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ID: 630987

Title: Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education

Author: Malaina Kapoor, Sola Mahfouz

Narrator: Ariana Delawari

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9:00:16

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Random House (Audio)

Genres: Biography & Memoir, History & Culture, Women

Summary:

A searing, deeply personal memoir of a tenacious Afghan girl who educated herself behind closed doors and fought her way to a new life.

 

“Stories like this inspire me. Seeing the way people like Sola Mahfouz think about the world reinforces my optimism about the future.”―BILL GATES

Sola Mahfouz was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1996, the year the Taliban took over her country for the first time. They banned television and photographs, presided over brutal public executions, and turned the clock backward on women’s rights, practically imprisoning women within their own homes and forcing them to wear all-concealing burqas. At age eleven, Sola was forced to stop attending school after a group of men threatened to throw acid in her face if she continued. After that she was confined to her home, required to cook and clean and prepare for an arranged marriage. She saw the outside world only a handful of times each year.

As time passed, Sola began to understand that she was condemned to the same existence as millions of women in Afghanistan. Her future was empty. The rest of her life would be controlled entirely by men: fathers and husbands and sons who would never allow her to study, to earn money, or even to dream.

Driven by this devastating realization, Sola began a years-long fight to change the trajectory of her life, deciding that education would be her way out. At age sixteen, without even the basic ability to add or subtract, she began to teach herself math and English in secret. She progressed rapidly., Within just two years she was already studying subjects such as philosophy and physics. Faced with obstacles at every turn, Sola still managed to sneak into Pakistan to take the SAT. In 2016, she escaped to the United States, where she is now a quantum-computing researcher at Tufts University.

An engrossing, dramatic memoir, co-written with young Indian American human rights activist Malaina Kapoor, Defiant Dreams is the story of one girl, but it’s also the untold story of a generation of women brimming with potential and longing for freedom.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 630950

Title: Same Time Next Summer

Author: Annabel Monaghan

Narrator: Brittany Pressley, Dan Bittner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6:57:25

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Romance, Fiction & Literature, Coming of Age, Contemporary Women

Summary:

“Bursting with the magic of first love, it’s everything I want in a summer romance.” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of EVERY SUMMER AFTER

Named a Best Book of Summer by Real Simple • Reader’s Digest • Country Living • The Skimm • BookBub • GoodReads

Beach Rules:

Do take long walks on the sand.

Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.

Do NOT run into your first love.

    Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right? 

    Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 622375

Title: Many Masks of Andy Zhou

Author: Jack Cheng

Narrator: Eddy Lee, Jack Cheng

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7:59:02

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Listening Library (Audio)

Genres: Kids, General, Health & Family

Summary:

“Another beautiful book by Jack Cheng.” —Erin Entrada Kelly, Newbery Award-winning author of Hello, Universe

Creative and brave sixth grader Andy Zhou faces big changes at school and at home in this new novel by the award-winning author of See You in the Cosmos, for fans of When You Trap a Tiger and The Stars Beneath Our Feet

Andy Zhou is used to being what people need him to be: the good kid for his parents and, now, his grandparents in from Shanghai, or the helpful sidekick for his best friend Cindy’s plans and schemes. So when Cindy decides they should try out for Movement on the first day of sixth grade, how can Andy say no? But between feeling out of place with the dancers after school, being hassled by his new science partner Jameel in class, and sensing tension between his dad and grandfather at home, Andy feels all kinds of weird. Then over anime, Hi-Chews, and art, things start to shift between Andy and Jameel, opening up new doors—and new problems. Because no matter how much Andy cares about his friends and family, it’s hard not to feel pulled between all the ways he’s meant to be, all the different faces he wears, and harder still to figure out if any of these masks is the real him.

