FOOD: A LOVE STORY (audiobook) by Jim Gaffigan

Published in October of 2014 by Random House Audio
Read by the author, Jim Gaffigan
Duration: 7 hours, 17 minutes
Unabridged

My wife and two kids and I listened to Food: A Love Story as we drove on our family trip this summer. We are fans of Jim Gaffigan (I really appreciate the fact that our children can listen and he rarely uses an inappropriate word, let alone vulgar commentary or topics.)

The book is obviously about food and Jim rarely deviates from it. He is not a "foodie". He is not driving out of his way to get something new. He is not traveling with the intent to try exotic twists on old flavors. Nope, he is an every man talking about regular every day food - burgers, fries, hot dogs, ice cream, cupcakes, pancakes, etc. He gets his tips on where to go by tweeting to his followers that he is in a certain city and where should he go. He rarely gets a bad recommendation.

He includes an overview of the country with regional specialties, including a long and hilarious explanation of why he hates seafood of all sorts (me too, Jim!). He also talks about his all-time favorites, where to get some of those. My wife and I were delighted to hear him rave about Schoop's in northern Indiana and the Coney Island Weiner Stand in Fort Wayne. 

He also talks about why steak is amazing, vegetables are not and the country's obsession with certain foods as a health craze (right now it is kale). I especially enjoyed his review of famous food chains by genre (burger places, taco places, breakfast places) even if I disagreed with him on a lot of them. It seemed appropriate as we were ticking off the miles and driving past all of the exits with the omni-present McDonald's, Subways and Waffle Houses.

This is not an audiobook that I could just sit and listen to at long stretches. I could only take about 1 CD at a time (about an hour and 10 minutes) and then I just got tired of hearing Jim talk about food. But, at lunchtime stop at the McDonald's we'd talk about what he said about this place and that place as we passed their billboards and my youngest daughter would proudly proclaim that she had found the "bonus fry" in the bottom of the bag. Then, I'd pop him back in again and we would laugh some more at his observations about bacon or Dunkin Donuts or Hot Pockets.

He brings it all together with a fairly profound commentary on food and family and our short time on this world. Here's an excerpt: "My advice to you, dear reader, is to eat well and frequently. Our time here is pretty short. It's filled with disappointments and drama, and food can make it better." He recommends more cheeseburgers and you certainly can't disagree with an expert who has written a book on the topic, can you? 

I definitely recommend this for a family trip.

The book is read by Jim Gaffigan and here's all I can say about it - it couldn't have been read better if it were wrapped in bacon. Well, that make's no sense if you haven't read the book, but if you have you know exactly what I mean.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found here: Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan.

MARVEL'S AVENGERS: THE AGE of ULTRON: THE JUNIOR NOVELIZATION (audiobook) by Chris "Doc" Wyatt

Published by Marvel Press and Blackstone Audio on April 10 of 2015.
Read by Tom Taylorson
Duration: 1 hour, 34 minutes.
Unabridged.

Marvel's Avengers: The Age of Ultron: The Junior Novelization is my third audiobook of a junior novelization of a movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They adhere closely to the movies, have all been well-read, easy to listen to and, on the whole, quite enjoyable. 

But, this one is troubling because it only covers half of the movie. Literally, this audiobook is about half of the length of the other audiobooks as well. If you have seen the movie, it only goes to the fight scene in the ship that is being harvested for scrap metal and it alludes to the Iron Man/Hulk fight scene. That's it. 

Ultron

Up to that point, it's an enjoyable audiobook. Reader Tom Taylorson does a very good job with the different voices of the Avengers, especially Thor. He also does an especially good job with the voice of Ultron - sometimes he sounds exactly like James Spader who voices him in the movie.

The problem is that this is only half of the movie is in this audiobook.

It probably stems from the fact that this book was published a week before the movie was premiered in Los Angeles and about 3 weeks before it was released across the United States on May 1, 2015. To me, this seems like a promotional gimmick - a way to gin up interest before the movie came out. The problem is, we are stuck with just having half of a story long after the movie has been released.

I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. What is there is excellent - but it's only half of the story.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon here: Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron: The Junior Novel.

Note: I was sent a copy of this audiobook by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

MARVEL'S AVENGERS PHASE ONE: THE INCREDIBLE HULK (Marvel Cinematic Universe) (audiobook) by Marvel Press

Published in 2015 by Blackstone Audio
Read by Jim Meskimen
Duration: 2 hours, 52 minutes
Unabridged

Marvel Press has released a series of junior novelizations of their Avenger and Avenger-related movies. The term "Phase One" in the title means that this is a pre-Avengers book that serves to introduce an Avenger. The publisher recommends them for ages 8-12 but my wife and I listened along with the kids in the car and we enjoyed it as well. My wife was really got into it. I was the only one in the car that had actually seen the The Incredible Hulk  movie.

Marvel's Avengers Phase One: The Incredible Hulk is a faithful re-telling of the movie. Unlike some novelizations, this one does not really expand past what the movie reviewer would have seen in the movie. No new secrets revealed or anything.

The book starts with Bruce Banner already having been exposed to gamma radiation and having already changed into the Incredible Hulk. In fact, the real plot gets going five years after his exposure.

