Discover the Best Audio Stories in Biography & Memoir, Memoirs

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/752208 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway Author: Stephanie Duncan Smith Narrator: Stephanie Duncan Smith Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 54 minutes Release date: October 15, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: A “special work” (J. S. Park) that honors life’s deep griefs, great joys, and unsettled in-betweens through every sacred season, assuring us that we are never alone “Oh, I love this book. . . . Honest and hopeful, masterfully written, both a balm and a bolstering.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author Exquisitely told and urgently resonant, Even After Everything is a love letter to anyone who has opened their heart only to be hurt. Stephanie Duncan Smith proposes that it’s not through grit or forced resilience that you will find a way forward, but through receiving the full spectrum of our lives, just as we receive the empathy of God-with-us in every moment. Duncan Smith’s disorientation began when she lost her first pregnancy on the winter solstice, just as the world readied to celebrate its most historic birth on Christmas. Then a new yet uncertain pregnancy unfolded parallel to the pandemic, until nearly one year to the day of her loss, she gave birth to her daughter at the peak of mortality in their city. These contradictions compelled Duncan Smith into a desperate search for steadiness, which she found in the liturgical year as a grounding force and the promise that we are seen by God in every season. In Even After Everything, Duncan Smith traverses the church’s circle of time and reorients herself and us in the sacred story told through Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Ordinary Time. She reveals the sacred year—through its endless interplay of love, loss, risk, and resurrection—as a mirror to the human experience, an anchor for turbulent times, and a womb strong enough to encompass every human care. At its heart lives the promise of God-with-us, inviting us into the spiritual practice of taking courage in the trust that we are accompanied in everything, and love will always have the last word.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/761100 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Sonny Boy: A Memoir Author: Al Pacino Narrator: Al Pacino Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 28 minutes Release date: October 15, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force. But Pacino was in his midthirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe. Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference. ‘A 5 ft 7in Hollywood giant … Al Pacino’s eccentric memoir really preserves his Bronx-reared turn of phrase’ The Times 'Surprising, introspective … His youth was grim, his money troubles serious, his fame unlikely. Al Pacino’s friends all died in poverty. How did he survive?’ Telegraph ‘This book is a beautiful trip … (from) one of the world’s greatest, most influential actors for more than 50 years. He’s audacious. He’s outrageous. He’s Al Pacino’ The New York Times © Al Pacino 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/754924 to listen full audiobooks. Title: What I Ate in One Year: (and related thoughts) Author: Stanley Tucci Narrator: Stanley Tucci Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 48 minutes Release date: October 15, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 3 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: From Stanley Tucci, award-winning actor and New York Times bestselling author, a deliciously unique memoir chronicling a year’s worth of meals. “Sharing food is one of the purest human acts.” Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between scene rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. Now, in What I Ate in One Year Tucci records twelve months of eating—in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself. Ranging from the mouth-wateringly memorable to the comfortingly domestic and to the infuriatingly inedible, the meals memorialised in this diary are a prism for him to reflect on the ways his life, and his family, are constantly evolving. Through food he marks—and mourns—the passing of time, the loss of loved ones, and steels himself for what is to come. Whether it’s duck a l’orange eaten with fellow actors and cooked by singing Carmelite nuns, steaks barbequed at a gathering with friends, or meatballs made by his mother and son and shared at the table with three generations of his family, these meals give shape and add emotional richness to his days. What I Ate in One Year is a funny, poignant, heartfelt, and deeply satisfying serving of memories and meals and an irresistible celebration of the profound role that food plays in all our lives.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/755092 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Mama: A Queer Black Woman's Story of a Family Lost and Found Author: Nikkya Hargrove Narrator: Grace Porter Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 5 hours 42 minutes Release date: October 15, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: In this searing and uplifting memoir, a young Black queer woman fresh out of college adopts her baby brother after their incarcerated mother dies, determined to create the kind of family she never had. Growing up, Nikkya Hargrove’s mother was in and out of prison. Hargrove, one of the 5 million children dealing with the effects of an incarcerated parent, spent a good portion of her childhood in prison visiting rooms. After her baby brother was born, Hargrove decided to fight for custody–even though she had only just graduated college. We see how she is subjected to preconceived notions that she, a Black, queer, young woman, cannot handle the responsibility. She shares about the shame she feels accepting food stamps, her family’s reaction to her coming out, and the joy she experiences when she meets the woman who will become her wife. Whether she’s clashing with her brother's biological father or battling for Jonathan’s education rights after he’s diagnosed with ADHD and autism, this is a woman who won’t give up.     