June was a very productive audiobook month for me! Which is good for you, because it means I have more audiobook recommendations for you! I’m now an affiliate with LibroFM (exciting!) so I was able to listen to the following audiobooks for free. This has not affected my opinions in any way.
If you like the sound of any of my audiobook recommendations, you can follow my link or enter my code ABREADS at the checkout when you buy a new membership. This will get you two audiobooks for the price of one during the first month when you sign up for a monthly membership. Currently LibroFM’s monthly memberships are only available in the US and Canada. However, international folk can purchase ‘gift memberships’ for themselves. These offer one, three, six or twelve credits to be used at any time. My affiliate code does not apply to these gift memberships, only the monthly ones.
So without further ado, let’s dive in to June’s audiobook recommendations!
Little Family by Ishmael Beah
Narrated by Dion Graham
I first saw Little Family on Anna’s page over on Instagram @never_withouta_book and was intrigued by the ‘found family’ aspect of it. I had some credits to use and I instantly clicked download when I saw this one available! Little Family follows five unrelated orphans who have to band together for survival. They live in an unnamed ‘conflict-scarred’ country, sheltering in an abandoned aeroplane.
It’s a largely character-driven novel, and I loved these characters so much. There’s well-read Elimane, calm and collected Khoudiemata, cheeky Ndevui and Kpindi, and then little Namsa, the youngest and newest member of the little family. The way they all band together to make sure Namsa is safe and knows what’s what just killed me.
Ishmael Beah tackles themes such as colonialism and its lasting consequences, corruption, poverty, and coming of age. I look forward to reading Radiance of Tomorrow, and his memoir of his time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone, A Long Way Gone.
The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon
Narrated by Je Nie Fleming
If you’re looking for an audiobook that will have you grinning like an idiot, then look no further! I ADORED this fun romance, whose MC is a Black woman in STEM.
Samiah Brooks finds herself at the centre of a viral video, after she calls out the guy who has been three-timing her. But something good comes out of it: she becomes friends with the two other women in the video, Taylor and London. Together, they decide it’s time to spend more time working on their personal goals. But Samiah was not prepared for the arrival of Daniel at her work…
As well as the fluffy romance (and steamy scenes!) this book also tackles some very real issues in STEM. Samiah feels an extraordinary pressure to perform perfectly at work, a huge tech company, in order to set a good example for future Black women in the industry. I don’t think a romcom needs substance to be enjoyable, but it certainly enhances my experience!
The Boyfriend Project is refreshing. It’s full of women supporting women, partners supporting partners, and moments that make your face hurt from smiling so much.
Afterlife by Julia Alvarez
Narrated by Alma Cuervo
I nearly always love books with an older main character, and Afterlife is no exception. Told from the POV of Antonia, a 66-year-old author and retired English professor, Afterlife is a beautiful meditation of grief, love and loss.
Alvarez’s characters feel so alive and vibrant – even the ones that have been dead since before the novel starts. She explores the way our loved ones continue to live on in our thoughts, actions and stories.
Mental illness and immigrations are both major themes in this novel, as Antonia finds herself in the middle of two crises. Her older sister Izzy’s mental health is deteriorating, and she ends up with her neighbour’s farmhand’s pregnant and undocumented girlfriend on her doorstep. Antonia finds herself acting in ways her late husband Sam would have. She is realistic and human in the way she often considers doing the easy thing, but ends up doing the right thing instead.
There is also a beautiful portrayal of sisterhood within this novel. Antonia and her siblings might argue constantly, but they are 100% loyal to one another.
If you do listen to this one, you might have to speed the narration up a bit! I listened at 1.25 speed.
Me & White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Narrated by Layla F. Saad
If you see the words ‘white supremacy’ and think that only pertains to far-right extremists, you need this book. If you consider yourself a ‘good white person’ who isn’t racist, you need this book. If you’re serious about implementing life-long, anti-racist changes in your life, you need this book. If you are someone who wields white privilege, you need this book.
This isn’t an audiobook you can listen to passively while you do the dishes. Whether you listen on audio or read in print, you need to sit down each day and do the work. Write down your answers. Dig deep. Don’t lie to yourself, even if what you’re finding is ugly. Saad isn’t asking you to air your dirty laundry on Instagram (and definitely don’t share each day’s journalling prompts on Instagram either – that’s called copyright infringement). But you need to unearth the racial prejudices and biases that have been ingrained within you since birth, as a person with white privilege.
This book is great for putting names to behaviours you’ve likely practised unknowingly for years. This is the first step – recognising those harmful behaviours like white apathy, tokenism, tone-policing, white exceptionalism, and unlearning them.
And remember that working through this book is not a magical spell for becoming an anti-racist. This is life-long work, and Me & White Supremacy equips you with some of the tools you need to continue learning and unlearning.
I will be purchasing my own physical copy so I can go back to it regularly.
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That’s it for my June audiobook recommendations! I recently discovered BorrowBox, an app that lets you borrow audiobooks from your local library, so no doubt next month’s audiobook post will be even longer!
You can check out my recommendations for the last three months in this post.