Memoir Audiobooks | Biography & Memoir

David Bellavia (Author), John Bruning, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook

They Don't Need to Understand: Stories of Hope, Fear, Family, Life, and Never Giving In

Before he was the charismatic singer of Black Veil Brides and an accomplished solo artist under the Andy Black moniker, he was Andrew Dennis Biersack, an imaginative and creative kid in Cincinnati, Ohio, struggling with anxiety, fear, loneliness, and the impossible task of fitting in. With his trademark charm, clever wit, and insightful analysis, Biersack tells the story of his childhood and adolescence. The discovery of the artistic passions that would shape his life, and his decision to move to Hollywood after his eighteenth birthday to make his dreams come true, even when it meant living in his car to make it all a reality. It's the origin story of one of modern rock's most exciting young superheroes, from building miniature concerts with KISS action figures in his bedroom to making the RIAA gold-certified single 'In the End' and connecting with passionate fans worldwide.

Andy Biersack (Author), Andy Biersack (Narrator)

Audiobook

We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life

By one of the pioneers and leading lights of the "recovering out loud" movement, which seeks to banish the secrecy and shame around addiction and recovery.The author has discussed motherhood and drinking on NBC's TODAY and her writing has been published in Elephant Journal, Scary Mommy, Rebelle Society, the Huffington Post, and the New York Post"We Are The Luckiest" started as an Instagram post the author did early in her sobriety. The hashtag has now been used over 20,000 times as a way of coming out as sober, celebrating sobriety, being proud. The author has a highly engaged platform of almost 100,000 followers (Instagram, Facebook, and her website); her personal blog receives 50,000 unique visits per month; and her website has received more than a million unique visits since 2015 Insights apply to anyone dealing with loss and change, whether death or divorce, illness or eating disorder, drink or drugs

Laura Mckowen (Author), Laura Mckowen (Narrator)

Audiobook

Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes

America's most popular sports media figure tells it like it is in this surprisingly personal book, not only dishing out his signature, uninhibited opinions but also revealing the challenges he overcame in childhood as well as at ESPN, and who he really is when the cameras are off. Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything, nor was he an overnight success. Growing up poor in Queens, the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children, he was a sports-obsessed kid who faced a number of struggles, from undiagnosed dyslexia to getting enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University, he got a glimmer of his true calling when he wrote a newspaper column arguing for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines. Smith hustled and rose up from a high school reporter at Daily News (New York) to a general sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1990s, before getting his own show at ESPN in 2005. After he was unceremoniously fired from the network in 2009, he became even more determined to fight for success. He got himself rehired two years later and, with his razor-sharp intelligence and fearless debate style, found his role on the show he was destined to star in: First Take, the network's flagship morning program. In Straight Shooter, Smith writes about the greatest highs and deepest lows of his life and career. He gives his thoughts on Skip Bayless, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Cowboys, and former President Donald Trump. But he also pulls back the curtain and talks about life beyond the set, sharing authentic stories about his negligent father, his loving mother, being a father himself, his battle with life-threatening COVID-19, and what he really thinks about politics and social issues. He does it all with the same intelligence, humor, and charm that has made him a household name. Provocative, moving, and eye-opening, this book is the perfect gift for lovers of sports, television, and anyone who likes their stories delivered straight to the heart.

Stephen A. Smith (Author), Stephen A. Smith (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Car

The larger-than-life journey of an 18-year-old college freshman who set out from his dorm room to track down Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, and dozens more of the world's most successful people to uncover how they broke through and launched their careers.The Third Door takes readers on an unprecedented adventure-from hacking Warren Buffett's shareholders meeting to chasing Larry King through a grocery store to celebrating in a nightclub with Lady Gaga-as Alex Banayan travels from icon to icon, decoding their success. After remarkable one-on-one interviews with Bill Gates, Maya Angelou, Steve Wozniak, Jane Goodall, Larry King, Jessica Alba, Pitbull, Tim Ferriss, Quincy Jones, and many more, Alex discovered the one key they have in common: they all took the Third Door. Life, business, success… it's just like a nightclub. There are always three ways in. There's the First Door: the main entrance, where ninety-nine percent of people wait in line, hoping to get in. The Second Door: the VIP entrance, where the billionaires and celebrities slip through. But what no one tells you is that there is always, always… the Third Door. It's the entrance where you have to jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on the door a hundred times, climb over the dumpster, crack open the window, sneak through the kitchen-there's always a way in. Whether it's how Bill Gates sold his first piece of software or how Steven Spielberg became the youngest studio director in Hollywood history, they all took the Third Door.

Alex Banayan (Author), Alex Banayan (Narrator)

Audiobook

My Effin' Life

The long-awaited memoir, generously illustrated with never-before-seen photos, from the iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Rush bassist, and bestselling author of Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass. Geddy Lee is one of rock and roll's most respected bassists. For nearly five decades, his playing and work as co-writer, vocalist and keyboardist has been an essential part of the success story of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. Here for the first time is his account of life inside and outside the band. Long before Rush accumulated more consecutive gold and platinum records than any rock band after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, before the seven Grammy nominations or the countless electrifying live performances across the globe, Geddy Lee was Gershon Eliezer Weinrib, after his grandfather murdered in the Holocaust. As he recounts the transformation, Lee looks back on his family, in particular his loving parents and their horrific experiences as teenagers during World War II. He talks candidly about his childhood and the pursuit of music that led him to drop out of high school. He tracks the history of Rush which, after early struggles, exploded into one of the most beloved bands of all time. He shares intimate stories of his lifelong friendships with bandmates Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart—deeply mourning Peart’s recent passing—and reveals his obsessions in music and beyond. This rich brew of honesty, humor, and loss makes for a uniquely poignant memoir.

