SELECTED SHORTS: EVEN MORE LAUGHS (audiobook) by Symphony Space

Humor, Like Food, Is Highly Subjective

Published by Symphony Space in October of 2010
Multi-cast performance
Duration: 3 hours, 6 minutes

Here is the premise behind Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs - get a collection of funny short stories and have them be read by great performers such as Stephen Colbert and Alec Baldwin.

There are eight stories of varying quality. As I noted in the title of this review, humor is very subjective. What I can really tell you is that this set is designed to appeal to a wide variety of tastes - not by being middle of the road but by bringing a true eclectic mix to the production. That is certain to guarantee that the listener will not enjoy everything.

Stephen Colbert begins the collection with "The Lie",  the story

Jerry Zaks (b. 1946), one of the
performers in this collection.

of a man who is just overwhelmed with being the father of a new baby. In fact, he is overwhelmed with everything - his dead end job, his wife's new confidence and his lack of free time. In his desperation, he lies. And, he builds upon that lie until he goes way too far...

Alec Baldwin delivers a great performance in a story that I found mostly sad rather than funny. There is a story about an obscure recipe from central France that is funny but it extends the joke for so long that I tired of it and skipped to the end.

For me, the two best stories were "The Swim Team" written by Miranda July and performed by Parker Posey and the last story of the collection: "The Conversion of the Jews", performed by Jerry Zaks. Both were laugh out loud funny.

I rate this collection 3 stars out of 5. This collection is certainly a mixed bag.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs.

GATEWAY to FREEDOM: THE HIDDEN HISTORY of the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (audiobook) by Eric Foner

Published in January of 2015 by HighBridge
Read by J. D. Jackson
Duration: 9 hours, 3 minutes
Unabridged

I am torn by this audiobook. On the one hand, I am absolutely fascinated by Civil War, including all of the controversies leading up to it. On the other hand, this audiobook has real issues, including some stretches of tedious writing and stumbles from the reader.

Perhaps the most annoying thing about this book is the way that the title of the book does not really describe the book. The title, Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, implies it is about the Underground Railroad across the country. Instead, this book is exclusively about the Underground Railroad's activity in New York City. Other locations are mentioned only in relation to how they tie in to the story of the Underground Railroad in New York City.

His decision to make the title so inclusive while making the actual book so exclusive is either a clever ruse by the marketing team of his publisher or, F

Eric Foner. Photo by Luath.

oner,  a lifelong resident of New York City, having lived outside of the city for only small stretches of his life, has forgotten that there is a massive country attached to his beloved city that is a part of America as well. The world does not stop at the Hudson River.

New York City was a tepid supporter of the Underground Railroad, at best. Its ties to the South were quite strong since so much Southern shipping went through New York City's ports and so many of its bankers financed Southern plantations and factories. While the country was slowly sliding towards Civil War, slavery did not seem so outrageous to many New Yorkers because they could remember when slavery was legal in New York state. Despite those ties and the legacy of slavery, it was also where two of the country's leading anti-slavery organizations put their home offices.

Foner does an excellent job of providing lots of facts about New York City's Underground Railroad infrastructure. His research is impressive. Along the way, especially in the first one-third of the audiobook, this powerful story often gets bogged down with long lists of names and groups, most of which are not particularly meaningful to understanding the story. I would have skimmed over those passages if I had been reading the book, but as a listener of the audiobook version I was just stuck listening. Plus, as a listener I kept noticing how many times that Foner overused the word "absconded" when describing a slave's attempt to run for his or her freedom - I almost started a tally sheet. 

Once we get into the meat of the book, the story gets more interesting because Foner (finally) starts to let the amazing stories of escape take center stage. Everybody who was anybody in the movement on the East Coast went through New York City at some point and these tales are an amazing testament to human courage in the face of evil.

The narration was also a weakness. It shouldn't have been because J. D. Jackson is an award winning audiobook reader many times over. His voice is a velvet smooth bass but he has multiple mispronounced words and odd pauses at unnatural places in sentences - so many that I found him to be distracting and he detracted from the overall experience rather than enhancing it. I have reviewed over 340 audiobooks and this one was one of my few bad experiences with a reader.

In the end, the solid information is hurt by a combination of a misleading title, tedious story-telling and a poor listening experience. 

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Gateway to Freedom.

