Audiobooks narrated by Jennifer Pickens

Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder Audiobook

A brilliant and bloody examination of the axe's foundational role in human history, from prehistoric violence, to war and executions, to newspaper headlines and popular culture. For as long as the axe has been in our hands, we have used it to kill. Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology—one that has been with us since prehistory. And just as early humans used the axe to chop down trees, hunt for food, and whittle tools, they also used it to murder. Over time, this particular use has endured: as the axe evolved over centuries to fit the needs of new agricultural, architectural, and social development, so have our lethal uses for it. Whack Job is the story of the axe, first as a convenient danger and then an anachronism, as told through the murders it has been employed in throughout history: from the first axe murder nearly half a million years ago, to the brutal harnessing of the axe in warfare, to its use in King Henry VIII's favorite method of execution, to Lizzie Borden and the birth of modern pop culture. Whack Job sheds brilliant light on this familiar implement, this most human of weapons. This is a critical examination of violence, an exploration of how technology shapes human conflict, the cruel and sacred rituals of execution and battle, and the ways humanity fits even the most savage impulses into narratives of the past and present.

Rachel McCarthy James (Author), Jennifer Pickens, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Boys with Sharp Teeth

We Were Liars meets The Raven Boys in this mind-bending YA debut about dark revenge, twisted desire, and the sinister secrets lurking behind the walls of an elite boarding school. Seventeen-year-old Marin James has spent her entire life living in the shadow of the exclusive Huntsworth Academy. And when her cousin’s dead body is found in a creek on school property, Marin knows exactly who’s to blame: Adrian Hargraves and Henry Wu, the enigmatic yet dangerously alluring leaders of the school's social elite. Swapping her ripped jeans for a crisp prep school skirt, Marin infiltrates Huntsworth to seek justice. But her quest is quickly muddied by a confusing attraction to her new life, and to the two dysfunctional and depraved boys who somehow understand her better than anyone ever has. When Marin uncovers an otherworldly secret the boys are hiding within Huntsworth's ivied gates, the lines between right and wrong, love and hate, and nightmare and reality begin to crumble -- and nothing is as it seems. Welcome to Huntsworth Academy.

Jenni Howell (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

What Are Children For?: On Ambivalence and Choice

A modern argument, grounded in philosophy and cultural criticism, about childbearing ambivalence and how to overcome it Becoming a parent, once the expected outcome of adulthood, is increasingly viewed as a potential threat to the most basic goals and aspirations of modern life. We seek self-fulfillment; we want to liberate women to find meaning and self-worth outside the home; and we wish to protect the planet from the ravages of climate change. Weighing the pros and cons of having children, Millennials and Zoomers are finding it increasingly difficult to judge in its favor. With lucid argument and passionate prose, Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman offer the guidance necessary to move beyond uncertainty. The decision whether or not to have children, they argue, is not just a women’s issue but a basic human one. And at a time when climate change worries threaten the very legitimacy of human reproduction, Berg and Wiseman conclude that neither our personal nor collective failures ought to prevent us from embracing the fundamental goodness of human life—not only in the present but, in choosing to have children, in the future.

Anastasia Berg, Rachel Wiseman (Author), Jennifer Pickens, Kirsten Potter, TBD, Zura Johnson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Other Olympians

Brought to you by Penguin. In December 1935, Zdenek Koubek, one of the most famous sprinters in European women’s sports, declared he was now living as a man. Around the same time, the celebrated British field athlete Mark Weston, also assigned female at birth, announced that he, too, was a man. Periodicals and radio programs across the world carried the news; both became global celebrities. A few decades later, they were all but forgotten. And in the wake of their transitions, what could have been a push toward equality became instead, through a confluence of bureaucracy, war, and sheer happenstance, the exact opposite: the now all-too-familiar panic around trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming athletes. In The Other Olympians, Michael Waters uncovers, for the first time, the gripping true stories of Koubek, Weston, and other pioneering trans and intersex athletes from their era. With dogged research and cinematic flair, Waters also tracks how International Olympic Committee members ignored Nazi Germany’s atrocities in order to pull off the Berlin Games, a partnership that ultimately influenced the IOC’s nearly century-long obsession with surveilling and cataloging gender. Immersive and revelatory, The Other Olympians is a groundbreaking, hidden-in-the-archives marvel, an inspiring call for equality, and an essential contribution toward understanding the contemporary culture wars over gender in sports. ©2024 Michael Waters (P) 2024 Penguin Audio

