Audiobooks narrated by Nancy Pearl

The Writer's Library: he Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives

"Performed by Nancy Pearl, Jeff Schwager and a multi-cast that includes book contributors Luis Alberto Urrea, Siri Hustvedt, Laurie Frankel, Vendela Vida, and Richard Ford. The Writer’s Library audiobook also features real conversations with Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, and Laila Lalami. With a Foreword by Susan Orlean, twenty-three of today's living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from ''American's Librarian'' Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all. Before Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Jonathan Lethem became revered authors, they were readers. In this ebullient book, America’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted-playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America's most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark. The Writer’s Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today’s favorite authors—the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America's literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is. A love letter to books and a celebration of wordsmiths, The Writer’s Library is a treasure for anyone who has been moved by the written word. The authors in The Writer’s Library are: - Russell Banks - TC Boyle - Michael Chabon - Susan Choi - Jennifer Egan - Dave Eggers - Louise Erdrich - Richard Ford - Laurie Frankel - Andrew Sean Greer - Jane Hirshfield - Siri Hustvedt - Charles Johnson - Laila Lalami - Jonathan Lethem - Donna Tartt - Madeline Miller - Viet Thanh Nguyen - Luis Alberto Urrea - Vendela Vida - Ayelet Waldman - Maaza Mengiste - Amor Towles"

Jeff Schwager, Nancy Pearl (Author), Andrew Eiden, Dominic Hoffman, Eileen Stevens, Emily Woo Zeller, Jd Jackson, Jeff Schwager, Lameece Issaq, Laurie Frankel, Luis A. Urrea, Nancy Pearl, Piper Goodeve, Richard Ford, Rick Adamson, Ryan Do, Siri Hustvedt, Timothy Andrés Pabon, Vendela Vida, Xe Sands (Narrator)

Audiobook

George and Lizzie: A Novel

"From "America's librarian" and NPR books commentator Nancy Pearl comes an emotional, "Anne-Tyler-esque" (Library Journal) debut novel about an unlikely marriage at a crossroads. George and Lizzie are a couple, meeting as college students and marrying soon after graduation, but no one would ever describe them of being soulmates. George grew up in a warm and loving family—his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom—while Lizzie was the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love. After a decade of marriage, nothing has changed—George is happy; Lizzie remains…unfulfilled. But when George discovers that Lizzie has been searching for the whereabouts of an old boyfriend, Lizzie is forced to decide what love means to her, what George means to her, and whether her life with George is the one she wants. With pitch-perfect prose and compassion and humor to spare, George and Lizzie is "a richly absorbing portrait of a perfectly imperfect marriage," (Amy Poeppel, author of Small Admissions), and "a story of forgiveness, especially for one's self" (The Washington Post)."

Nancy Pearl (Author), Nancy Pearl (Narrator)

Audiobook

Plum & Jaggers

"For the McWilliams children, life is forever altered the day a terrorist bomb blast rips through the train carrying them across Italy, instantly killing their parents. Dazed and frightened, Charlotte, Oliver, and baby Julia cling to oldest brother Sam, who—only seven at the time—is haunted by every detail. After he and his siblings are taken in by their kindly but peculiar grandparents, Sam becomes consumed with protecting them at all costs. His compulsive behavior—which includes shoplifting materials to make a bomb shelter for the quartet—leads to his placement in “the Cage,” a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of Washington, DC. It is there that Sam, inspired by letters exchanged between his deceased parents, dreams up Plum & Jaggers, a darkly bizarre comedy troupe. Made up of him and his brother and sisters, the group pokes fun at life’s tragedies and will eventually carry them into adulthood. But even once grown, Sam McWilliams finds he cannot always stop things from blowing apart."

Susan Richards Shreve (Author), Christopher Lane, Nancy Pearl (Narrator)

Audiobook

One Sweet Quarrel

"Brother and sister Jerry and Daisy Lou Malone leave behind their provincial Midwestern upbringing to test their mettle in the big, beckoning world of 1920s America. For Jerry, the future lies west, with like-minded pioneer souls keen to play the “land game” as homesteaders on the Great Plains. Daisy, in turn, heads for the lights and luxe life of New York City, hoping to sing her way to stardom. But fate and failing fortunes reunite them in tiny Shelby, Montana—and draw them into the 1923 Dempsey-Gibbons World Heavyweight Championship, the faltering town’s grand scheme to save itself from economic ruin. And for a moment as fleeting and spectacular as Halley’s Comet, these American dreamers will savor the sweet taste of an extraordinary life."

Deirdre McNamer (Author), Joyce Bean, Nancy Pearl (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Lion in the Lei Shop

"Marty Langsmith is only five years old when a strange thunder rolls across the Hawaiian sky and life as she knows it explodes into flames. With her mother, April, and hundreds of other women and children, Marty is evacuated from the ruins of Pearl Harbor and sent into a brave new world overshadowed by uncertainty and grief. Feeling abandoned by her deployed Army officer father in the wake of the attack, Marty is haunted by nightmares of the lion in the lei shop, a creature that’s said to devour happy children. But as the years pass, mother and daughter slowly begin to embrace their new life and make peace with the pain of the past. Spanning the tumultuous war years, The Lion in the Lei Shop deftly recaptures a dramatic chapter of American history. Originally published in 1970 and reissued for a new generation of readers as part of renowned librarian Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust Rediscoveries series, this lyrical novel gives a rarely heard voice to the women and children of Pearl Harbor."

Kaye Starbird (Author), Kate Rudd, Nancy Pearl, Tanya Eby (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Nancy Pearl