Crushmore, Penn Badgley
Crushmore, Penn Badgley
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Crushmore
Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age

Author: Penn Badgley, Sophie Ansari, Nava Kavelin

Narrator: Penn Badgley, Sophie Ansari, Nava Kavelin

Unabridged: 6 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/14/2025


Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In the debut essay collection from the hosts of the hit podcast Podcrushed, Penn Badgley, Sophie Ansari, and Nava Kavelin explore what it means to come of age at every stage of our lives.

Known for spotlighting your favorite artists’ tween stories of self-discovery on their podcast, Penn, Sophie, and Nava turn inward to share their own experiences for the first time. Penn, a twelve-year-old, Discman-toting introvert, starts in the solitude of his only-child household where he danced like no one was watching (because no one was watching) before embarking on a neon-lit journey to Hollywood. Sophie takes us to her middle school in Beijing where she had to ward off rumors of a boob job, and to the moment loosening her chokehold on love brought her husband straight into her living room. Nava traces the emotional aftershocks of losing her mother and guides us through the whimsical world of an imaginationship, where nothing is ever as it seems.

With compassion, humor, and insight, Crushmore charts the often cringey, sometimes luminous path from adolescence to adulthood. Together, these essays remind us that we can find healing—and even inspiration—from our awkward adolescent selves long after we thought we left them behind.

About Penn Badgley

Penn Badgley is an actor, director, producer, writer, and podcaster best known for his starring roles in the CW’s Gossip Girl and Netflix’s You. He lives in New Paltz, New York, with his wife, two children, and two dogs.  

About Sophie Ansari

Sophie Ansari is an illustrator, video creator, and podcast host. She moonlights as a community organizer, tallying many hours each week volunteering with children on her block, and bothering her neighbors until they offer to feed her. Sophie lives in Los Angeles with her husband, David, and their baby.

About Nava Kavelin

Nava Kavelin is a writer and producer based in Los Angeles. She and Penn Badgley cofounded a production company, Ninth Mode, together in 2020, and Nava is CEO. Prior to her work in media, Nava was a researcher and writer at the United Nations.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Caitlin on October 27, 2025

I have actually never listened to Podcrushed but I love Penn Badgley so I gave the Crushmore audiobook a listen. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this essay collection. And was even more surprised that my favorite essays were the ones not by Penn (though his are really great too!). The stand-ou......more

Goodreads review by Patty (IheartYA311) on November 09, 2025

Very relatable. Very emotional. Very vulnerable. It's a relief to know you're not alone in you're feelings, that you are in fact human. I'm not a podcast listener, but I'll give this one a shot. If you love active book communities, check out LiterALLy BOOKiSh Book Club (on Facebook)! Games, giveaway......more

Goodreads review by Kait on October 21, 2025

I just wish it were longer lol I could have listened to this for another couple hours......more

Goodreads review by Charlott on October 27, 2025

2.5* I understand that these are deeply personal essays and the storytelling is great but it doesn't stand out in comparison to many other memoirs and essay collections. I don't want to criticize their stories and experiences, in fact many were quite relatable. I just struggled to see what this contr......more

Goodreads review by Candice on October 22, 2025

I was three chapters in when I had to pause the audiobook, text all my book friends & tell them to add this to their list!! I can’t rave enough about the superb storytelling through the essay format. When was the last time you read a good essay? Seriously, such underused and underrated structure! It......more


Quotes

"Kavelin, Badgley, and Ansari, hosts of the popular podcast Podcrushed, take turns narrating a collection of memoir-driven essays that will resonate with pop culturalists. Fans of the podcast who are used to hearing the three 30-somethings interview other famous folk will finally get a deeper dive into the hosts’ own accounts of puberty, tumultuous friendships, substances, sex, death, and other coming-of-age essentials. Badgley—best known as the lead actor in You—kicks off the collection with self-deprecating humor and captivating depth, making even stories about child acting feel relatable. Kavelin and Ansari (both ex-teachers) deliver equally resonant performances, most compelling when emotion cracks through heavier moments."