Geddy Lee (Author), Alex Lifeson, Cliff Burnstein, Geddy Lee (Narrator)

Audiobook

Paula

El audiolibro de la obra más conmovedora, personal e íntima de Isabel Allende. Incluye un epílogo narrado por la propia autora. Aquí está todo lo que debe tener un libro: oído, perspectiva, cabeza, corazón y una humanidad sin límites. The New York TimesCuando la gran autora chilena se encontraba en España con ocasión de la presentación de El plan infinito, su hija entró en estado de coma. Junto al lecho de Paula, mientras seguía con angustia la evolución de su enfermedad, Isabel Allende comenzó a redactar en un cuaderno una historia de su familia y de sí misma con el propósito de regalársela a su hija una vez superara el dramático trance. Sin embargo, éste se prolongó durante meses y los apuntes de la autora acabaron convirtiéndose en este libro apasionante y revelador.Isabel Allende ejerce aquí su prodigioso talento narrativo para recuperar y asumir sus propias vivencias como mujer y como escritora, así como las de su familia y las de la historia reciente de su país. Autorretrato de insólita emotividad al tiempo que exquisita recreación de la sensibilidad de las mujeres de nuestra época, Paula perdura en el ánimo del lector con la intensidad de una experiencia indeleble.

Isabel Allende (Author), Isabel Allende, Javiera Gazitua, Javiera Gazitua E Isabel Allende (epílogo) (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hope, Grace & Faith

'It took hitting rock bottom for me to realize that if I wanted something better for my girls, I had to learn to love myself first.' Leah was first thrust under the reality television microscope when her teen pregnancy was documented on MTV's groundbreaking series, 16 and Pregnant. Since then, fans of Teen Mom 2 have watched her life play out on the small screen-from her struggle to rise to the challenges of motherhood, through her harrowing journey to find a diagnosis for one of her twin girls with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, and the collapse of two marriages. She has learned to live under the harsh glare of media scrutiny, yet there is a truth behind the reality that the cameras have never revealed. In her unflinching and honest memoir, Leah takes listeners behind the scenes and shares an intimate, often heartbreaking, portrait of her turbulent childhood in rural West Virginia, the rock bottom that forced her to reevaluate her life, and her triumphant break from toxic relationships and self-destructive cycles to live her life with hope, grace, and faith.

Leah Messer (Author), Leah Messer (Narrator)

Audiobook

In Real Life

A confessional, uplifting memoir from the beloved YouTube personality. Joey Graceffa has captured the hearts of more than a million teens and young adults through his playful, sweet, and inspirational online presence. Yet Joey wasn't always comfortable in his skin, and this memoir features the YouTube darling at his most candid, taking us on his journey from pain to triumph. Joey opens up about his most intimate struggles with familial hardship, educational setbacks, bullying, and rejection, sharing his story in the hopes that his young readers will remember that it's cool to be different, that growing up can really freaking suck, and that even if it sometimes feels like too much, things can and will get better. As Joey likes to say: "You're all beautiful for spacious skies, and don't let anyone ever tell you you're not!"

Joey Graceffa (Author), Joey Graceffa (Narrator)

Audiobook

Immediate Action

Immediate Action is a no-holds-barred account of an extraordinary life, from the day Andy McNab was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy's Hospital to the day he went to fight in the Gulf War.As a delinquent youth he kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 SAS Regiment he was at the centre of covert operations for nine years - on five continents.Recounting with grim humour and in riveting, often horrifying, detail his activities in the world's most highly trained and efficient Special Forces unit, McNab sweeps us into a world of surveillance and intelligence-gathering, counter-terrorism and hostage rescue.There are casualties: the best men are so often the first to be killed, because they are in front.By turns chilling, astonishing, violent, funny and moving, this blistering first-hand account of life at the forward edge of battle confirms Andy McNab's standing in the front rank of writers on modern war.

Andy McNab (Author), Paul Thornley (Narrator)

Audiobook

Touching The Void

Joe Simpson, with just his partner Simon Yates, tackled the unclimbed West Face of the remote 21,000 foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in June 1995. But before they reached the summit, disaster struck. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frostbitten, to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out with torches, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm in a delirium. Far from causing Joe's death, Simon had paradoxically saved his friend's life. What happened, and how they dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.

Joe Simpson (Author), Andrew Wincott, Daniel Weyman (Narrator)

Audiobook

From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way

In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. If I can just make it to the next minute...then I might have a chance to live; I might have a chance to be something more than just a struggling crackhead. From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up. Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, whose tough-love attitudes quickly resulted in conflicts. Throughout it all, the ghost of Jesse's drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling with all that had happened, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. Finally, he realized he would die unless he turned his life around. In this heart-warming and heart-wrenching memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful past, the abuse he endured, and how he uncovered the truth about his parents. Through sheer perseverance and education—and newfound love—he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family. An eloquent exploration of the impact of prejudice and racism, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help us find happiness despite the odds.

Jesse Thistle (Author), Jesse Thistle (Narrator)

Audiobook

Memoir Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir