From celebrities baring their souls about struggles with identity and fame, to ordinary people sharing extraordinary tales of resilience and transformation, memoirs on audio offer an unparalleled window into the human experience.
In this roundup, we’ll explore some of the most compelling memoir audiobooks that deserve a spot in your listening queue.
To Save and Destroy
Written by Viet Thanh Nguyen, narrated by the author
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer (now an HBO series) comes a moving and unflinchingly personal meditation on the literary forms of otherness and a bold call for expansive political solidarity.
Born in war-ravaged Vietnam, Viet Nguyen arrived in the United States as a child refugee in 1975. The Nguyen family would soon move to San Jose, California, where the author grew up, attending UC-Berkeley in the aftermath of the shocking murder of Vincent Chin, which shaped the political sensibilities of a new generation of Asian Americans.
The essays here, delivered originally as the prestigious Norton Lectures, proffer a new answer to a classic literary question: What does the outsider mean to literary writing? Over the course of six captivating and moving chapters, Nguyen explores the idea of being an outsider through lenses that are, by turns, literary, historical, political, and familial.
Do Not Cry When I Die: A Holocaust Memoir
Written by Renee Salt and Kate Thompson, narrated by Renee Salt, Kate Thompson, Maria Louis, and Rachel Atkins
One of the oldest living Holocaust survivors recounts her family’s imprisonment at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen in this “deeply moving memoir” (Lucy Adlington, New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz) of love, loss, courage, and hope – and the mother’s love that saved her.
“I only survived because of my mother’s love.”
When German soldiers invaded Poland in September 1939, it began a six-year journey for then-ten-year-old Renee Salt and her mother Sala. Until their liberation in 1945, Renee and Sala were imprisoned in ghettos and concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. The only light in the darkness and brutality for Renee was the unwavering grasp of her mother’s hand in hers–enduring, against all odds.
It was this unbreakable bond, along with a few miracles, that kept Renee alive. Sala’s staggering courage to defy the will of SS guards saved both her and her daughter from the gas chambers, and the pair survived the deadliest days in Auschwitz’s history.
After suffering the nightmarish conditions at Bergen-Belsen, Renee and her mother were liberated in April 1945–but Sala died soon after they were saved. To this day, Renee attributes her survival to the love and bravery of her beloved mother.
Protecting Whitney
Written by David Roberts, narrated by Gildart Jackson
David Roberts was Whitney Houston’s bodyguard, the real one.
Roberts was hired in 1988 for Houston’s UK portion of the Moment of Truth world tour. Accustomed to working for diplomats and Fortune 500 clients, Roberts had reservations about working with a pop star. But Houston’s heart of gold won him over from the moment they met at Heathrow airport.
There’s a high bar for those who work in this business: you must be willing to die for your boss. Houston made that easy. Roberts got to travel the globe with one of the most fun-loving and generous souls he’d ever met. His memoir reveals heartwarming anecdotes of life with one of the world’s most recognizable stars, including privately shared moments such as the birth of Bobbi Kristina.
But there are also shocking and heartbreaking revelations. Roberts was present for some of Houston’s most challenging ordeals. And he was helpless as he watched those who claimed to love and support her betray her confidence for their greed.
His heart was ultimately shattered as he witnessed her succumb to the one threat he could not protect her from: herself.
The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders
Written by Sarah Aziza, narrated by the author
“You were dead, Sarah, you were dead.” In October 2019, Sarah Aziza, daughter and granddaughter of Gazan refugees, is narrowly saved after being hospitalized for an eating disorder. The doctors revive her body, but it is no simple thing to return to the land of the living. Aziza’s crisis is a rupture that brings both her ancestral and personal past into vivid presence. The hauntings begin in the hospital cafeteria, when a mysterious incident summons the familiar voice of her deceased Palestinian grandmother.
In the months following, as she responds to a series of ghostly dreams, Aziza unearths family secrets that reveal the ways her own trauma and anorexia echo generations of violent Palestinian displacement and erasure—and how her fight to recover builds on a century of defiant survival and love. As she moves towards this legacy, Aziza learns to resist the forces of colonization, denial, and patriarchy both within and outside her.
A brush with death. An ancestral haunting. A century of family secrets. Sarah Aziza’s searing, genre-bending memoir traces three generations of diasporic Palestinians from Gaza to the Midwest to New York City—and back.
“Lyrical, vulnerable, and insightful, this formally inventive, deeply researched memoir masterfully weaves the author’s struggle with anorexia with the history of her family and their multigenerational relationship with their Palestinian homeland.” —Kirkus Reviews
Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
Written by Robert Rodriguez, narrated by the author
Famed independent screenwriter and director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spy Kids, Machete) discloses all the unique strategies and original techniques he used to make his remarkable debut film El Mariachi on a shoestring budget.
This is both one man’s remarkable story and an essential guide for anyone who has a celluloid story to tell and the dreams and determination to see it through. Part production diary, part how-to manual, Rodriguez unveils how he was able to make his influential first film on only a $7,000 budget. Also included is the appendix, “The Ten-Minute Film School,” a tell-all on how to save thousands of dollars on film school and teach yourself the ropes of film production, directing, and screenwriting.