Banner is on the run, the target of a secret military program that is trying to re-create the Super Soldier program that produced Captain America. He is hiding out in Brazil while trying to find a cure and working at a soda pop factory. But, he makes one tiny mistake - just one little mistake and soon special forces units are flying to Brazil to try to round up Banner without making him angry...

As I said before, my family and I listened in the car and I polled them afterwards about how they would rate the audiobook and they all said they would give it an A or A-. I liked it as well (I would give it 4 stars) so I am going with the group average and giving it 5 stars out of 5.

Jim Meskimen did a good job of reading this story. With the exception of the English accent of one of the bad guys, he covered a variety of accents well. More importantly, he covered the angst of Banner perfectly.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon here: MARVEL'S AVENGERS PHASE ONE: THE INCREDIBLE HULK (Marvel Cinematic Universe) (audiobook) by Marvel Press.

Note: I was sent a copy of this audiobook by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

MARVEL'S AVENGERS PHASE ONE: CAPTAIN AMERICA, the FIRST AVENGER (Marvel Cinematic Universe) (audiobook) by Marvel Press

Published in 2015 by Blackstone Audio
Read by Tom Taylorson
Duration: 2 hours, 47 minutes
Unabridged

Marvel Press has released a series of junior novelizations of their Avenger and Avenger-related movies. The term "Phase One" in the title means that this is a pre-Avengers book that serves to introduce an Avenger. The publisher recommends them for ages 8-12 but my wife and I listened along with the kids in the car and we enjoyed it as well.

The book follows the movie very closely, detailing how Steve Rogers tried to join the army multiple times during World War II but was always refused because he was too small and too sickly. Finally, he is noticed by a team of scientists and given the opportunity he has always wanted - he can join the army. 

But, there's a catch. 

He will have to be part of a group of men who are competing to see who can qualify to be part of an experiment to create a "Super Soldier" based on research already being done by a secret group in Nazi Germany called Hydra...

This is the place to start this series. In this book, the groundwork for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe is laid out. If you are an avid comics reader, then you probably already know that the movies and the TV shows deviate from some of the established comic book story lines. We meet the Stark family, Agent Carter (the namesake of an ABC television series), learn a little about the Infinity Stones and quite a bit about Hydra. 

Tom Taylorson's narration is quite good. He makes the story seem dramatic without being overly dramatic. My family enjoyed it as we drove along on a family vacation which is quite the compliment since I am the only one of the four of us that has actually seen the movie that this audiobook is based on, Captain America: The First Avenger. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5 with the understanding that this is a 5 star rating for an audiobook that is kid friendly. 

This audiobook can be found on Amazon here: Marvel's Avengers Phase One: Captain America, the First Avenger (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Note: I was sent a copy of this audiobook by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

RESOLUTION (Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch #2) (audiobook) by Robert B. Parker

Published by Random House Audio in 2008
Read by Titus Welliver
Duration: 4 hours, 40 minutes
Unabridged

At the end of Appaloosa, the first book in this series, Hitch and Cole have parted ways. Hitch ends up in the town of Resolution, a mining/lumbering town with some small unsuccessful ranches/farms scattered around.

Hitch is hired by the owner of a local hotel/saloon to keep the peace inside the saloon. Soon enough, Cole shows up. He is on the outs with his girlfriend again. She has issues - she just has to throw herself at the most powerful man in the room and Cole had finally had enough of it and killed a man she was with. For Cole, this is devastating. He has always followed the law, even if it is arbitrary law that he has written himself. Killing this man broke the law and Cole is now a man who cannot follow his own code. So, Cole just hangs out with Hitch and ponders the meaning of laws and rules and the Social Contract for half of the book.

In the meantime, Hitch is offered the chance to switch sides in a range war that is just beginning to start. It will be the miners vs. the lumberjacks vs. the ranchers/farmers vs. the hotel/saloon owners and Hitch has to decide where he is going and Cole has to work his way through his issues before the lead starts to fly...

There are a few common themes that run through most westerns - the stranger(s) that come into town to rescue the heart-of-gold widow with a ranch (like Tom Selleck's Crossfire Trail) and the stranger(s) that come into town to stop the local bad guys (like in The Magnificent Seven ). Parker, if nothing else, was a master of taking the established format of a genre and then tweaking it - the familiar then becomes something different, but still feels like the same old comfortable story.

In this story, the strangers are Hitch and Cole. As the story progresses, Parker mixes the story of the the woman who needs to be rescued with the story of the town being rescued from the local bad guys, with a twist, of course.

The title, Resolution, is interesting because as the book goes along Cole resolves his issues. He reads and discusses John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and hits on the idea that laws come out of the social contract between the person in power and the people who are under those laws. Basically, Cole cheats the idea a bit to ease his existential crisis and allow him to be Cole again. Parker sure loved all of this deep psychological stuff. I find it amusing to have professional gunslingers sitting on the front steps of a saloon discussing the theory of the Social Contract.

