By Shelby Rowe Moyer | Photo by Moose Photos via Pexels
Anyone else need a TV break?
Netflix, we still love you, but there’s only so many mind-tumbling shows a person can take — we’re looking at you “Tiger King.”
Going for an evening walk is a really refreshing way to slough off the day, especially now that the sun doesn’t set until after 8 p.m., and a little ear candy is the cherry on top. So the next time you want a moment to relax, we recommend grabbing your headphones and giving one — or all — of these a listen.
In It for the Long Haul: Audiobooks
If you’ve seen this technicolor book cover, we promise that all the contents on the inside are just as vibrant as its exterior. Glennon Doyle’s memoir — which made its way into Reese Witherspoon’s book club — was penned to activate and inspire women to live the ways they’ve always dreamed about and to tap into their inner “wild.”
“Untamed” is broken up into short chapters where Doyle recounts a story and a lesson learned, from present day all the way back to when she was a child, while also revealing the how she left her husband for soccer superstar Abby Wambach. The faith-based writer explains how falling in love with Wambach catapulted her onto a path of self-discovery and understanding.
The duration of her audio book is 8 hours and 22 minutes, but believe us when we say it zips by.
If journalist Lisa Taddeo’s debut book “Three Women” had been a work of fiction, it would have been acknowledged as subtly brilliant — but the fact that it tells the true and shockingly intimate stories of three women and their relationships with men makes it a poetic masterpiece.
In the prologue, Taddeo’s voice emerges and explains that she spent tens of thousands of hours talking with subjects, and that she decided on telling these distinct stories because of how candid and vulnerable the women were. The details are so vivid. The stories are laced with all the bobbing turns of life: passion and heartache, childhood and adulthood, relationships and isolation. It’s truly a work of art.
As a listener, you gulp in the women’s intertwining tales over more than 11 hours of audio.
Lunch Hour Listens: Podcasts
April Balascio is 40 years old when she starts to unravel the truth she always feared about her father: He is, in fact, guilty of multiple murders. The trail begins northeast of Madison in Watertown, Wis., where Balascio tells authorities she thinks her father is responsible for the 1980 murder of two teens.
From there, Balascio and podcast host Josh Dean retrace the life of her father, Edward Wayne Edwards, in the hopes that she’ll finally know the full and unadulterated reality of what he had done, while also trying to distill out wild conclusions others have drawn about him. The series wraps up in a tight, eight episodes, all of which are less than an hour long.
Often in 15 minutes or less, host Nate DiMeo takes readers on an immersive reprieve with stunning non-fiction narratives that span countless topics, from the life of a forgotten haute couture designer to chatty and charming parrots. Episodes release twice a month, and there’s plenty in the archive to keep you occupied until the newest is out.
Short and Sweet: Music and Comedy
Hayley Williams, “Petals for Armor” album
Whether you were a fan of the 2000s band Paramore or not, we’re betting you’ll feel energized and recharged by lead singer and solo artist Hayley Williams’ new album. Released this year, “Petals for Armor” is a punchy collection of retro-pop-sounding songs and is being described as a rich, emotional arch, from Williams’ unabashed anger to calm. We recommend starting with the song “Pure Love.”
Tig Notaro, “Boyish Girl Interrupted”
Ok, so this is not a new set by Tig Notaro, and we feel like we should warn you that her dry sense of humor is not for everyone. But if you love her comedy, you really love her comedy. The entirety of her 2015 show is great, but we’re recommending it for one bit in particular: Searching for Santa. It had us in rollicking fits of laughter. If you gobble up “Boyish Girl Interrupted,” check out “Good One,” which originally released in 2011. Both can be found on Apple Music.