I Curse You With Joy
Written by Tiffany Haddish, narrated by the author
The wig is off. I’m not wearing any makeup.
Comedian, actress, and New York Times bestselling author Tiffany Haddish is back with her highly anticipated new essay collection, where she gets real about the highs and lows of life and celebrates all the lessons she’s learned along the way.
It’s been a minute since readers last sat down with Tiffany Haddish. Since her first book, The Last Black Unicorn, Haddish has catapulted to A-List fame as the breakout star of Girls Trip. She’s walked the Oscars red carpet, released a hit stand-up special with Netflix, and made history as the first black female comedian to host Saturday Night Live and Shark Week.
But it hasn’t been all VIP parties and free diving with apex predators. Believe it or not, there was a time when Tiffany didn’t totally know who Tiffany was – but eventually she figured herself out. Tiffany reckons with the legacy of her childhood trauma, the challenges of being a black woman in the entertainment industry, and her bittersweet reunion with her estranged father after nearly twenty years apart. And don’t worry, she’s got plenty of advice to share, too.
These essays lay it all bare, bringing listeners into Tiffany’s inner circle where joy, honesty, humor, and heart are the order of the day.
Maybe We’ll Make It
Written by Margo Price, narrated by the author
Audiobook exclusive: original and never-before-released music from the author, Margo Price.
When Margo Price was nineteen years old, she dropped out of college and moved to Nashville to become a musician. She busked on the street, played open mics, and even threw out her TV so that she would do nothing but write songs. She met Jeremy Ivey, a fellow musician who would become her closest collaborator and her husband. But after working on their craft for more than a decade, Price and Ivey had no label, no band, and plenty of heartache.
Maybe We’ll Make It is a memoir of loss, motherhood, and the search for artistic freedom in the midst of the agony experienced by so many aspiring musicians: bad gigs and long tours, rejection and sexual harassment, too much drinking, and barely enough money to live on. Price, though, refused to break and turned her lowest moments into the classic country songs that eventually comprised the debut album that launched her career. In the authentic voice hailed by Pitchfork for tackling “Steinbeck-sized issues with no-bullshit humility,” Price shares the stories that became songs and the small acts of love and camaraderie it takes to survive in a music industry that is often unkind to women. Now a Grammy-nominated “Best New Artist,” Price tells a love story of music, collaboration, and the struggle to build a career while trying to maintain her singular voice and style.
Influencing Death: Reframing Dying for Better Living
Written by Penny Hawkins Smith, RN, narrated by the author
A hospice nurse’s unflinching look at life, death, and redemption.
Death is undeniable and unavoidable. We must accept it; there is no other choice. But coming to terms with our mortality can profoundly influence how we live—and how we die. Having been a hospice nurse for decades, Penny Hawkins Smith is an expert on death and dying. As a recovering alcoholic and former drug addict, she knows what it means to change course and become a meaningful contributor to society. Through her work with death, Penny found her purpose in life.
In Influencing Death, Penny brings transparency and levity to the grim topic of death while revealing truths about the reckless past that influenced her decision to become a hospice nurse. Using down-to-earth, compassionate storytelling, she transports readers into the room with dying people and their families, laying bare the raw and real human emotions and behaviors people have when life and death are hanging in the balance.
Weaving together dual narratives of death and life, Penny challenges us to see how embracing our own mortality—and the mortality of the people we love—can help us live more fully and approach the end of life with greater acceptance, grace, and peace.
Never Have a Bad Hair Day: Redefining Resilience by Embracing Life Challenges
Written by McKenna Reitz, narrated by the author
Discover how to NEVER have a bad hair day again!
Embark on a transformative journey with McKenna Reitz, who transformed her life with alopecia into a powerful message of empowerment and advocacy, uncovering the resilience needed to overcome life’s hurdles. Through personal and professional experiences, McKenna shares invaluable lessons on:
- Turning challenges into opportunities
- Embracing vulnerability as your greatest strength
- Leading with empathy and authenticity
- Balancing multiple roles of a professional, spouse, and parent without compromising personal fulfillment
- Finding empowerment through adversity
McKenna Reitz, TED speaker and resilience expert, inspires through her journey with alopecia. This award-winning teacher and coach’s story—featured in Forbes and on Good Morning America—will empower you to embrace your challenges and uncover your inner strength.
A Father’s Fight: Taking on Alex Jones and Reclaiming the Truth About Sandy Hook
Written by Robbie Parker, narrated by the author
How one father, determined to reclaim his daughter’s memory, brought down Alex Jones.
On December 14, 2012, Robbie Parker’s daughter, Emilie, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in an unthinkable tragedy that changed both Robbie’s life and our country forever. By December 15, Alex Jones was live on air telling his listeners that the shooting was a hoax. So begins Parker’s David and Goliath story, a story of hope and resilience in a time defined by hatred and division.
To reclaim his daughter’s memory and himself, he would need to take down one of the nation’s most influential bullies. With the help of the courageous group of Sandy Hook parents, fierce lawyers, and a community of supporters, he did just that.
A Father’s Fight is more than just a memoir; it is a moving testament to the power of a father’s love and perseverance in the face of insurmountable grief.
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