Hargrove’s memoir picks up where Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy left off, exploring generational trauma and pulling back the curtain on family court and poverty in America. Moving and inspiring, Mama is an ode to motherhood and identity, to never giving up, and to finding strength in family and community.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/761098 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Sonny Boy: A Memoir Author: Al Pacino Narrator: Al Pacino Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 28 minutes Release date: October 15, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.83 of Total 6 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: The Instant New York Times Bestseller “The book is a beautiful trip.” (New York Times Magazine) • “Soulful . . .  Feels like hanging out within a history of American movies over the last 50 years.” (Los Angeles Times) • “Startlingly cinematic ... A fine memoir.” (The Guardian) From one of the most iconic actors in the history of film, an astonishingly revelatory account of a creative life in full To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force. But Pacino was in his midthirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe.  Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/775542 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Dreamer: My Life On the Edge Author: Nazem Kadri Narrator: Nazem Kadri Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 38 minutes Release date: October 15, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: An outspoken, inspirational memoir from a charismatic athlete in the spotlight, Dreamer is the moving story of the first Muslim hockey player to win the Stanley Cup, and the impossible dreams he made a reality. No one who knows the game is unfamiliar with the story of the NHL’s  first Muslim Stanley Cup winner, Nazem Kadri, nor does anyone doubt his warmth and openness in front of a microphone, or his eagerness to challenge the next generation of Muslim athletes. He is a league All-Star, a highlight-reel player, and someone who has been called upon to be the face of his community from the moment he put on skates. Nazem Kadri was a top-ten draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs, chosen not only for his elite skills but because he would reflect Toronto’s immense diversity and huge Muslim population. And he was soon a fan favourite, not only with a new generation of diverse fans, but with traditionalists too, who admired his willingness to play the game with old-school toughness.  In the end, he was traded to Colorado as management sought to shake up the team. But it was the Avalanche, not the Leafs, who benefitted most, and Toronto fans missed him. When Colorado won the Stanley Cup in 2022, Kadri (by then a fan favourite in Denver) was a clutch player in high-pressure games. Today he is a veteran leader with the Calgary Flames, and still making the highlight reels.  But the core of Kadri's story is what happened off the ice—both shocking and heartwarming. Kadri faced brutal anti-Muslim harassment during Colorado's Cup run from Blues fans and received incredible support from Denver fans. When a controversy arose about an uncalled penalty on the championship-winning goal, this founding member of the league’s Hockey Diversity Alliance used the opportunity to make humorous t-shirts, which raised over $250,000 for the Kadri Foundation. And when he had his traditional day with the Stanley Cup, he took it to the mosque in his hometown of London, Ontario, along with the message that the highest success, not just in hockey but in life, is a destiny any of us can choose.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/755927 to listen full audiobooks. Title: What I Ate in One Year: (And related thoughts) Author: Stanley Tucci Narrator: Stanley Tucci Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 48 minutes Release date: October 10, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. ‘Sharing food is one of the purest human acts' Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime. Now, in What I Ate in One Year Tucci records twelve months of eating, in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself. Ranging from the mouth-wateringly memorable, to the comfortingly domestic, to the infuriatingly inedible, the meals memorialized in this diary are a prism through which he reflects on the ways his life, and his family, are constantly evolving. Through food he marks – and mourns – the passing of time, the loss of loved ones, and prepares himself for what is to come. Whether it’s duck à l’orange eaten with fellow actors and cooked by singing Carmelite nuns, steaks barbecued at a gathering with friends, or meatballs made by his mother and son and shared at the table with three generations of his family, these meals give shape and richness to his days. 