THE BEST of WAIT WAIT...DON´T TELL ME! (audiobook) by NPR

Published by HighBridge Company/NPR in 2008.
Multiple Performers
Duration: 2 hours, 11 minutes.

If you are familiar with the NPR radio show Wait Wait...Don´t Tell Me then you know what this collection is all about. Clever people playing silly games with news stories. This collection comes from 2006-2008 so the news is a little old. But, then again, you don´t listen to this show for the news - you listen to it for the funny takes on the news by the guests and the panel.

Guests include Michael Moore (note: I am not a big fan of Michael Moore but he was very funny), Ted Koppel, Drew Carey and NBA star Chris Paul. Besides the guests, there is just a lot of silly news and even better commentary on it.

Regular panelist Paula Poundstone was hilarious as was P.J. O´Rourke, Roy Blount Jr, Mo Rocca and Tom Bodett.

If you love this radio show, this is a must-listen.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Best of Wait Wait...Don´t Tell Me.

THE FATEFUL LIGHTNING: A NOVEL of the CIVIL WAR (Book #4 of 4) (audiobook) by Jeff Shaara

Published in 2015 by Random House Audio
Read by Paul Michael
Duration: 25 hours, 30 minutes
Unabridged

The fourth book in what started out as a trilogy, The Fateful Lightning concludes Jeff Shaara's story of the Civil War's Western Theater with Sherman's March to the Sea and the eventual surrender of the Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina. 

But, the story is more than that. It is also the story of newly freed slaves discovering what freedom truly means. It is the story of a way of life being destroyed and the hope that a new, more equitable society can rise up in its place. It is the story of a legendary commander whose self-doubts constantly plague him. It is the story of an army that knows deep down that it is going to lose but still tries to survive - for pride if for no other reason. 

Confederate Lt. General
William J. Hardee
(1815-1873)

The story focuses on two generals - Union General William T. Sherman and Confederate General William J. Hardee. Hardee is trying to cobble together a little army made up of regulars and state militia in order to stop Sherman's advance. Hardee is greatly outnumbered and he has no idea where Sherman is going. Hardee literally wrote the book on tactics that both sides used, but Hardee was clueless as to how he should proceed because Sherman's March to the Sea was an unprecedented move. Hardee couldn't attack Sherman's supply lines because Sherman had no supply lines. Sherman kept his ultimate goal secret and made it look like he had multiple destinations. Hardee had to keep his small army thinly spread out just so that he could offer a token defense.

Once Hardee retreats into the Carolinas, Sherman's goal become obvious but by this point it doesn't matter - the Confederacy is collapsing all around...

********

The finale of this series is a definite improvement over the tedious second and third installments. The first book was excellent and this one was quite good. The tendency to get into the heads of the characters and repeat trains of thought was limited when compared to the middle two books.

I am a serious student of the Civil War and I was pleased to learn so much about General Hardee. Most books mention that he wrote the Army's book on tactics and that's about it. He was quite interesting.

Shaara's choice to make a main character out of Franklin, a slave freed by the arrival of Sherman's army, was interesting. The character has little to do with the actual military and could have easily been left out. But, Franklin's discoveries about what freedom really means away from the plantation make the reality of the changes brought by Sherman much more vivid.

The combination of scenes involving Lincoln and Lincoln's assassination are powerful. Some very strong writing.

The audiobook was read by Paul Michael. I do believe that he read for the entire series (I listened to volumes 2, 3 and 4) and his voice characterizations are consistent all of the way across the series. He is so good that you recognize voices without having to be told which character is speaking.

But, for all of his voice talents, Paul Michael is an exceedingly slow reader. His Southern drawls are magnificently slow. For the first time in my life I sped up the playback of the text (I listened to a digital file). I had to speed it up to play 20% faster just to make the characters speak at a tolerable level.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Fateful Lightning.

TAINTED by SUSPICION: THE SECRET DEALS and ELECTORAL CHAOS of DISPUTED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS by Fred Lucas

Published in May of 2016.

The 2016 Presidential election cycle has been wild, to say the least. A rookie politician with an unstoppable mouth and a veteran politician with a long, checkered past are an unlikely pairing. Throw in a couple of strong third party candidates and the fact that these are the two most hated candidates in a generation and you may very well have an election in which no one wins a majority of the votes in the electoral college.

What would happen in no one actually wins, or if it is too close to call?