“A joy and a journey.” —Tae Keller, Newbery Award-winning author of When You Trap a Tiger

“Perceptive . . . Captures the joys and complex anxieties of middle school.” —Kirkus

'Beautiful . . . Recommended for fans of Erin Entrada Kelly and Nicole Melleby.' —SLJ

'Realistic . . . Compelling.' —Booklist

'Beautifully and naturally depicts Chinese American family life and the first year of middle school” —Common Sense Media

“There’s an aching poignancy [that] will resonate with kids.” —BCCB

'Beautifully written, [with] complexity and nuance.' —Book Riot

“Andy’s quiet courage and budding artistry have readers cheering him on.” —Paula Yoo, National Book Award longlisted-author of From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 669330

Title: Always Isn't Forever

Author: J. C. Cervantes

Narrator: Elena Rey, Giordan Diaz, Keylor Leigh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11:47:17

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Listening Library (Audio)

Genres: Fiction, Teen, Romance, Tough Topics

Summary:

From New York Times bestselling author J.C. Cervantes comes a sparkling, unforgettable YA romance, perfect for fans of You’ve Reached Sam.

Best friends and soul mates since they were kids, Hart Augusto and Ruby Armenta were poised to take on senior year together when Hart tragically drowns in a boating accident. Absolutely shattered, Ruby struggles to move on from the person she knows was her forever love.

Hart can’t let go of Ruby either…. Due to some divine intervention, he’s offered a second chance. Only it won’t be as simple as bringing him back to life—instead, Hart’s soul is transferred to the body of local bad boy.

When Hart returns to town as Jameson, he realizes that winning Ruby back will be more challenging than he’d imagined. For one, he’s forbidden from telling Ruby the truth. And with each day he spends as Jameson, memories of his life as Hart begin to fade away.

Though Ruby still mourns Hart, she can’t deny that something is drawing her to Jameson. As much as she doesn’t understand the sudden pull, it can’t be ignored. And why does he remind her so much of Hart? Desperate to see if the connection she feels is real, Ruby begins to open her heart to Jameson—but will their love be enough to bridge the distance between them?

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 639069

Title: Soldiers Don't Go Mad: A Story of Brotherhood, Poetry, and Mental Illness During the First World War

Author: Charles Glass

Narrator: Edward Glass

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10:12:49

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: History, Biography & Memoir, Non-Fiction, Literary, Military, Psychology

Summary:

The #1 Amazon UK bestseller in War Poetry

A brilliant and poignant history of the friendship between two great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, alongside a narrative investigation of the origins of PTSD and the literary response to World War I

From the moment war broke out across Europe in 1914, the world entered a new, unparalleled era of modern warfare. Soldiers faced relentless machine gun shelling, incredible artillery power, flame throwers, and gas attacks. Within the first four months of the war, the British Army recorded the nervous collapse of ten percent of its officers; the loss of such manpower to mental illness – not to mention death and physical wounds – left the army unable to fill its ranks. Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was twenty-four years old when he was admitted to the newly established Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A bourgeoning poet, trying to make sense of the terror he had witnessed, he read a collection of poems from a fellow officer, Siegfried Sassoon, and was impressed by his portrayal of the soldier’s plight. One month later, Sassoon himself arrived at Craiglockhart, having refused to return to the front after being wounded during battle.

Though Owen and Sassoon differed in age, class, education, and interests, both were outsiders – as soldiers unfit to fight, as gay men in a homophobic country, and as Britons unwilling to support a war likely to wipe out an entire generation of young men. But more than anything else, they shared a love of the English language, and its highest expression of poetry. As their friendship evolved over their months as patients at Craiglockhart, each encouraged the other in their work, in their personal reckonings with the morality of war, as well as in their treatment. Therapy provided Owen, Sassoon, and fellow patients with insights that allowed them express themselves better, and for the 28 months that Craiglockhart was in operation, it notably incubated the era’s most significant developments in both psychiatry and poetry.

