The sun does shine How I found life and freedom on death row

WE'RE barreling toward summer, with long drives and leisure hours ahead. It's the time of year when friends who know I'm an audiobook nut ask for suggestions. Podcasts offer more flash and dazzle, but I still love the long arc of books "on tape" as an antidote to the shattered attention span of a Twitter-fied society. Recommendations can be tricky (unless the friend hasn't heard my recent favorite, Amor Towles's wonderful novel "A Gentleman in Moscow," read with wry sadness and perfect comic timing by Nicholas Guy Smith. You're welcome). What follows is an eclectic list of audiobooks that might provide ideas for your next summer drive. LET ME LIE, by Clare Mackintosh. Read by Gemma Whelan. (Penguin Audio; 11 hours, 56 minutes.) Ideal listener: Mystery addicts. Ideal trip: Long drives in the countryside, preferably across moors. The mystery writer Clare Mackintosh's first book, "I Let You Go," won an enthusiastic reception when it was published in 2016, and she has become known for her solid descriptions of police work, her previous profession. This third novel opens with Anna Johnson trapped in a fog of grief over the loss of her parents, who committed suicide at the same seaside cliff, months apart. But were they suicides? Is there a paranormal angle? Things are not as they seem. The twists and turns provide adequate entertainment, but Mackintosh plods until the last scenes of the book. The most satisfying thread concerns the private life of Murray Mackenzie, a retired detective who becomes involved in Anna's case, and who cares for a mentally ill wife. Their story alone would make a fine novel, even without the suicides. Or were they murders? The audiobook's narrator, Gemma Whelan (who also plays Yara Greyjoy on "Game of Thrones"), goes for an even, steady delivery that suggests the protagonist may be a bit slow on the uptake. Her measured tone further hints at her knowledge that, while this book is a mystery, it is no thriller. THE SUN DOES SHINE, by Anthony Ray Hinton. Read by Kevin R. Free. (Macmillan Audio; 9 hours, 11 minutes.) Ideal listener: Anyone interested in wrongful incarceration and racial justice. Ideal trip: To Montgomery, Ala., to see the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Anthony Ray Hinton spent nearly three decades behind bars for murders he did not commit, railroaded through the legal system and landing on death row. When Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and the man Hinton calls "God's best lawyer," finally won his release, Hinton's tearful statement as he left the prison was, "The sun does shine." How Hinton survived those long years is a story of resilience and imagination, of faith and the support of his mother and friends. He speaks of his rage over his conviction, and of ultimately coming to forgive those who wronged him - including an inept defense lawyer and the prosecutor who locked him away even though the gun supposedly used in the crimes (which belonged to Hinton's mother) had not been fired in years, among other obvious flaws in the case. "They were a shameful lot of sad men, and I prayed for their souls." The actor Kevin R. Free performs this work with flashes of anger cast over a deep humility, and captures the sense of humor that Hinton was, incredibly, able to hold on to during his long years in solitary confinement - his affability could get even prison guards to smile. This is a story that enrages and inspires. COMMON GROUND, by Justin Trudeau. Read by Colm Feore. (Audible Studios; 8 hours, 5 minutes.) Ideal listener: All those people who said they'd move to Canada if Donald Trump was elected. Ideal trip: That drive to Prince Edward Island. Justin Trudeau published this election memoir in 2014 on his way to becoming prime minister of Canada. As such, it has many of the flaws endemic to these hardcover sales brochures. Even so, it's not every national leader who writes about his tattoos, or his time in the boxing ring, or snowboarding. A celebrity since birth - the son of a groundbreaking prime minister and a flamboyant mother who struggles with bipolar disorder - Trudeau shares an engaging life story that would be worth reading whatever his aims. But it's worth noting that "Common Ground" was written for a Canadian audience, so American listeners are going to have less familiarity with the politics of our northern neighbors; he assumes we are passionate about national issues like the 1992 Charlottetown Accord. You might Google. Or not. Trudeau reads an introduction to the book himself, but leaves the rest of the text to the capable Colm Feore, who gets across the author's essential likability and youthful energy. He seems, at times, not to know whether Trudeau's words should be performed as a political stump speech or an earnest sermon, but that is not surprising, since the prime minister's tone wobbles from one mode to the other, with a smidgen of TED Talk thrown in. FAILURE IS AN OPTION, by H. Jon Benjamin. Read by the author. (Penguin Audio; 4 hours, 58 minutes.) Ideal listener: Fans. Ideal trip: Long drives without the kids in the car. H. Jon Benjamin is best known as a voice actor in two animated series, "Archer" and "Bob's Burgers." He is, in other words, a successful purveyor of comedy. But he is also, by his own admission, a schlub. He frames this "attempted memoir" as a "polemic in favor of failure." He does not advise absolute, crushing failure, but appropriately lowered expectations that let us accept our limitations. "The task at hand is to bring failure into your life, accept it, and then find the right amount that suits you." With this facetious self-help framework in place, he runs through a string of hit-ormiss anecdotes about, for example, the sexual threesome he didn't actually end up taking part in, and the fajitas that he, a very bad waiter, could not deliver to tables while they were still sizzling. How hard you'll laugh at these stories will depend on whether you find things like colitis and diarrhea funny. I didn't think I would. I was wrong. I am ashamed to say that his entirely gross and unprintable recollection of driving from LAX Airport to Pasadena and unsuccessfully fighting off the effects of a colitis flare-up had me laughing out loud. Of course, it's that voice. SEASONS OF MY MOTHER, by Marcia Gay Harden. Read by the author. (Simon & Schuster Audio; 8 hours, 34 minutes.) Ideal listener: Fans, but also anyone with family members who suffer from dementia. Ideal trip: Solo, elegiac wanderings. Marcia Gay Harden, best known for her roles in films like "Mystic River," "Miller's Crossing" and "Pollock," opens this partmemoir, part-tribute to her mother by describing a different book the two had been collaborating on before Beverly Harden developed Alzheimer's. The book was going to be about ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging that became an enormous part of Beverly's life after her naval officer husband's tour of duty in Japan. The disease, and other tragedies in the women's lives, stole the project away. But flowers and their meaning run through this intergenerational story, organized around the seasons and the blooms they bring to mind, Marcia's childhood and her sometimes-spiky relationship with her parents. The description of her mother's drift into the limbo of Alzheimer's will be familiar to anyone dealing with a family member who has dementia, but the author sees through what has been lost. "When all is said and done - even without memory - what still exists is love." There is beauty here, and tragedy, though the prose can be, forgive me, flowery. But as an actor, Harden uses the persuasive strength of her voice to inhabit every line. JOHN schwartz is a climate change reporter for The Times and the author of "This Year I Put My Financial Life in Order."

