With commutes, road trips and errands, audiobooks are great for book lovers—although, when given the time, we’d all prefer a physical book in our hands, the crisp swish of pages, the aroma of wood, vanilla and glue, the sanctity of reading words from the hearts of trees. So each month, SheReads editorial director Lauren Wise curates a list of binge-worthy audiobooks, new and old. An added bonus: as the She Writes Press and SparkPress associate publisher, she also highlights the indie author audiobooks you should listen to now. 

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

In this hilarious and honest memoir, New York Times best-selling author Jenny Lawson shares her experience with severe depression and other conditions. She also sheds light on how to live life to the fullest while struggling with mental illness. Lawson argues that people who experience emotion so intensely might also be able to experience joy with the same intensity. Furiously Happy is about how she found that joy in the mundane and how to find light in the darkest of times.

The World in Half by Cristina Henriquez

When Miraflores returns to Chicago to care for her sick mother, she’s surprised to discover truths about her family history that her mother kept hidden for years. Miraflores never knew her father, and assumed he never wanted to know her. But then she learns her parents had a greater love than she ever realized and that her father desperately wanted a child. Hoping to finally find the missing piece of her identity and the man who might be able to help her mother, Miraflores plans a trip to Panama to search for him. What she discovers has the power to change her life forever.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Polston

When romance ghostwriter Florence Day goes through a terrible breakup, she finds she can no longer write about love. To make matters worse, her new editor refuses to give her an extension for her latest book. She’s ready to hang up her writing career when she receives devastating news that her father has passed away. Florence returns to the Southern town she left in her rear-view mirror all those years ago, and is shocked to find a ghost standing at the door of her family’s funeral parlor: The ghost of her new editor. As she works to help him resolve whatever unfinished business is keeping him tied to the living world, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about love.

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Luli Wei is intent on becoming a Hollywood star and will do whatever it takes to come out on top. In Pre-code Hollywood, there are limited roles for Chinese American women, yet she refuses to take on roles that are demeaning stereotypes. Even more of an obstacle is that the men running the studio practice an ancient magic to keep their power, often sacrificing young starlets as part of this system. Luli is determined to do whatever she needs to do to become a star, even though success in a system like this comes at a steep price.