Aaron Burr (1756-1836)

In Tainted by Suspicion, veteran White House correspondent Fred Lucas gives us some insight as he tells the story of six troubled Presidential elections: 1800, 1824, 1876, 1888, 1960 and 2000.

With each election Lucas describes the political environment of the time, the major players in the election and the reasons why it became a disputed election. He details how it finally worked out and then offers informed speculation as to what would have happened if the other guy had won.

Most of the stories are quite interesting. Even the "what-ifs" are pretty good, with the exception of the "what-if" for Aaron Burr because it just went on for too long. Political junkies will note the definite lean to the right for the discussion of the JFK/Nixon and Bush/Gore elections. It is there, but it is also not inaccurate, in my opinion.

For fans of Presidential politics, this is a must-read. For those that are just curious about what how convoluted American politics can get, this is a worthy introduction.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Tainted by Suspicion.

CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION: THE WORST of NPR: MOE MOSKOWITZ and the PUNSTERS PERFORM the FUNNIEST SONGS and NONSENSE that NPR HAS to OFFER (audiobook) by Moe Moskowitz and the Punsters

Originally published by Phoenix Books in April of 2001
Re-published in 2016
Multicast performance
Duration: 1 hour, 6 minutes

Moe Moskowitz used to be a semi-regular feature on NPR in the morning. He is a character created by author and high school English teacher Robert Kaplow.

NPR is not known for its humor. In fact, I listened to one of their compilation CDs that was supposed to be funny and found it to be even less funny than the normal types of stories that NPR covers during a normal morning. Great news stories but, aside from the weekend stuff, they're not particularly funny.

Robert Kaplow. Photo by Lynn Lauber

Moe Moskowitz must have been like the proverbial bull in the China shop when his bits were played. He is quick, clever and non-stop. His attention ranges all over the place. He sings, he pitches new product ideas, he pitches new story ideas, he parodies everything from Alvin and the Chipmunks to Cokie Roberts. 

The collection is sort of a recounting the amazing career of Moskowitz. The style is very much in the style of Spike Jones and the City Slickers, a group that was pretty much the Weird Al Yankovic of the 1940s and 1950s.

Was it funny? For NPR this is a knee-slapper. I found it to be amusing with just a couple of truly funny moments. I listened, enjoyed it well enough but I have no plans to go back and listen again. Lots of parody songs, lots of clever lines but nothing that really nailed it for me.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This collection can be found on Amazon.com here: Cancel My Subscription: The Worst of NPR.

THE CROSSING (Harry Bosch #20) (audiobook) by Michael Connelly

Published in November of 2015 by Hachette Audio
Read by Titus Welliver
Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes
Unabridged

In The Crossing Harry Bosch is newly retired from LAPD - a forced retirement due to a suspension due to a rules infraction. Harry's past caught up to him - too many people in too many important places are tired of Harry's "screw protocol - I'm going to solve this case" attitude.

So, Harry is now unemployed. He's suing the department. He's restoring an old motorcycle - a project that he's been looking forward to for a long time. And, he is miserable. 

His goal has always been to solve murders. It's practically his reason for his existence. Now, he has no more murders to solve because he is off the force.

Along comes his half brother, Mickey, the defense attorney, also known as "the Lincoln Lawyer" with a proposal. He wants him to do a little work on a murder case as an investigator for the defense because his regular investigator was hurt in a suspicious motorcycle accident. Normally, Harry would have nothing to do with a defense lawyer. In his mind, they get murderers off the hook and he'd be a traitor to everything he worked for his entire career.

Titus Welliver, the narrator of this audiobook, portraying
Harry Bosch in Amazon Video's series Bosch.

But, against his better instincts he agrees to look at the file. And, once he starts digging into the case he notices a few loose ends. And, he can't help pulling on those loose ends, even if it means he has to cross over to the other side...

Just to be fair, I have enjoyed every Harry Bosch novel but one. Quite simply, I am a fan of the series and of the author. This book is a solid addition to the series. I enjoyed the procedural part of the story and the internal struggles of Bosch as he struggles with the concept of crossing over to the defense (thus, the title). But, in the end, the resolution of the case was not as clear as the characters in the story believe it to be. 

Titus Welliver, the actor who portrays Harry Bosch on the Amazon Video television series. He does a great job. He totally gets Bosch's grumpy side.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. 

This audiobook can be purchased on Amazon.com here: The Crossing.