"Of the 100-150 books I read a year, at least half are bound to be audiobooks. On quiet winter holidays, I listen to books while doing jigsaw puzzles. On summer mornings, they keep me company on countryside walks. They are my constant company—in the car, on the beach, in my flat, at the gym, in bed at night. They fill in the cracks between work and life, the moments in between. I am never without my earbuds and a book. I know the way a good narrator can bring a story to life, the potency of a writer narrating their own memoir.
I listen broadly, as a quick scan of my Audible library will show. I’m as likely to be playing a volume of poetry or nonfiction as I am a fantasy, literary fiction, thriller, autobiography, or a collection of essays. For this list, I’ve chosen memoirs/autobiographical essays, since I almost always consume these stories in audio instead of written form. I have an immense fondness for the depth of tone and the authenticity of voice that comes with someone telling their own story." —V. E. Scwab, author of The Fragile Threads of Power.
Save V. E.'s list to your library collections.
"Smith’s poetic underpinnings come through with elegant force. Her crumbling marriage is the tip of the iceberg, but she takes us far deeper, exploring femininity, family, gender, and more."
"Any excuse to listen to Tucci is a treat, but this is a pitch-perfect memoir about food and life and art and acting, at once funny and poignant."
"What a fabulous, funny, intimate book, set around the framework of the many voicemails Bess’s grandmother, Bobby, left for her over the years—and the stories and secrets they told."
"There are plenty of wonderful memoirs about an individual’s queer journey but few about the journeys of an entire family, in which nearly every member ends up going through their own transformation."
"This excellent and interesting memoir charts the journey of an astronomer, actor, and mother to find—and then create—the life she wants. A story of what happens when you refuse to be limited to a single path."
About Victoria "V. E." Schwab
VICTORIA “V. E.” SCHWAB is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 20 books, including the acclaimed Shades universe, the Villains series, the City of Ghosts series, Gallant, and the international bestseller The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. When not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is usually tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters.
