The Late Americans: A Novel

"It’s a campus novel, set in Iowa City. It’s about a group of (mostly) grad students—artists, dancers, poets, a lot of artsy people—going about their lives and their relationship entanglements, what they’re thinking about. There’s not much plot in the book. It’s Brandon Taylor’s third book, and it has some similar themes to his first two books. I thought the book was especially good in audio format because it’s a very meditative book. There are a lot of musings about life and relationships, about making art, about race and class and all these different things in America. It’s sort of meandering. Kevin R. Free is one of my favorite narrators. He’s incredibly good and he really made the book his own. He created voices for the 12 or so characters in the book. I just found it very easy and pleasurable to sink into that world and hang out with these people for a little while. I have pretty eclectic tastes—I think some of the books I’ve picked for today show that: there’s a pretty wide range. It is the kind of book I often listen to, but one of the reasons I picked it is that it wasn’t my favorite novel of the year, but it was absolutely a favorite audiobook. It’s a beautiful novel, I recommend it. But the experience of listening to the audio really enhanced it for me. When that happens, I just find it very exciting."