THE LAST DECENT PARKING SPOT in NORTH AMERICA (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

Re-published in 2009 by Random House Audio
Read by the author, Tom Bodett
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Tom Bodett's "End of the Road" series is my absolute favorite audiobook collection. It dates from the 1990's and features an eclectic cast of characters from a fishing port town in Alaska named End of the Road because you literally can't drive any farther once you've gotten there. The series is simply the telling of life in this small Alaska town - the kind of drama that one gets in everyday life. Kind of like a more realistic Andy Griffith's Mayberry set in Alaska. This series speaks to everyone's life experiences in one way or another.

This is probably the weakest of the series that I have heard so far, which means it is merely really, really, really good and one of the most enjoyable audiobook experiences that I have had this year.

In this edition, we learn about Clara, who is also the mayor's older sister and her coffee shop and how the regulars buy her a new coffee maker and fix up her shop a bit to celebrate her 20th anniversary in business. Also, they want to get a decent cup of coffee since her old coffee maker was making some pretty nasty coffee. The problem is she is cranky, cantankerous and just plain difficult so no one knows if she'll take it like it was meant, or if she'll be upset.

The story continues as the town of End of the Road searches for and hires a new City Manager.  Also, we are introduced to Doug McDoogan, a ne'er-do-well liar and get-rich-quick artist who never succeeds and can't seem to figure out why he is always down and out. But, it turns out that actually does have a skill. The story moves on to adolescent Norman Tuttle, who has a near-death experience on his dad's fishing boat and finds his place in this world again.

The last big story is the story of the destruction of the sauna featuring and best friends, the Storbocks and Flanigans, and how they ended up skiing down the road naked in the snow in the middle of the night. It all makes sense once you hear it, I promise.

I rate this story 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Last Decent Parking Spot in North America.

THE BIG GARAGE on CLEAR SHOT: GROWING UP, GROWING OLD , and GOING FISHING at the END of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

Book version originally published in 1992
Read by the author, Tom Bodett
Duration: 2 hours, 14 minutes
Published by Random House Audio

I am an unabashed fan of Tom Bodett's cast of characters in the fictional town of End of the Road, Alaska. I first found these stories more than twenty years ago on cassette and was pleased to re-discover them because they had been re-released in digital format.

To be honest, most of the time in these stories not much actually happens except for life just going on as normal. There is no big plot to rob the bank that gets foiled, no crime to be solved. Nothing like that. It is regular life stuff being experienced by some eccentric folks in an Alaskan fishing town - literally at the end of the road, thus the name of the town is End of the Road.

But, when Bodett relates the story of middle school student Norman Tuttle being bullied and his first time going hunting and his experience at the big dance - well, we've all been there. Maybe not exactly, but close enough. And, Bodett relates it so lovingly - it is like this really is a town and these really are real people and we can see into their lives and find common ground with them.

In this episode we also meet the town's new city manager as he discovers the joys of fishing and we get to go along with dedicated vegan and animal rights activist Tamera Dupree as she heads off to Hawaii. Why is she going to Hawaii? She won a free trip to a hunting and fishing convention in a drawing and she plans to disrupt the whole thing as a protest.

I enthusiastically recommend this entire series. Among the best audiobook experiences I have had.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Big Garage on Clear Shot.

NPR DRIVEWAY MOMENTS for DADS (audiobook) by NPR

Published in 2012 by HighBridge Audio
Multicast Performance
Duration: 1 hour, 38 minutes.

Billed as "Radio Stories that Won't Let You Go", the premise of this audio series is that each of these stories is so compelling that when they were broadcast over the radio you would have waited in your car in the driveway to hear the end of the story rather than going on in to your house.

There are 21 tracks in this collection and, as in all collections, they are of varying quality. Some seem to have been included only because they fit the theme but not because they are particularly riveting. However, most are really good and a couple are very touching. The story of the dad and son who go with the Boy Scouts precisely because the dad has no real outdoor skills was quite funny. 

The "Driveway Moments" series is pretty strong and this is a solid entry. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: NPR Driveway Moments for Dads.

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.