Michael Waters (Author), Jennifer Pickens, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights

Described by Jeffrey Masson as 'the single best introduction to animal rights ever written, Tom Regan's EMPTY CAGES stands as an essential guide to the ongoing animal rights debate. In a style at once simple and elegant, Regan dispels the negative image of animal rights advocates as portrayed by the mass media, unmasks the fraudulent rhetoric of 'humane treatment' favored by animal exploiters in both familiar and less well-documented contexts, and explains why existing laws function to legitimize institutional cruelty. In so doing, Regan invites readers to join the struggle for animal rights—one person at a time, one step at a time. Written by the leading philosophical spokesperson for animal rights, Tom Regan's shocking exposé of animal abuse makes an essential and lasting contribution to how animal rights is viewed in the United States and around the world. 'Tom Regan delivers a searing indictment of the way we treat animals in the world we have made for ourselves, and presents a trenchant case that animals have or should have rights in the same way that human beings have.'—J. M. Coetzee, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature 'Every so often a book is written that is destined to change the way people think. Tom Regan has written just such a book. EMPTY CAGES is compelling because it is logical, rational, and written in an elegantly simple style. Please buy this book, read it, and tell your friends about it. Everyone needs a copy on their bookshelf.'—Jane Goodall 'Tom Regan's EMPTY CAGES is a powerful call for justice on one of the most urgent issues human society faces. Calmly, lucidly, he asks readers to confront the miserable conditions we have inflicted on animals, leaving us with three choices: find a flaw in the argument, work for change, or throw the book away and try to forget it. The indelible force of Regan's argument makes the third course very difficult.'—Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago

Tom Regan (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Secret Lives of Booksellers & Librarians

Brought to you by Penguin. To be a bookseller or librarian . . . You have to play detective. Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. A brilliant listener. A person who creates a kind of magic by pulling a book from a shelf, handing it to someone and saying, 'You've got to read this. You're going to love it'. In this love letter to the heroes of literacy, James Patterson uncovers true stories from booksellers and librarians. Prepare to enter a world where you can feed your curiosities, discover new voices, and find whatever you need. Meet the smart and talented people who live between the shelves - and who can't wait to help you find your next great read. PRAISE FOR JAMES PATTERSON 'No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades.' LEE CHILD 'James Patterson is The Boss. End of.' IAN RANKIN 'The master storyteller of our times' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON ©2024 James Patterson (P)2024 Penguin Audio

James Patterson (Author), Amy Jensen, Daniel Henning, Deanna Anthony, Jane Oppenheimer, Jenn Lee, Jennifer Pickens, Marni Penning, Nancy Peterson, Rob Reider, Susan Hanfield, TBD, Tom Force (Narrator)

Audiobook

Magdalena

'Beautifully written and satisfyingly creepy, this is one of the most poignant and original ghost stories I've ever read.' -Mark Haskell Smith, author of Blown In a small, secluded town that thrives on gossip and superstition, Dottie offers plenty of both when the scandal breaks about a missing girl, a ghost, and the affair that started it all. Having suffered a history of miscarriages, reclusive Dottie develops a strange motherly interest in her fifteen-year-old neighbor, Magdalena. Somewhere between fantasy and reality, Dottie finds new life in her relationship with the mysterious girl. But Dottie's entanglements with Magdalena, a curious centenarian, a compelling stranger, an ex-mobster, and a murder of crows thrusts this once cloistered woman into a frenzy of public scrutiny. To quell the rumors, Dottie puts pen to paper and discovers something as frightening as it is liberating-her voice.

Candi Sary (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Herbarium

The Herbarium, an enchanted sacred text written by the ancients, is safely hidden in a monastery outside of Chartres . . . or is it? In present day California, thirty-something Paige Delaney is struggling to cope. Since the death of her husband, she's felt lost, aimless, and frustrated. At the urging of her best friend, she accepts an invitation to join a Wiccan ceremony. And it's a night that changes everything. Haunted by the vivid apparition she sees in the bonfire, Paige is sent reeling when her mother reveals a long-kept family secret: that Paige is a descendant of a powerful line of witches. With the help of past life regression expert Jack Kaplan, Paige begins a heart-pounding journey to 600 years in the past. There, two unlikely allies have been tasked with the ultimate mission: to save the gravely wounded King of France from certain death. It's a race to deliver the sacred text that holds the key to his survival. But more than that . . . . . . it's a perilous path that will lead right back to Paige.

