Tune Into These Excellent Nonfiction Audiobooks

Trethewey is a poet, which becomes abundantly obvious in her beautiful recitation of her story. Trethewey’s mother was murdered by an ex-husband when Trethewey was only 19. Memorial Drive is both Trethewey’s story and the story of her mother, who grew up in the segregated South. What I personally loved about this audiobook is that while Trethewey’s narration reveals the depths of her loss, it also reveals her deep love of her mother.

I went to high school in Mississippi and have a soft spot for stories about teenagers growing up there. Laymon’s story is also about his relationship with his mother, a brilliant Black woman raising a defiant Black son in a place that refuses to create or maintain space for them. Laymon’s narration makes you feel like he’s in the room telling you his story. He shows the events of his life in vivid detail, and you can’t help but cheer him on.

There might be a theme here. Zauner’s memoir is also about her mother, who died of cancer, leaving her daughter to pick up the pieces. Growing up half Korean in the Pacific Northwest wasn’t easy, but after her mother passes, Zauner begins a journey to reconnect with her Korean heritage through the foods her mother made for her growing up. The audiobook brings each dish to life and will definitely make your mouth water.

I could hardly create a list of nonfiction audiobooks without including the iconic Stanley Tucci and his famous (or infamous) negroni. This book is also about food — Italian food — which Tucci grew up eating. The audiobook is a decadent auditory tour of Tucci’s favorite foods from his mother’s table to tables of famous Italian chefs. I don’t suggest listening to this audiobook without a bowl of pasta in front of you (and perhaps a negroni). And considering that it’s Stanley Tucci narrating, you should probably be seated.

I absolutely love listening to Maintenance Phase and had to listen to Aubrey Gordon’s audiobook. In the book, she dives into her experiences as a queer fat woman in a world that passes cruel judgment on her figure. Even though Gordon didn’t narrate the audiobook, I still loved the narration because it made me feel like I was having an important conversation with a friend.

Isabel Wilkerson is a talented journalist and writer. In Caste, she explores caste systems in three nations: Nazi Germany, India, and America. She makes an important argument about how American society is caste based, in which those with darker skin do not have access to the same resources or regard as those with lighter skin. The audiobook was the perfect way for me to read this book because the subject matter is dense, and I found the narration kept me going and engaged.

Along with Caste, I would say that Empire of Pain is one of the most important nonfiction books from the past few years. Keefe dives deep into the history of the Sackler family, who are responsible for the opioid crisis. It’s a profound story of family legacy being in sync and then in the thrall of capitalism gone awry. The audiobook made me feel like I was listening to a particularly fascinating documentary on the History Channel (I was a nerdy kid).

I want to round everything out with the legendary Anthony Bourdain. His TV shows meant a lot to me in my early 20s, and I loved how he brought travel and food into perspective for me. For Bourdain fans, World Travel will have chapters that seem familiar because the content is taken from episodes from Bourdain’s TV shows and is interspersed with commentary from friends, family, and colleagues. We can’t get new content from him anymore, but the audiobook will make you remember why you enjoyed him on screen so much. Oh, and of course don’t listen to this on an empty stomach.