Nobody’s Perfect by the late Donald Westlake; read by Jeff Woodman A Mysterious Press-HighBridge Audio Digital Classics The saying goes “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.” Plenty of mysteries, where the body count climbs without much attention to plot or character, bear that out: all gore, no substance. And after a workday that can seem […]
Entries Tagged as 'Uncategorized'
Nobody’s Perfect, But Westlake and Woodman Are Pretty Close
September 24th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Tags: audiobook·donald westlake·dortmunder·folly leads man to ruin·jeff woodman·mysterious press·mysterious press-highbridge audio classic·mystery·nobody's perfect
Coming Home
September 18th, 2013 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
What is the true cost of war? How do we measure it? What are we really asking of the young men and women we send into combat? And if we can actually bring ourselves to answer that last question honestly in all its most horrifying specifics, what are the implications for the future lives of […]
Tags: audiobook·Bringing Mulligan HOme·casualties·concussive brain injury·Dale Maharidge·memoir·military·Okinawa·veterans·war·World War II
I Am Not a Birder, But…
September 5th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
I am not a birder, but most days I spend a fleeting moment paying them special attention. Why not? There they are, pleasant to see, hear and be near. My appreciation for this particular realm within the animal kingdom took a major leap forward when I heard the finished master for NPR Sound Treks: Birds. […]
Tags: Bill Harley·Birds·HighBridge·Jon Hamilton·Julie Zickefoose·Kerry Thompson·NPR·Sound Treks
The Esperanza Fire – Haunting yet Triumphant
August 26th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
It’s interesting sometimes to reflect on how you end up settling on a particular book: The hazy day in Minnesota that the weather people attributed to western wildfires, including a huge one in Yosemite. The recent return of a colleague from a vacation in Montana—and that reminding me of my own visit there, many years […]
Tags: arson·esperanza fire·firefighters·john maclean·john n. maclean·norman maclean·pete larkin·wildfire·young men and fire
Something about Her
August 19th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
Have you ever had to periodically stop listening to an audiobook because it was so intense you just needed a break? Probably not all that uncommon with good thrillers. But with a memoir? That’s what my wife and I had to do on a recent road trip during which we tuned in to Her by […]
Tags: audiobook·autobiography·Christa Parravani·Her·memoir·review·Steve's Picks
What a Trip! Philip Caputo’s The Longest Road
August 12th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
I knew Philip Caputo’s The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean (read by Pete Larkin) would be my kind of “listen.” I love to travel and when I’m stuck at home, I love traveling vicariously through others’ stories and photos. And the more adventurous, the better. Acclaimed journalist […]
Tags: airstream·audiobook·longest road·pete larkin·philip caputo·road trip·travel
Across the Nightingale Floor
August 7th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
It’s like Harry Potter, but with ninjas instead of wizards. That’s the best and easiest way I can describe Across the Nightingale Floor. Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori trilogy is fantasy with the slightest twinge of history. Set in a fictional feudal Japan, Across the Nightingale Floor takes place immediately after the events of […]
Tags: Across the Nightingale Floor·audiobook·Audiobooks·Brilliance of the Moon·fantasy·fiction·Grass for His Pillow·japan·japanese·Lian Hearn·lord·ninja·Otori·samurai·sword·Takeo·Tales of the Otori
Stamberg and Co. Break Down Barriers – NPR American Chronicles: Women’s Equality
August 5th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
As part of the NPR American Chronicles series, listeners might be fearful of an over-academic treatment of a subject that is very personal to many. Women’s Equality is nothing of the sort. I can’t recommend this audio enough as an example of essential, inspiring, primary audio content presented in an artistic and entertaining manner. Susan […]
Tags: american chronicles·Bella Abzug·Betty Friedan·Dorothy Gilman·Elizabeth Cady Stanton·Frances Perkins·Geraldine Ferraro·Gloria Steinem·Jeannette Rankin·Kerry Thompson·Leona Hansberger·Norma McCorvey·NPR·Shirley Chisholm·Susan B. Anthony·Susan Stamberg·Victoria Woodhull
The Word Smith – Ali Smith and There But For The
July 22nd, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
How to describe Ali Smith’s There But For The? For me, the trick to describing or defining Ali Smith’s writing is simply not to. It’s more fruitful and pleasurable to just sit back, accept her simply but dynamically drawn characters, let the language and wordplay wash over you, then in the end enjoy the slightly […]
Tags: accidental·ali smith·anne flosnik·audiobook·HighBridge·review·staff pick·there but for the
A Claire DeWitt Bohemian Rhapsody
July 15th, 2013 · No Comments · Uncategorized
With the publication of Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway (Sara Gran; read by Carol Monda) more and more people are catching on to the Claire DeWitt phenomenon, and I couldn’t be more pleased. I knew a quarter of the way into the first book, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, that 1) […]
Tags: audiobook·Carol Monda·claire dewitt·review·sara gran·Steve's Picks