listeners into this audiobook. His vocal character matches his status as an expert on Black cinema history and the life of the singer and groundbreaking actor Lena Horne. After her show business beginnings in Black New York City nightclubs, Horne worked in 1950s... Read More

In her own inimitable style, Leslie Jones tells listeners how she embraced and reveled in her self-worth, and learned more than a few hard lessons en route to becoming a larger-than-life comic performer. Before GHOSTBUSTERS and "Saturday Night Live," Jones came into her own at comedy clubs in Los Angeles and New York City, making a name for herself and developing her voice. No... Read More

Fred Sanders uses a smooth, authoritative delivery to describe one of the South's most controversial Confederate generals. At the height of the Civil War, James Longstreet was one of the most tenacious leaders of Confederate troops. With perfect pacing and a tinge of sorrow, Sanders describes Longstreet's reactions to Gettysburg and the South's defeat. After the war, Longstreet... Read More

During a career that spanned from 1958 to his death in 2013, musician Lou Reed never became a pop star, but he made interesting music and was a New York City icon who knew everybody and lived a fascinating life. Music journalist Will Hermes narrates this history in a pleasing tone with consistent clarity while capturing his subject's moody cynicism. His vocal character works... Read More

Elise Arsenault expertly delivers a truly excellent and detailed look at singer Madonna's life. From her humble beginnings, Madonna has become an icon for her music, as well as the causes she has championed over the years, such as AIDS awareness. Despite her success, she, like many celebrities, has also endured criticism for her choices of artistic expression. Arsenault offers... Read More

Yorkshireman Sir Patrick Stewart presents a revealing, clear, and beautifully written memoir, discussing the entirety of his journey from humble beginnings that included domestic violence to the heights of international film, stage, and television stardom. His performance is compassionate, sensitive, and powerful, with well-paced timing and notable precision exercised in every... Read More

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen narrates his new memoir in an understated tone that is a blend of tenderness and survival humor. His fierce dedication to telling his parents' stories comes through in his voice, which is by turns forthright and emotional. In fragmented, haunting prose, he interrogates what it means to be a refugee, an immigrant, and an... Read More

This collection of 70 of Mantel's writings is divided into five parts, each with a reflective, animating quality. Lydia Leonard narrates the first part, her tone intimate and conversational whether she's describing Mantel's theft of a book in her youth, her life in Saudi Arabia, the grace of Marie Antoinette, or Princess Diana's complicated image. Jane Wymark delivers the... Read More

As one of the most distinctive vocalists in rock, Geddy Lee simply had to be the voice of his own memoir. The singer and bassist of the Canadian power trio Rush is known for his vocal range, but his delivery is surprisingly consistent here. Between stories of the band's forty-year career on the road and in the studio, Lee also shares the story of his parents, who survived the... Read More

This is a nuanced, opinionated memoir written and narrated by one of the greatest entertainers ever, EGOT-winning Barbra Streisand. While the early chapters sound a bit tentative, she comes into her own quickly. Her voice is in a lower register than in many of her most famous recordings, and listeners will likely be charmed by the conversational style of both her prose and... Read More

While the word "diesel" is well known, few know it's actually the name of the man who invented the engine that now powers much of the world. Scott Brick narrates this biography of Rudolf Diesel magnificently. The twist in this work is that Diesel "died" under mysterious circumstances in September 1913. Brunt goes into great detail regarding Diesel's family and the times in... Read More

This memoir by the distinguished historian and past president of Harvard is ably narrated by the author, though at times her voice lacks the variation that a professional might bring. The result is a somber review of an unhappy youth spent rebelling against staid conventions of womanhood and whiteness. Covering the period from her childhood in the 1950s to her college... Read More

With precision and clarity, Traci Kato-Kiriyama narrates Lin's poignant memoir on mental illness, motherhood, and the loss of her father to cancer. The memoir is divided into four sections, in accordance with the traditional Japanese four-part narrative. Japanese mythology and language are interwoven throughout, and Kato-Kiriyama's ease with them creates a sense of... Read More

