Audible Book Recommendations Volume I

Audible is an Amazon company that produces and sells thousands of popular audiobooks.When I started audiobooks, it felt like I was cheating on a real book. My dad and grandfather were former English teachers. My grandfather collected books. I don’t have the time to sit down and dive into a book. I am always on the go.

I started the Audible 30-day-free trial and I haven’t looked back.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.

Is Audible Worth It?

Even if you think you will NOT listen to great, new books, sometimes narrated by the author; at least try a free trial and get free audiobook. After 30 days, you can decide if you would like to subscribe to Audible.

This is how it works. Each month, you are awarded a credit to purchase one book.

You can listen to books from their app straight on your phone. I even listen to mine on our Amazon Alexa in the kitchen. In other words, I can unload the dishwasher, make dinner, or pack lunches while listening to my book.

If you don’t like the Audible book you chose, Audible will actually refund you and allow you to try something else.

The Audible membership is afforable. I treated myself to one payment of $99.50. This was a special offer as 12 audiobooks up front is normally $149.50.

I will link my code to your audible discount here.

Edcuated by Tara Westover

I can’t say enough about Educated by Tara Westover. It’s spellbinding and addictive. It is gripping and infuriating. I just could not stop reading (really listening on Audible) to Tara’s story. Tara did not grow up in your typical home. She was raised in her family’s world of anti-medical care, anti-establishment, and homeschooling in rural Idaho. Her bigotted, single-minded, father brought her up to distrust the government and the public school system. I was captivated. There were sections of the book that had me convulsing with horror. Her mother was an enabler who will make you angry, espcially if you are a mother. She grew up working in her father’s dangerous junkyard or brewing herbs with her mother for her midwifery business.

“I am not the child my father raised, but he is the father who raised her.”

Tara Westover

I went to college at University of Florida, surrounded by wealthy students and athletes who took their educations for granted, spending late nights at the bar and falling asleep during classes or not attending them at all. It would be impossible for them to apprehend the dedication, psyche, and daringness it took for Tara to eventually earn her Ph.D. from Cambridge University. Educated is nothing short of aspiring. It’s about gaining your own understanding of the world. The quality of writing is masterful. This may be the best book I’ve read all year.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

I thoroughly enjoyed Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult and honestly, anything, by Picoult. The Washington Post claims that this is the most important book that she has ever written. I read about Ruth Jefferson, an African American, highly skilled labor and delivery nurse, shortly after I had my first child. I was hooked. I work in the senior health care sector. I work directly with nurses and clinical staff. I have experienced racism first-hand. It happens. Especially in the South. Ruth is an intelligent, widowed single-mother raising her teenager son, Edison. She lost her husband in serving our country in Afghanistan. She has to deal with a chauvinistic klansman, repulsively decorated with a tattoo a confederate flag. She is told not to go anywhere near his new baby.

The next day Ruth happens to be in the nursey and his baby goes into cardiac distress. Ruth has not idea what to do. You need to read this book and find out about the decision that is made.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Nelson Mandela

Picoult tells a story through three perspectives: Ruth, an African American nurse who needs legal represnation, Kennedy, the public defender who represents her, and Turk, the white supremacist who maddens me throughout the novel. Racism is hard to talk about and all too prevalent in the United States and Jodi Picoult brings these timely and compelling issues to life.

Becoming Michelle Obama by Michelle Obama

Becoming Michelle Obama by Michelle Obama is powerful and inspiring; full of accomplishment. Michelle is the former First Lady of the United States and the very first African American to serve in that role. She is an advocate for girls around the world. She genuinely cares about childhood obesity, children, and education. She tells a magnetizing story from her childhood, growing up on the other side of the tracks in Chicago to her time at the White House. Michelle is witty, honest, and deeply personal.

“The most successful people I know have figured out how to live with critiscm, to lean on the people who believe in them, and to push onward with their goals.”

Michelle Obama

Michelle’s spirit is deep. She carries herself with grace. She is just like me or you. She carefully balanced her working life and motherhood and overcame. Her storytelling is expressive and refreshing. If you like audiobooks, I urge you to listen to Michelle tell her own story on Audible. It really makes this memoir come to life.

Audible is my favorite way to make the most of time tackling motherhood, traveling, exercising, or commuting to work. Give it a try today.

XOXO
Mackenzie