The audiobook is read by the actor Titus Welliver. I like Welliver's work and his voice is smooth and mellow - just about perfect for Hitch, who tells the story.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon here: Resolution

THE BATTLE of the CRATER by Newt Gingrich and William R. Fortschen

Watching a Tragedy Unfold

Published by Thomas Dunne Books in 2011

Fortschen and Gingrich's Battle of the Crater is set during the long, hot, bloody summer of 1864 the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia found themselves in a long series of battles. General Ulysses S. Grant changed the situation on the front by changing the strategy of the Army of the Potomac and the way it dealt with the Army of Northern Virginia. Rather than fighting a battle, withdrawing from one another, regrouping and then seeking out the enemy again Grant just kept his army in constant contact with Lee. His plan was simple - he knew that the Union forces had a lot more soldiers and a near limitless supply of ammunition and food, at least when compared to Lee's army. The math was simple - Grant could afford to lose more of everything so long as he was depleting Lee at the same time. 

Eventually, this settled down into a siege around Richmond and its suburb, Petersburg. Petersburg was a train hub and a vital link in the supply chain that fed the Confederate capital and its army. Both armies dug a maze of trenches, much like the ones used in World War I. 

Ambrose Burnside

The problem was, although Grant was slowly squeezing Lee's army to death, it was not quick enough. The Presidential election of 1864 was quickly coming and war weariness had settled in - this change in strategy was causing so many more Union deaths and casualties. It was feared that Lincoln would not win and his opponent, McClellan would win. McClellan's platform promised a quick end to the war and would most likely end in recognition of the Confederacy as a separate country - the war would be lost.

At this point some Union soldiers who were coal miners before the war had an idea. Why not dig a tunnel under the Confederate lines, fill it full of gunpowder and then blow it up like a giant bomb? It would literally blow a whole in their lines and a group of Union soldiers could rush in and take Petersburg and cause Richmond and Lee's army to fall. They take it to their general, the tarnished Ambrose Burnside and he loves it and he convinces his superiors to let it proceed. 

It seems simple enough, but with the Army of the Potomac, nothing is ever so simple...

Grant at Cold Harbor

This book is presented as a tragedy from its beginning where the reader gets an up close view of the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 3 - the worst day of a two week long battle. There were 7,000 Union casualties in a single hour due to foolish orders to charge Confederate breastworks (compare that to D-Day in World War II - there were 9,000 Allied casualties all day). After that hour, the Union troops simply refused to charge. They would do enough to make it look they tried and then they would return to their positions.

The reader is introduced to a newspaper artist and a group of African American soldiers (U.S. Colored Troops or USCT) from Indiana who are volunteers and want to fight and prove their equality to the white soldiers but are stuck digging graves at Arlington Cemetery. When they get their chance to go to Petersburg, they are so proud and so full of enthusiasm - the reader knows what is waiting for them and knows that it will not end well.

The USCT soldiers are trained to lead the attack after the tunnel will be exploded. They drill for weeks and their white officers are confident that they will do well for three reasons: they are trained well, they are green and don't know the horrors of a frontal assault and they have something to prove as Black men and as some of the first Black soldiers to be involved in a major battle.

But, orders come and the day before the attack, the USCT soldiers are ordered to be held in reserve and experienced soldiers are rotated up to lead the charge. And, once the plan starts to change it all falls apart. Petty rivalries take precedence, weak leaders turn to drink, weak generals can't decide what to do and the men charge into one of the most hellish scenes of the war.

Gingrich and Forstchen make the fighting in and around the crater come alive - the horror, the carnage and the chaos are interspersed with heart stopping acts of courage honor and pathetic moments of treachery and stupidity. As I read this book I knew it was not going to end well. The book is like a Greek tragedy - you can see that no one is going to be left untouched but it just continues to unroll itself right in front of you.  

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon here: The Battle of the Crater: A Novel

ARMAGEDDON in RETROSPECT and OTHER NEW and UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS on WAR and PEACE by Kurt Vonnegut

Published in 2008.

Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of short stories (and one letter and one rambling, but enjoyable,  speech) focuses on war and the folly of war. Many of the stories deal with World War II and prisoners of war, a theme echoed in Slaughterhouse-Five. 

The almost 40 foot tall mural
of Vonnegut in
Indianapolis. 

The book begins with an entertaining introduction by Mark Vonnegut, Kurt's son followed by an astonishingly flippant letter from Kurt to his family telling them that he had been a prisoner of war since the Battle of the Bulge but now he was liberated and headed back to Indiana. The letter is actually reproduced as a picture so you can see it how he typed it on the stationary that he typed it. The letter is followed by the last speech he ever wrote, appropriately delivered in his hometown of Indianapolis by his son after Kurt Vonnegut's death.

The short stories are up and down, as all short stories collections are. But, Vonnegut's gift for creating interesting characters shines through most of them and I found myself invested in most of them in a very short time. Most have funny moments tossed in the middle of a great tragedy. Many feature prisoners of war, which is understandable considering Vonnegut's own experiences in World War II.

The book itself is a beautiful hardback made with the highest quality slick paper. Between the short stories there are drawings and quips from Vonnegut.

I rate this collection 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be purchased on Amazon here: Armageddon in Retrospect.