To me, the longstanding appeal of fiction has always been to escape my limited worldview and enter that of somebody else. Now, I don’t read stories by women to find out what women are like. There’s real life for that. I read stories by women for the same reason I read stories by men. When I say I love the stories of Mavis Gallant, I don’t say so because she is a woman. I say it because she is a great writer, full stop.

1. The First Kiss Dear Diary: Today I got my first kiss but it was pretty boring.Teresa dared Jason to kiss me on the lips. Dorito breath Jason!!! I took out my gum and faced him and kept my mouth closed and he puckered his lips really tight and closed his eyes. It was quick and didn’t feel like anything. After he pulled away I put my gum back in my mouth and Teresa and everyone burst out laughing and yelled “DRYYY!!!” Jason looked embarrassed. I just wasn’t done with my gum.

No list about audio storytelling would be legit without This American Life. These are the masters and I can’t imagine a person who could listen and not be enchanted. I might not be able to be friends with that person. Ira Glass, an early adopter of hipster eyeglasses makes vocal ticks like hesitating feel sexy. Early contributors like Sarah Vowell and Starlee Kine set the tone for the smart, introspective, funny tone of the show and really changed the way we think of radio with their atypical radio voices.