Drawing on rich source materials, as well as Glass’s own deep understanding of trauma and war, Soldiers Don't Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the human psyche. Writing beyond the battlefields, to the psychiatric couch of Craiglockhart but also the literary salons, halls of power, and country houses, Glass charts the experiences of Owen and Sassoon, and of their fellow soldier-poets, alongside the greater literary response to modern warfare. As he investigates the roots of what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, Glass brings historical bearing to how we must consider war’s ravaging effects on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come to terms with even the darkest of times.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 630953

Title: Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media

Author: Darrell Hartman

Narrator: Mack Sanderson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11:43:29

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: History, Non-Fiction, World, North America, Social Science

Summary:

New York Times Book Review’s '100 Notable Books of 2023'

'Absolutely gripping… a perfectly splendid read—I highly, highly recommend it” -- Douglas Preston, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Lost City of the Monkey God

A sixty-year saga of frostbite and fake news that follows the no-holds-barred battle between two legendary explorers to reach the North Pole, and the newspapers which stopped at nothing to get–and sell–the story.

In the fall of 1909, a pair of bitter contests captured the world’s attention. The American explorers Robert Peary and Frederick Cook both claimed to have discovered the North Pole, sparking a vicious feud that was unprecedented in international scientific and geographic circles. At the same time, the rivalry between two powerful New York City newspapers—the storied Herald and the ascendant Times—fanned the flames of the so-called polar controversy, as each paper financially and reputationally committed itself to an opposing explorer and fought desperately to defend him.

The Herald was owned and edited by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., an eccentric playboy whose nose for news was matched only by his appetite for debauchery and champagne. The Times was published by Adolph Ochs, son of Jewish immigrants, who’d improbably rescued the paper from extinction and turned it into an emerging powerhouse. The battle between Cook and Peary would have enormous consequences for both newspapers, and help to determine the future of corporate media. 

BATTLE OF INK AND ICE presents a frank portrayal of Arctic explorers, brave men who both inspired and deceived the public. It also sketches a vivid portrait of the newspapers that funded, promoted, narrated, and often distorted their exploits. It recounts a sixty-year saga of frostbite and fake news, one that culminates with an unjustly overlooked chapter in the origin story of the modern New York Times.

By turns tragic and absurd, BATTLE OF INK AND ICE brims with contemporary relevance, touching as it does on themes of class, celebrity, the ever-quickening news cycle, and the benefits and pitfalls of an increasingly interconnected world. Above all, perhaps, its cast of characters testifies—colorfully and compellingly—to the ongoing role of personality and publicity in American cultural life as the Gilded Age gave way to the twentieth century—the American century.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 618082

Title: Where Is the Sahara Desert?

Author: Sarah Fabiny

Narrator: Pete Cross

Format: Unabridged

Length: 0:56:54

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Listening Library (Audio)

Genres: Kids, Animals & Nature, Non-Fiction, Historical

Summary:

Ten-story-high sand dunes, eye-tricking mirages, unlucky explorers – it’s all here and more in this newest Where Is? audiobook.

From the #1 New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? series comes Where Is?, a series that tells the stories of world-famous landmarks and natural wonders!

Imagine over three million square miles of sand dunes that are as tall as a ten-story building. That place is real -- it's the Sahara Desert! Vast, yes! And home to fascinating creatures such as ostriches and fennec foxes as well as amazing plant life. The shallow roots of the mesquite tree can grow almost 200 feet across to absorb water. Listeners will also learn about the famous trade routes of the past with caravans of up to 10,000 camels, European explorers to the region (some very unlucky ones), and native populations like the Berber and Tuareg, the faces of the men are blue from the dye in the veils they always wear.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 630970

Title: Prepared: A Manual for Surviving Worst-Case Scenarios

Author: Mike Glover

Narrator: Mike Glover, Ray Porter

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5:14:07

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Sports & Recreation, Health & Wellness, Instructional & How To, Outdoor Recreation

Summary:

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A former Green Beret’s indispensable course in preparedness, teaching the keys to building a resilient and fearless life

Most people think that being prepared for catastrophe means stocking up on MREs and building a bunker in their backyard, but this approach leaves you vulnerable in the real world of car accidents, natural disasters, grid failures, and global pandemics. Prepared overturns today’s paranoid survival wisdom and teaches the foundational skills of preparedness that will not only help you build situational awareness and achieve greater mobility but that will also help you build resilient mental habits.

