General Audiobooks | Fiction & Literature

The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Audiobook

From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date—a brutally honest, surprisingly poignant, and deeply intimate memoir of growing up Black, poor, and queer in a broken home to discovering the power of performance, found family, and self-acceptance. A profound introspection of his life, relationships, and identity, The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag. Central to RuPaul’s success has been his chameleonic adaptability. From drag icon to powerhouse producer of one of the world’s largest television franchises, RuPaul’s ever-shifting nature has always been part of his brand as both supermodel and super mogul. Yet that adaptability has made him enigmatic to the public. In this memoir, his most intimate and detailed book yet, RuPaul makes himself truly known. Stripping away all artifice, RuPaul recounts the story of his life with breath taking clarity and tenderness, bringing his signature wisdom and wit to his own biography. From his early years growing up as a queer Black kid in San Diego navigating complex relationships with his absent father and temperamental mother, to forging an identity in the punk and drag scenes of Atlanta and New York, to finding enduring love with his husband Georges LeBar and self-acceptance in sobriety, RuPaul excavates his own biography, uncovering new truths and insights in his personal history. Here in RuPaul’s singular and extraordinary story is a manual for living—a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly. If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is RuPaul totally out of drag. This is RuPaul stripped bare.

Rupaul (Author), Rupaul (Narrator)

Audiobook

Back From The Deep: How Gene and Sandy Ralston Serve the Living by Finding the Dead

The dramatic story of an unlikely search and recovery duo who help law enforcement and grieving families with their uncanny knack for locating bodies underwater A powerful debut for fans of deeply reported stories that follow real people with obsessional passions, and of authors like Tracy Kidder, Sebastian Junger, and Patrick Radden Keefe When the police and FBI exhaust their abilities and options, and when grieving families run out of resources, their last best hope has been an Idaho couple who have spent their retirement years pursuing lost causes - and have located 130 victims from lakes and rivers across the United States and Canada. Gene and Sandy Ralston, a married Idaho couple in their mid 70s, are self-taught underwater search-and-recovery specialists who volunteer their time and equipment. And yet the Ralstons are counted among the best in the world. The Ralstons have an uncanny knack for finding bodies in deep water and can regularly find a missing person within hours, sometimes even minutes, of launching their boat. Law enforcement and emergency response agencies seek out their peculiar expertise, but when the Ralstons' home phone rings it's usually a family member of a missing person. Someone reaching out after the local police and volunteer groups have called off the official search. Someone who heard from a friend of a friend about a couple from Idaho who will travel thousands of miles at the drop of a hat - charging only their travel costs - to help complete strangers.

Doug Horner (Author), Wesley Scott (Narrator)

Audiobook

Save Me from the Waves: An adventure from sea to summit

The power of a mountain lies in our strength in climbing it. Join one woman on her adventurous recovery from the depths of heartbreak and fatigue. Jessica Hepburn is an unlikely athlete - she was labeled the 'arty' not the 'sporty' one at school. She hates exercise and believes the only reason to do it is for food, drink and boxsets on the couch. And of course, Desert Island Discs, her favorite radio show. In her forties, she navigated a series of difficult life events. Heartbroken by not being able to start a family and feeling lost in a busy life where she had to keep her struggles secret, Jessica had nowhere to turn. In a deep despair, all she could think to do was pull on her swim cap and look to new heights… She's now the only woman on the planet to have completed the 'Pond to Peak Challenge' - which is to swim the English Channel, run the London Marathon and climb Mount Everest (which she calls Chomolungma - the mountain's original Sherpa name). …all while listening to 3,000 episodes of Desert Island Discs. Save me from the Waves is her story. It's an account of immense physical and mental endurance which starts on the streets of London and culminates on top of the world, fueled by song. It explores the redemptive power of music and mountains, how family and friends can be lost and found in the most unusual places, and encourages everyone to live big and bravely when life doesn't go to plan. Because sometimes we all need saving from the waves. And whether it's high and far away or closer to home and in your head, an adventure will always change your life for the better.

Jessica Hepburn (Author), Jessica Hepburn (Narrator)

Audiobook

I'll Pray for You: And Other Outrageous Things Said to Disabled People

In I'll Pray for You and Other Outrageous Things Said to Disabled People, Hannah Setzer volunteers to go first and say the things that we all think, but rarely say. Hannah has lived her whole life as a disabled woman and is here to share her story, though don't think for a second that this is inspiration porn. In fact, Hannah's disability is the least interesting thing about her! I'll Pray for You is full of . . . - parenting fails, - awkward stories, like that time Hannah fell down a manhole, - discovering and accepting your identity, and - fun, eye-opening real-talk from a disabled woman Hannah is a rebellious writer, a disability rights activist, and a movement enthusiast. She's best known as the creator of 'Feeding Tube Fitness,' where she often overshares most aspects of her life. She is the owner of Hannah's Handcrafted, a small business making and selling high quality elderberry products. She most recently founded Growing Inclusivity, a nonprofit aiming to build an accessible playground in Virginia. She is here to instill hope that you, too, can chase your dreams (and your chickens) if you want to. This book of essays from her life aims to do just that!