*Starred Review* In 2015, Hinton was released after serving nearly 30 years half of his life on Alabama's death row for crimes he didn't commit. His memoir, collaboratively written with Hardin, is a troubling, moving, and ultimately exalting journey through the decades Hinton lived under the threat of death while an unjust system that refused to acknowledge mistakes failed him repeatedly. After barely speaking during his first years on the row, Hinton's natural friendliness and compassion compelled him to connect with his fellow inmates and start a book club. As he experienced the executions of these new friends, Hinton learned to rely on his imagination which took him from his five-by-seven cell to places he'd never been and never take for granted the unconditional love of his mother and best friend, who never missed a visiting day. Hope eventually appeared in the form of God's best lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy (2014). It would take Stevenson and his team, working tirelessly, another 15 years to win Hinton back his freedom. Even more powerful than the crushing terror of serving a death sentence while innocent are Hinton's refusal to be diminished by it and his unwavering commitment to forgiveness. Lighting unfathomable places, Hinton's gripping story asks readers to do the same. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With a huge print run, Hinton's incredible story and social-justice star Stevenson, who wrote the foreword, will draw major attention.--Bostrom, Annie Copyright 2018 Booklist

In this intense memoir, Hinton recounts his three-decade nightmare: awaiting execution for crimes he didnt commit. In 1985, Hinton, then 29, was charged with a series of violent robberies as well as the murders of two restaurant managers in Birmingham, Ala. Hinton passed a polygraph test and was in a locked warehouse during one robbery, but that didnt prevent an all-white jury from finding him guilty after only two hours (the death penalty recommendation took another 45 minutes). Hinton here provides a convincing description ofcontinued segregation and injustice in the deep South that cages the underclass as effectively as prison walls. His depictions of prison life are wrenching, as when he recalls the 1987 electric chair execution of Wayne Ritter and how the smell of Rittersburning fleshburned my nose and stung my throat. Forced to hone his mind to withstand overwhelming isolation, Hinton read voraciously and studied his case. With the unwavering support of his mother and his best friend, Hinton created a fulfilling life for himself, which included running a book club for death row inmates. After many years, his dogged pursuit of justice led civil rights attorney Bryan Stephenson to adopt his cause. Hinton was freed from prison in 2015, and now works as a motivational speaker. Hintons life is one of inspiration, which he wonderfully relays here in bitingly honest prose. (Mar.)