'A hugely entertaining glimpse into a well-lived life full of fun, food, family, travel, work, passions and love. I adored every page' Dolly Alderton 'This is a man who knows both how to eat and how to live' Guardian ‘Everyone wants to spend a day and share a meal with Stanley Tucci and this is the perfect way to do it … A true joy’ Ina Garten ‘An absolute delight. Tucci's wit is dry as a martini; his observations as sharp as lemon tart, but really what I most adore about his writing is his ability to reach across the table and guide the reader not just through mealtimes, but through life itself’ Elizabeth Day © Stanley Tucci 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/756084 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Never: The Autobiography Author: Rick Astley Narrator: Rick Astley Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 42 minutes Release date: October 10, 2024 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Read by the author, Rick Astley 'I hadn’t been very comfortable with fame, but I didn’t know what to do with myself after I was famous. On the surface, I was just hugely relieved to be shot of the whole thing. I felt like I’d been let off the hook . . . But underneath that, I was pretty miserable.' When 'Never Gonna Give You Up’ propelled Rick Astley into the pop stratosphere, it changed his life forever. Nothing could have prepared the young, unassuming lad from Lancashire for what was in store for him. This is Rick's story – in his own words. At just nineteen, Rick agreed to sign with legendary music producer Pete Waterman – under the wings of music powerhouse Stock Aitken Waterman. Unpredictable, outlandish adventures followed, giving him a peek into the mechanics of the music industry – all of which would eventually take Rick from the shadows of local bands to international stardom. From platinum-selling albums to worldwide tours, the world was at Rick’s feet. And then, suddenly, at what seemed like the height of fame, it wasn’t. At twenty-seven, Rick retired himself from the industry that had brought him much success and financial stability. Behind the hits and the glitz and glamour was a young man coming to terms with his new-found fame, the realities of life in the pop-music machine and the pressures of life on the road, not to mention reconciling with his childhood spent between his divorced parents in a volatile family dynamic. Time out of the industry offered Rick room for much-needed reflection and therapy – and unknowingly helped to set the stage for his triumphant return to music. Balancing nostalgia, fresh perspectives and introspection, with a good dose of northern humour, Never is an intimate look at the man behind the hits – and is a portrait of truth, artistic evolution and the astounding power of contentment.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/763190 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Sophie From Romania: A Year of Love and Hope with a Rescue Dog Author: Rory Cellan-Jones Narrator: Rory Cellan-Jones Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 20 minutes Release date: October 10, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. How do you welcome someone new into your home and heart? A week before Christmas, newly retired BBC journalist and award-winning Movers and Shakers podcaster Rory Cellan-Jones receives a special delivery that will change the course of his life. This is the story of #SophieFromRomania, told in full for the first time. In January 2022, the Cellan-Jones-Coyle family said goodbye to their beloved elderly Collie cross, Cabbage. She and Rory had become inseparable during daily pandemic walks, which alleviated his Parkinson’s symptoms. After a grief-stricken year, Rory and his wife Diane come across a listing for ‘a kind girl who loves everybody and is just looking for her forever home’. Bright-eyed, big-eared and trembling, Sophie arrives in London on 17 December 2022. Rory holds the Romanian rescue in his arms, excited for their first walk together – but the road ahead will be a long one . . . This book follows the real journey of Sophie’s adoption – from her battles with anxiety, to the joys of play and her first time outside – as Rory and Diane work with expert dog trainer Si to win Sophie’s trust, and navigate Rory’s Parkinson’s disease. This is a moving story of love, kindness and a lot of patience, paying tribute to rescue dogs and their tender community. 'A DAILY DOSE OF HOPE' Jojo Moyes 'FILLS MY HEART WITH SO MUCH JOY' Niall Harbison © Rory Cellan-Jones 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/774149 to listen full audiobooks. Title: This Time Next Year: A Life Of Positive Thinking Author: David Jason Narrator: David Jason Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 40 minutes Release date: October 10, 2024 Genres: Memoirs Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. Told with characteristic warmth and humour, David Jason reveals the hard-won wisdom of a life doggedly led getting through one day, looking to the next, and always chasing what's new on the horizon. Throughout his remarkable career, David's north star for navigating life's challenges has been his positive outlook and his resilience. Sometimes, art has seemed to imitate life. 'This time next year, we'll be millionaires' was what his iconic Only Fools character Derek Trotter once said. Such a dream was almost unimaginable for David growing up in a working class family in North Finchley in the rubble of the Blitz. But David’s never-say-never spirit could not be dimmed. From a trainee electrician to national treasure, David’s bumpy journey to success has overcome obstacle after obstacle. Candidly revealing the ups, the downs, and the roundabout turns, David’s book will uplift, entertain and inspire readers, offering an essential, unvarnished primer to leading a good life. © David Jason 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024