Hannah Setzer (Author), Erin Deward (Narrator)

Audiobook

Little Girl Lost: Amelia just wants a home she feels safe in…

The new fostering memoir from the Sunday Times bestselling author Casey Watson Six-year-old Amelie lives with her mother, Kelly, who suffers from bipolar disorder. After Kelly attempts to burn down their family house, it becomes clear that her daughter is in grave danger. Amelie is quickly taken into care. When she arrives with foster carer Casey Watson, Amelie acts much younger than her age. Casey must get to the root of Amelie’s behaviour, while doing what she can to keep the family together. Will Amelie ever find the safety of home?

Casey Watson (Author), Kate Lock, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Plain: A Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood

Plain tells the story of Mary Alice Hostetter's journey to define an authentic self amid a rigid religious upbringing in a Mennonite farm family. Although endowed with a personality 'prone toward questioning and challenging,' the young Mary Alice at first wants nothing more than to be a good girl, to do her share, and-alongside her eleven siblings-to work her family's Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, farm. She feels fortunate to have been born into a religion where, as the familiar hymn states, she is 'safe in the arms of Jesus.' As an adolescent, that keen desire for belonging becomes focused on her worldly peers, even though she knows that Mennonites consider themselves a people apart. Eventually she leaves behind the fields and fences of her youth, thinking she will finally be able to grow beyond the prohibitions of her church. Discovering and accepting her sexuality, she once again finds herself apart, on the outside of family, community, and societal norms. This quietly powerful memoir of longing and acceptance casts a humanizing eye on a little-understood American religious tradition and a woman's striving to grow within and beyond it.

Mary Alice Hostetter (Author), Mary Helen Gallucci (Narrator)

Audiobook

Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire

Burnt is a book about finding your calling, even if it's an unexpected one. It's about finding your home, even if you aren't immediately welcomed. And it's about reaching the top and making a difference, even if you don't look like you fit in. When Clare Frank was seventeen years old, she became a firefighter in Northern California. Clare was five-foot-two and officially too young to join the service-she left her birthdate blank on her paperwork, hoping no one would notice. And she didn't look like her peers, who sported an Adam's apple and a mustache. But her brother was a firefighter and loved it, so she thought she'd try it out, too. Very soon, she knew she had found her calling. Burnt is Frank's inspiring, richly detailed, and open-hearted account of an extraordinary life in fire. It chronicles the transformation of a young adult determined to prove her mettle into a scarred and sensitive veteran, grappling with the weight of her duties as chief of fire protection-one of the highest-ranking women in Cal Fire history-while record-setting fires engulf her home state. She masterfully mixes irreverence and awe, taking listeners inside firehouses, on daily calls, and along to gigantic wildfires where antics and dark humor balance terrifying risk, trauma, and a sense of almost holy responsibility. Burnt is an unforgettable memoir.

Clare Frank (Author), Clare Frank (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Selbstzeugnisse - lit.COLOGNE live (ungekürzt)

Die Tagebücher von Martin Walser über die Jahre 1974-1978 sind beides: Selbstzeugnis und zeithistorisches Dokument. Sie gewähren Einblick in das schwierige Verhältnis von Autor und Kritiker. Der Tagebuchschreiber offenbart sich als Beobachter der eigenen Verletzbarkeit, aber auch als Zeitgenosse. Wie schon der vorherige Tagebuchband (1963-1973) ist dieser Band 'eine Fundgrube brillanter Etüden, Miniaturen, Aphorismen' (FAZ). Mod.: Denis Scheck. Ein Gespräch mit Lesung im Rahmen der lit.COLOGNE 2010.

Martin Walser (Author), Denis Scheck, Martin Walser (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Mit einem lachenden Auge - Wie eine unheilbare Krankheit das Leben verändert (ungekürzt)