Jane Ferguson narrates her memoir in a melodic Northern Irish brogue that has been softened by time and intention. With 15 years of reporting experience, she has a confident tone. The violence that spilled into Ferguson's childhood came from her verbally abusive mother, her manipulative father, and the actions of the Irish Republican Army. Her familiarity with fear and her... Read More

Pidgeon Pagonis's skillfully narrated memoir takes listeners on their coming-of-age journey as they struggled to fit in with other girls. Pidgeon's voice is calm and has a slight Latin accent. Along with typical disruptive changes during childhood, such as moving, parents separating, and new schools, there's also bladder surgery because of previous cancer when Pidgeon was too... Read More

Listeners are treated to the pleasing voice and manner of Canadian actor, director, and writer William B. Davis, made famous as the sinister Cigarette-Smoking Man in "The X-Files." Part memoir of his professional life, part acting handbook, Davis's work offers both an engaging, never sentimental look at the knowledge he's gained and his hard-won philosophy on the essential... Read More

Over his stellar 75-year career, genre-bending dark fantasy novelist/playwright Ray Bradbury corresponded with just about everyone from science fiction grandmasters to U.S. presidents to Hollywood directors. Capturing Bradbury's easy sincerity, abundant enthusiasm, and mid-century Midwestern drawl, Byron Wagner leads a fine group of voice talents in narrating Bradbury's letters... Read More

Writer Elizabeth Benedict narrates her account of her cancer journey with candid honesty and wit. The candor and strength she shares in her writing are also depicted in her voice as she recalls her thoughts and emotions through her diagnosis and treatment. Benedict addresses the pitfalls of the American healthcare system. She has an engaging yet eloquent tone that is present... Read More

Angela Juarez's delivery is fully engaging, and by the end of this important and timely audiobook--devastating. Seamlessly switching between Spanish and English, she captures the lives of people caught in a broken immigration system. For many Americans, the U.S.-Mexico border remains an abstract concept, a mere "issue" that is easy to frame for political purposes. But Oliva's... Read More

After Elton John's songwriting collaborator delivers an introductory note with appealing sincerity, John Lee narrates Bernie Taupin's story with boyish charm and beguiling enthusiasm. His sensitivity to Taupin's perspectives and the rhythms of his literary writing is palpable and quite beautiful to hear. Taupin is an uncommon pop music guy--self-aware and humble. His literary... Read More

This audiobook takes a dramatic approach to the often unsung role of baseball's backup catchers, who may play only a few innings a week--or not at all. Narrator Justin Price gives them the emotion and drama they deserve, in part by slightly altering his voice for quotes. His delivery is a great example of how a narrator can use technique to capture the writing. Brown and... Read More

Aaron Neville's fans will look past the author's flat performance and be moved by the poignancy of the R&B singer's story. He's fully present as a narrator, and listeners will hear the joys of his musical achievements and the sorrows of his on-and-off struggles with street drugs. Between his 1966 chart-busting single, "Tell it Like It Is," and his 2014 Grammy Hall of Fame... Read More

Dion Graham doesn't just embody the spirit of musician Sly Stone's voice--his performance also accentuates the lyrical rhythm of Stone's prose. Sly and the Family Stone's early albums in the 1960s are landmarks of popular music, a feat Stone worked meticulously to craft. His stories place listeners firmly in the spaces he occupied then and give perspective on why he disappeared... Read More

Writer Anne Hull narrates her memoir of her childhood in the heat and turmoil of Central Florida in the 1960s. At a time when the orange groves were her whole world, she could still sense the self-destructive nature of her father and the ways her mother felt trapped by domestic life. This memoir recollects the racism of the time and the pressure put on young women of that era... Read More

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith's narrating tone is soft and gentle as she recounts the many questions and frustrations she faces as she pieces together her lineage, examines insidious racism, and confronts oppression. The 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States extols the tenderness of her father, who achieved success in the military through his persistence and... Read More

