Filling Up My Audible Library #1

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I am thankful for a lot of things that I have in my possession.  My gigantic green Morrissey the Monstera, my mom being constantly active on Facebook Messenger and an incense collection to be proud of.  I am also very privileged to be able to afford a monthly Audible subscription.

What is Audible?

Audible is a subscription-based audiobook hub powered by Amazon.  Each month you pay a flat fee of £7.99 and receive a credit to put against any narrated title.  It could be the entirety of The Chronicles Of Narnia, a meal prep cookbook or Sally Rooney’s Normal People *sob*.

Audiobooks can be expensive.  The Handmaid’s Tale is a staggering £27.99 to purchase alone, while George R. R Martin’s Fire and Blood is £23.62.  That £7.99 is a bargain in my eyes.  You can build up your credits and splurge (they last 365 days) or buy a new Audiobook every month.

If you get halfway through a book and feel like you wasted your precious credit – DO NOT FRET.  You can return and pick up a reading of something else that tickles your fancy.  No extra credit buying needed.

I love Audiobooks.  I listen to them while I wheeze around my local park, on my rooftop bathing in the sunshine, and when cooking up a storm in the kitchen.  I listen to them on my iPhone and on my Kindle.

Below are six new editions to my Audible Library.

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East of Croydon – Sue Perkins

Read by: Sue Perkins
For fans of: Sarah Milican, Dawn French and Billy Connolly

Derived from her BBC documentary series The Ganges, Sue Perkins’ East Of Croydon is a side-splitting anecdote bundle.  Inspired by her travels through India and South East Asia, the part-memoir part-dairy is a vivid recount of unabashed love and the exhilarating joy of living life outside of the comfort zone. 

The audiobook is narrated by Perkins herself, which adds animation and belly laughs beyond.  From lawn mowing misadventures to eye-opening political discourse, find both pleasure and home truths in East Of Croydon. 

Exciting Times – Naoise Dolan

Read by: Aoife McMahon
For fans of: Sally Rooney, Dawn O’Porter and Lara Williams

Naoise Dolan may have been hailed the next Sally Rooney, but with her stinging debut, Exciting Times, she is proving her lane is all her own.  The novel follows the Dublin-born Ava, as events in Hong Kong teach how diverse love, lust, fun and friendship can be.  She is picked up and abandoned, healed while simultaneously cajoled into false pretences.  What is life without a little roughage?  Learning lessons in modern love, Exciting Times has been praised and I am listening.  

The audiobook version is perfectly presented by Aoife McMahon.  Her voice is both relaxing and compelling, and a glorious choice for Exciting Times. 

Heroes, Gods and Monsters of The Greek Myths – Bernard Evslin

Read by: Todd Haberkorn
For fans of: Stephen Fry, Homer and Madeleine Miller

The oldest novel in my audiobook haul, Heroes, Gods and Monsters of The Greek Myths by the late Bernard Evslin was first published in 1998.  As my self-proclaimed mastermind subject, Greek Mythology and its countless novels, re-tellings, plays, origin stories and more, will never not excite me.  I am like The Minotaur seeing Theseus for the first time – red eyes and hungry for Greek flesh.  Do not tell my boyfriend. 

This one is read by Todd Haberkorn, who’s voice is both crisp and clear, as well as compelling and bouncy.  He may like the Heroes, Gods and Monsters of my favourite fables more than I.

Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell

Read by: Daisy Donovan
For fans of: Hillary Mantel, Philippe Sands and Julian Fellowes

A newly rediscovered fascination with historical fiction has lead me on a gorgeous trail to the door of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet.  Shortlisted for the prestigious 2020 Women’s Prize Award, this heartbreaking story of a tragically forgotten son and his twin sister has been raised to the high heavens with praise. 

O’Farrell, and the smooth tones of Daisy Donovan, bring Shakespeare’s son alongside his tender hopes and dreams to life.  Thought to be brilliantly raw, I am sincerely hoping that Hamnet brings the heat. 

Codename Villanelle: Killing Eve – Luke Jennings

Read by: Laura Kirman
For fans of: Anthony Horowitz and Belinda Bauer

Killing Eve originally entered my starry eyes last year.  Really, I was watching it in an attempt to uncover what the fuck all the fuss was about.  I thought it was overhyped and air chat.  But, the puffy pink frock Villanelle adorns, the pig mask and Eve’s sexualisation of murder – HOOKED. 

I have always been a ‘read first, watch second, complain third’ when it comes to television and cinema adaptations.  However, Killing Eve is one of the small exceptions.  I fell in love with the series and am now trying my hand at the story it its original medium.  Where it all began, I am ready for Codename Villanelle. 

Before We Was We: The Making of Madness – Madness 

Read by: Mike Barson, Mark Bedford, Chris Forman, Graham McPherson, Lee Thompson, Dan Woodgate, Cathal Smyth
For fans of: David Hepworth, Suggs and Viv Albertine

A funny story of luck, charisma, criminality and baggy trousers, Before We Was We is Madness in their own words.  Charming and dastardly devious, Camden spawned a Madness monster in the 1970’s, which is still causing global havoc today.  But how did it come to a head?

The audiobook sees each member, Suggs, Chrissy Boy, Bedders and the rest, putting forward their version of what really happened in the early Dublin Castle days, and why 2 Tone is still a spectacular genre. 

Rough, raw, hilarious and honest.  Don’t listen to that, listen to this.  This, is The Making of Madness.