Pamela Chartrand (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

Transistor

When Naomi Woodward's doctor recommended her for a clinical trial, it seemed like the answer to her prayers. She was finally able to get her gender confirmation surgery and the surgery was a resounding success. She finally looked and felt like the woman she always knew she was. Her new face and new body finally helped her work up the nerve to ask out Anika, the beautiful nurse that lived across the hall. To her delight Anika said yes, but when they are attacked during their date, Naomi quickly discovers that the experimental procedure she went through had some unexpected side effects, and that when Anika told her things with her family were complicated, she really should have listened. Now, armed with superpowers she barely understands, a snarky artificial intelligence in her head, and allies that include a Superhero, a Dragon, and the literal Devil, she has to keep Anika safe from the archangel who's out to kill her while they work desperately to prevent a second civil war in heaven.

Molly J. Bragg (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Case for Animal Rights: Updated with a New Preface

When The Case for Animal Rights was published in 1983 it rapidly became an acknowledged classic of moral philosophy, and its author, Tom Regan (1938–2017), was recognized as an intellectual leader within the animal rights movement. Twenty years later, Case was reissued with a new and fully considered preface, in which Regan responded to his critics and defended the book's revolutionary position. Now, forty years after its original publication, this foundational text is available as an audiobook. In addition to the complete text of the revised 2002 edition, the audiobook includes a recording made by Tom Regan in 2001, in which he reflects on why he wrote The Case for Animal Rights, how it compares with Peter Singer's Animal Liberation, and how his thinking evolved as he was writing the book. The audiobook also features an essay by philosopher Gary Comstock on Tom Regan's contribution to, and place within, the history of thinking about our obligations to nonhuman animals over the last half-century. The audiobook of The Case for Animal Rights is a production of the Culture & Animals Foundation, a nonprofit co-founded by Tom Regan in 1985. Both the book and the e-book of Case are available from the University of California Press. 'Unquestionably the best work yet to appear in its field, surpassing even Peter Singer's famous Animal Liberation in originality, thoroughness, and rigor.'—Choice 'The Case for Animal Rights is beyond question the most important philosophical contribution to animal rights and is a major work in moral philosophy.'—Animal Law Review

Tom Regan (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Country Year: Living the Questions

A 'delightful, witty' memoir about starting over as a beekeeper in the Ozarks (Library Journal). Alone on a small Missouri farm after a thirty-year marriage, Sue Hubbell found a new love-of the winged, buzzing variety. Left with little but the commercial beekeeping and honey-producing business she started with her husband, Hubbell found solace in the natural world. Then she began to write, challenging herself to tell the absolute truth about her life and the things she cared about. Describing the ups and downs of beekeeping from one springtime to the next, A Country Year transports listeners to a different, simpler place. In a series of exquisite vignettes, Hubbell reveals the joys of a life attuned to nature in this heartfelt memoir about life on the land, and of a woman finding her way in middle age.

Sue Hubbell (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

Don't You Dare

'Don't You Dare' is a compelling story that weaves together a current-day journey of discovery and a true-life love story between two women that took place over a hundred years ago. Newspaper headlines and stories back then didn't mention LGBTQ people. The LGBTQ community loved and lived in the background of society because it was too dangerous to do otherwise. All were hidden, just like the wedding photos belonging to author Gayla Turner's grandmother – Ruby. This unforgettable book begins with the discovery of these hidden wedding photos dated June 8, 1915. As these photos unveiled an awe-inspiring secret, Gayla Turner embarked on a seven-year journey to find out more about her grandmother and the woman standing next to her dressed as the groom. Curiosity led to extensive research that uncovered a love story between Ruby and the mystery woman in the photos. The author also uncovered a secret lesbian social club that was formed in the early 1900s by a local businesswoman. Women from as far away as Chicago traveled by train to the little farm town of Amherst, Wisconsin, to attend her exclusive parties. The local town people thought Cora held private tea and card parties so single young ladies could talk about how to find a husband. Little did they know, finding a man was not a subject of their conversations.

Gayla Turner (Author), Jennifer Pickens (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Jennifer Pickens