Beloved actor Ed Begley Jr. narrates his own deeply confessional memoir about making mistakes in Hollywood, learning to find his center, and the joy of activism. From a young age, Begley found himself in a world of complicated family dynamics, substance abuse, and a unique friend group that both pulled him into and got him out of trouble. Inspired by decades of personal... Read More

Author and narrator Laura Belgray offers an unfiltered and amusing retrospective on her life and career while delivering valuable life lessons. Belgray's quick-paced, well-modulated voice brings to life cringe-worthy and refreshingly honest episodes with a self-deprecating charm that only she could provide. She candidly shares her desires--fitting in with the "cool kids," being... Read More

Tanya Eby has given voice to hundreds of romance stories--and now it's her turn to give voice to her own story. Eby's trademark husky tones are pitch-perfect in the several steamy moments of her memoir. Listeners are treated to earnest and often hilarious slices of life in bite-size, conversational chapters about dating in one's late 40s after a bitter divorce--all the while... Read More

Author Cheryl Strayed traces her emotions in both the text and narration of her short memoir, which revolves around the death of her mother-in-law, Joan. From the start, irony is emblematic of their relationship. Their first meeting is in a bar, where Strayed, a 27-year-old waitress, guesses--wrongly--which one of a trio of women is the mother of her boyfriend. She covers a lot... Read More

Ruth Simmons gives a warmly engaging rendition of her memoir. Simmons was the first Black president of Smith College and went on to be the president of Brown University and Prairie View A&M University. Here, she recounts her childhood in Texas, growing up as the youngest of 12 children in a sharecropping family that lived in deep poverty. Simmons lovingly describes her close... Read More

Christopher Brown uses the voice of a confidant for this cornucopia of pleasures--literary and gustatory. He immerses listeners in the world of protean NEW YORK TIMES book critic Dwight Garner. For a text crammed with words, quotes, and anecdotes about food and literature, Brown takes on a conversational style and uses occasional slight accents to identify the countries of... Read More

As the author admits in her foreword, it's difficult to write a biography of someone about whom we know little. For this audiobook, Sarah Ruden, a noted translator of Vergil, had to rely on a biography written a generation after the poet's death, the texts of the three poems clearly written by him, and a deep knowledge of life in the early Roman Empire. Suzanne Toren does an... Read More

Suzanne Toren gives an exemplary performance of this memoir by Donna Leon, author of the Commissario Brunetti mystery series. Leon, who is in her 80s, shares illuminating vignettes of her family; her love of reading, tennis, and opera; her travels and her life in Venice; and her peripatetic career path in a life she describes as "unplanned." Toren's rich, elegant voice helps... Read More

Actor Michelle Williams delivers a tell-all memoir from Britney Spears. As a child star on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and a teenage pop star, Spears always felt that other people were making decisions for her and was constantly tempted to quit show business. Williams uses a direct approach to voice Spears's feelings, and these passages carry even more weight in this audiobook than... Read More

Imogen Church does an exceptional job narrating this absorbing biography of a lesser-known yet no-less-colorful woman in Tudor England. Alice Spencer (1559-1637)--an ancestor of Diana Spencer, later the Princess of Wales--started life as the youngest of seven children in a minor aristocratic family and became, through two fortuitous marriages, a powerful woman in her own right.... Read More

Actor and talk-show host Jada Pinkett Smith foreshadows the range of emotions she projects in her memoir by beginning with quiet despair and transitioning to a fierce tone. Smith shares intimate details of growing up in Baltimore; with a mother who was addicted to heroin and an absent father, she was raised mainly by her grandmother. Smith shouts as she recounts being held at... Read More

Award-winning radio journalist Michele Norris hosts a podcast that will have listeners feeling hungry and warmhearted as they explore diverse family culinary traditions. Each 40-minute episode focuses on a guest, such as Michelle Obama and Conan O'Brien--to name a few. Norris asks them probing questions about the foods from their childhoods, leading guests to reminisce about... Read More