After 20 years in the US Army, Special Forces, and as a government contractor for the CIA, Mike Glover has trained thousands of men, women, and families in the art and science of survival. In this book, he shows you how to: 

• Harness your brain chemistry to eliminate the freeze response and increase your stress tolerance during a crisis

• Fortify your home by learning how to use and store essential foods, water, supplies, first aid, and ammunition in your everyday life

• Equip your vehicle with sufficient first aid, so you can respond to injuries even before an ambulance arrives—dramatically increasing your chance of survival in an accident

Drawing on Glover’s most dire experiences in combat and in the real world, this book shows you how almost no disaster is more powerful than someone who is truly prepared. For Glover, surviving catastrophe is not about fearing crisis, but creating more resilient habits so that you can be ready for whatever comes your way.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 630943

Title: Making It Home: Life Lessons from a Season of Little League

Author: Teresa Strasser

Narrator: Teresa Strasser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11:55:53

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Biography & Memoir, Sports, Health & Wellness, Death & Bereavement

Summary:

'This is a story about a team that becomes a family and a family that becomes a team. . . a wonderful book .' -- Cal Ripken, Jr.

'A MUST READ!'--USA TODAY (ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2023)

An achingly heartfelt and surprisingly funny memoir about family, grief, and moving forward.

 

When her brother dies from cancer, and then her mother just four months later, Teresa Strasser has no one to mourn with but her irresponsible, cantankerous, trailerpark-dwelling father. He claims not to remember her chaotic childhood, but he’s a devoted grandpa, so as her son embarks on his first season pitching in Little League, Teresa and Nelson form a grief group of two in beach chairs lined up behind the first base line.

 

There are no therapeutically trained facilitators and no rules other than those dictated by the Little League of America, and the human heart. For Teresa and her father, the stages of grief are the draft, the regular season, and the playoffs. One season of baseball becomes the framework for a memoir about family, loss, and the fundamentals of baseball and life. They cheer, talk smack about other teams, scream at each other in the parking lot, and care way too much about Little League.

 

Making It Home is a bracingly honest journey through grief, self-doubt, and anxiety armed with humor and optimism. After all, America’s pastime may be just a game, but it always leaves room for redemption, even at the bottom of the lineup.

Contact: [email protected]

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ID: 632388

Title: Starstruck: A Memoir of Astrophysics and Finding Light in the Dark

Author: Sarafina El-Badry Nance

Narrator: Sarafina El-Badry Nance

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10:45:48

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-23

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Genres: Biography & Memoir, Science & Technology, Astronomy & Physics, History & Culture

Summary:

In a beautifully written, science-packed, and inspirational memoir, Egyptian-American astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance shares how she boldly carved out a place in the field of astrophysics, grounding herself in a lifelong love of the stars to face life’s inevitable challenges and embrace the unknown.

As a child, Sarafina El-Badry Nance spent nearly every evening with her father gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. The daughter of an American father and Egyptian mother who both pushed her toward academic excellence, Sarafina dreamed of becoming an astronomer and untangling the mysteries of the stars overhead. But it wasn’t long before she was told, both explicitly and implicitly, that girls just weren’t cut out for math and science.

In Starstruck, Sarafina invites us to consider the cosmos through fascinating science lessons to open each chapter. But she also traces more earthbound obstacles—of misogyny and racism, abuse and intergenerational trauma, anxiety and self-doubt, cancer diagnoses and recovery—she faced along the way. As her career and passion for space brought her from UT Austin to UC Berkeley, and even to a Mars astronaut simulation in Hawai’i, Sarafina learned how to survive—and ultimately thrive—in a space that was seldom welcoming to women, and especially not to women of color.

 

Honest and empowering, Starstruck sits at the intersection of the study of our cosmos—itself constantly changing—and the transformative experience of embracing resilience to pursue one’s passion.

Contact: [email protected]