“Your Mom’s Gonna Love Me”
By Matt Rife, read by Rife. Simon & Schuster Audio, 5¾ hours, $18.99. Also available via any Rhode Island public library.
Here’s what breakout comedy star Matt Rife doesn’t talk about in this new memoir: the offer he and a friend made in September to buy Burrillville’s Conjuring House.
Here’s what he does talk about: losing his virginity (it’s the first thing he mentions); losing his father to suicide when he was a baby; his abusive stepfather and loving grandfather; sex; his struggles to get ahead in comedy; his sudden fame when a TikTok video went massively viral; and the backlash when a joke about a woman with a black eye was taken to mean he advocated domestic violence.
Oh, and the house he recently bought in Rhode Island, reportedly in North Smithfield (neither of which he mentions, for fear of fans finding him, he says). It came furnished, with a “flat and smushed” carpet and dingy beige walls, making him feel like he was moving into “an AirBnb that the owners died in.” But, he says, there’s “a comedy club, and an airport not too far away, so it’s really convenient for all the touring I do.”
And he says, he loves that it’s in the middle of nature — though “the very first thing I bought for the house was a Nerf basketball hoop for the entrance, because blindsiding your boy with a windmill 360 dunk is good for you, too.”
By the way, he recorded the book at Star Trak studios in Warwick.
If Rife’s name isn’t familiar, you probably don’t spend a lot of time on TikTok, where his videos get hundreds of millions of views, or on YouTube or Netflix, where he’s had several comedy specials. At 29, he’s really just ascending into stardom, but he’s got a surprising amount to say about his life, and he tells it in an engaging way. And being a comedian, with a comedian’s timing, he’s the ideal person to read his own book.
“Beautiful Ugly”
By Alice Feeney, read by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton. Simon & Schuster Audio, 9⅓ hours, $26.99. Also available via any Rhode Island public library.
Just as he was hitting the New York Times bestseller list, British author Grady Green’s beloved wife, Abby, disappeared. In the year since Abby’s red coat was found near a cliffside road a mile from their house, Grady has been unable to write.
Now, out of money, he has taken refuge on a little Scottish island where his agent owns a cottage where a famed writer once lived and worked. But much is lurking behind the islanders’ smiles in this characteristically twisty tale from the formidable Alice Feeney, author of books including “Sometimes I Lie” and “Rock Paper Scissors.” I never like to give too much away about a Feeney book; suffice it to say that very little here is as it seems.
The book is enhanced by the reading from Richard Armitage, of the “Hobbit” movies. As his world disintegrates, Armitage understatedly but convincingly conveys his character’s confusion and increasing desperation.
“Alex Newell and the Gospel of a Diva”
By Alex Newell, read and sung by Newell. Audible Original, 1 hour, free with Audible Plus membership, $7.95 a month.
If you’re looking for a lot of insight into the life of Tony-winning actor Newell, you’ve come to the wrong place. If you’ll be satisfied with a display of vocal pyrotechnics, this audiobook may be for you.
Newell, who won a Tony in 2023 for his performance in “Shucked,” says early on that at 32, they’re too young for an autobiography. That means they mostly confine the commentary part of this live-recorded performance to sassy one-liners about the attitude of a diva.
But the nonbinary actor opens up a bit when talking about their turn on TV competition show “The Glee Project,” which led to a recurring role on “Glee” and opened the door to much bigger things. And this discussion leads to a dazzling, heartfelt rendition of “If I Were a Boy.”
I wish there had been more pairings like this of music and musing. That would have gone a long way toward making this book a must-listen.
“Mary Jane”
By Amy Herzog, read by Rachel McAdams, April Matthis, Brenda Wehle, Lily Santiago and Susan Pourfar. Audible Original, 1¼ hours, free with Audible Plus membership, $7.95 a month.
Mary Jane is a single mother of a special-needs baby living in New York City. In this brief but wrenching play, she confronts her child’s deepening illness in the company of a variety of people, primarily nurses and the mothers of other very sick children.
McAdams, who also played the title role on Broadway in the spring and early summer of 2024, brings intensity and sincerity to the part. What’s surprising from a technical point of view is how frequently the dialogue feels like it was recorded in two different places, with McAdams stopping abruptly as though someone has cut in — but the other actor in the scene pausing a beat before beginning to speak.
It’s a glitch that mars what otherwise is a strong slice-of-life performance.
Alan Rosenberg, of Warwick, is a retired executive editor of The Providence Journal and has been reviewing audiobooks for more than two decades. Reach him at AlanRosenbergRI@gmail.com.
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