Als bei Sophie von Stockhausen mit Anfang dreißig eine unheilbare Augenerkrankung diagnostiziert wird, die zur Erblindung führt, begibt sie sich auf eine emotionale Achterbahnfahrt. Vergeblich bemüht sie sich, die 'Netzhautdystrophie' zu ignorieren, ja sogar zu leugnen, was angesichts des unaufhaltsamen Krankheitsverlaufs scheitern muss. Es wird langsam dunkel. Begleitet von Zuständen lähmender Angst, kräftezehrender Wut und Verzweiflung versucht sie, einen Umgang mit dem Unausweichlichen zu finden. Doch falsche Hoffnungen führen in eine Depression, die sie am Ende nur durch die uneingeschränkte Akzeptanz der Sehbehinderung überwinden wird. Die fünf Phasen der Trauerbewältigung und den Schritt ins neue Leben zeichnet die Autorin anhand von Erlebtem in tragikomischer, (selbst)kritischer und überaus konstruktiver Weise nach. Mit ihrer feinsinnigen Art zu vermitteln, bietet Sophie von Stockhausen viel Raum und Stoff zum Nachdenken darüber, wie ein nachhaltiges Verstehen und Zusammenleben mit eingeschränkten Menschen möglich ist. Die Diagnose, die den irreversiblen Verlust des Sehvermögens nach sich zieht, traf Sophie von Stockhausen in eben jener Lebensphase, als ihre beruflichen und privaten Ambitionen so richtig Fahrt aufnehmen sollten. Die langsame Erblindung - eine Vollbremsung ihrer Lebensqualität, die jede gelernte Alltagsroutine zur Herausforderung anwachsen lässt. Freiheiten und triviale Handlungen, wie ihre Arbeit, Konzertbesuche oder Fahrradfahren, werden plötzlich kostbar und verändern sich für immer. Alleinstehend und überwiegend alleinerziehend sah sie sich mit existenziellen Problemen konfrontiert, deren Bewältigung ihr viel abverlangte. Diesen bisweilen harten Weg schildert sie entlang persönlicher Erfahrungen, die auch den gesellschaftlichen Umgang mit beeinträchtigten Menschen verdeutlichen. Neben dem Vertrauen in die eigene Stärke nutzt die Autorin vor allem das verbindende Element des Humors, um ihren Lebenswandel authentisch zu beschreiben.

Sophie Von Stockhausen (Author), Marianne Graffam (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Mein Kopf, ein Universum - von Carmushka (Ungekürzt)

Einzigartig turbulent und auf ungewöhnliche Weise wunderbar normal - so würde Autorin, Creatorin und Karma-Expertin Carmen Kroll (@carmushka) ihr Leben beschreiben, wenn sie es in einer Zeile zusammenfassen müsste. Da sie aber direkt ein ganzes Buch zur Verfügung hat, nimmt sie die Hörer*innen Kapitel für Kapitel mit in ihr Universum und erzählt, wie sie sich seit ihrer Kindheit Herzenswünsche erfüllt: Von der großen Liebe über die Traumkarriere bis hin zum sich unendlich drehenden Karma-Kreislauf. Höre von tränenreichen Erlebnissen, lerne beim Hören aus Carmens Fehlern und entdecke mit ihr dein eigenes Wunschuniversum!

Carmen Kroll, Carmushka (Author), Carmen Kroll, Tamina Elbert (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Mutproben (Ungekürzte Lesung)

Sein Coming-out 2014 als homosexueller Profifußballer war ein Meilenstein für den Kampf gegen Schwulenfeindlichkeit im Fußball und in der Gesellschaft. Seine Fußballerkarriere war eine Reise voller Erfolge und Abenteuer. Den Mut, mit dem sich Thomas Hitzlsperger am 8. Januar 2014 als erster deutscher Fußballprofi öffentlich zu seiner Homosexualität bekannt hat, hat er in seinem Leben immer wieder gezeigt: Schon als 18-Jähriger wechselte er als Jugendspieler von Bayern München in die englische Premier League zu Aston Villa, nach seinen großen Erfolgen in der Bundesliga als Deutscher Meister mit dem VfB Stuttgart und in der Nationalmannschaft suchte er die nächste Herausforderung in der italienischen Serie A bei Lazio Rom. Und nach dem Ende seiner überaus erfolgreichen Profikarriere wagte er den Sprung in den Sportjournalismus beim ZDF, der ARD und bei ZEIT ONLINE sowie ins Fußballmanagement als Vorstandsmitglied beim VfB Stuttgart oder heute als Teilhaber am dänischen Fußballclub Aalborg BK und Inhaber des Restaurants 'L'Escargot' in London. Sein Hörbuch, das er mit dem SZ-Reporter Holger Gertz verfasst hat, ist eine abenteuerliche Lebensgeschichte, die in der bayrischen Provinz begann, in die drei großen europäischen Fußballligen führte und die ihn zu einem engagierten Kämpfer für Vielfalt und Toleranz, gegen Rassismus und Gewalt im Fußball und in der Gesellschaft werden ließ - auch wenn sich bis heute nicht alle Hoffnungen erfüllt haben, die Thomas Hitzlsperger mit seinem historischen Schritt vor zehn Jahren verbunden hat.

Holger Gertz, Thomas Hitzlsperger (Author), Peter Lontzek (Narrator)

Audiobook

[German] - Die Hauptsache war: Überleben

Am 4. Mai 1945, kurz vor Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs, gerät eine Gruppe von Männern östlich der Elbe in russische Gefangenschaft. Drei Jahre dauert das leidvolle Dasein in einem Lager in der Nähe von Kaunas/Litauen. Im Zivilberuf Bankkaufmann, erweist einer der Gefangenen viel Spürsinn, wenn es darum geht, für seine Kameraden und das Lager Dinge des alltäglichen Bedarf zu 'organisieren'. Die Hauptsache war: überleben! schildert das harte Leben der Gefangenen in Litauen.

Karlheinz Sellheim (Author), Stefan Katgeli (Narrator)

Audiobook

General Audiobooks in Fiction & Literature