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Audiobooks for Postal Employees!
Audiobook Archives:
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8/11-12/11 |
BOOKS TO READ WHILE WORKING
February 2012 - Audiobooks reviewed by Jonathan Lowe |
 What
can you say about one of the biggest (and first) big business scandals
of the new Century? Deregulation from Clinton to George Bush, and now
to Obama has led America to the brink of financial ruin. It was a
license to steal, and the big banks did so by paying off politicians
and ratings agencies and even professors of economics at Harvard. Then
they had the audacity to snub their own employees as they climbed into
their luxury yachts and jets.
ENRON by Lucy Prebble was a stage play,
and is now an audiobook from L.A. Theatre Works, with Rosalyn Ayres
(usually a narrator) directing a full cast. Call it an immorality tale
showing how greed can blind people to everything but the bottom
line--like a poker game gone wrong--and from which no one emerges
unscathed. With acting skills too good to fail, the performers here
are Steven Weber, Gregory Itzin and Amy Pietz with Chris Butler,
Jackie Emerson, Greg Germann, Pamela J. Gray, Kasey Mahaffy, Jon
Matthews, Julia McIlvaine, Russell Soder, Kenneth Alan Williams and
Matthew Wolf.
UNDER THE SKIN is an offbeat horror story
by Michel Faber about an alien temptress who picks up muscular
hitchhikers in order to have them processed as food by her superiors.
The writing is superb, slowing revealing more about the character and
her emotions about her situation. Two things are fascinating here, the
one building to the other. First, we are forced to see a view of
humanity from an intelligence outside our own, with a cold calculation
imposed on it from a source without sympathy or empathy. (She has more
empathy with a dog, and this fact leads us to consider the mystery of
why societies dehumanize people outside their group or clan.) Then,
nearer the end, we are forced to toy with empathy for this alien,
since she is an outcast, being used by a system within her own
species. It will be interesting to see how the movie version turns
out, with Scarlett Johansson in the lead. As for the audiobook,
narrator Gerri Halligan could hardly have been better chosen. She has
all the Scottish and English accents down perfectly, and lends the
production with a precise and affecting experience that leads to a
subtle yet gripping pathos.
If "absurd" and "zany" are
adjectives you want to describe a comic novel, LUNATICS by Dave Barry
and Alan Zweibel may be just the ticket. They also read the novel on
audio, along with Mark Thompson, Sean Kenin, and Orlagh Cassidy. The
plot concerns a pet shop owner and "forensic plumber" whose crossed
paths and silly misadventures led to them becoming international
criminals being sought by police. Into the soup are thrown a kidnapped
lemur, arguments over politics and fashion, Donald Trump's hair, and
just about every etiquette malfunction and bathroom joke you can
imagine. The story is lobbed back and forth between the two like a
tennis ball you can't take your eyes from, utilizing short chapters
alternately delivered. Everyone knows Barry as a longtime newspaper
humor columnist, while Zweibel is an Emmy winning TV comedy writer
(SNL to Curb Your Enthusiasm.) They play opposites here, for effect,
but are essentially equal in their wish to tickle the same targeted
funny bone.
When a school shooting happens, the public shakes
their heads and inevitably asks the question, "What kind of parents
let this happen?" Certainly parents have a decisive role in how
children turn out, but in some cases the child may have been born with
latent tendencies toward anti-social behavior. In WE NEED TO TALK
ABOUT KEVIN author Lionel Shriver explores the character of a woman
named Eva, whose child murdered nine people just before his 16th
birthday. Eva never bonded with Kevin, and now, two years after the
murders, writes letters to her estranged husband trying to understand
what happened, and how much of the blame she holds. Coleen Marlo
narrates the novel, which was made into a movie in England starring
Tilda Swinton. Thought provoking and deeply engaging, the story is
well told by Marlo, whose precise and listenable voice is augmented by
a sensitivity to tone, making the letters come alive. The writing is
intelligent and well crafted, evoking consideration of how one parent
can be blinded by optimism while the other is left to forge an
understanding of cause and effect, leading to forgiveness. The reader
is left to think, if not to talk, about Kevin long afterward, given
the honesty of the narrative and the twists of plot. The 2003 novel
has just been released on audio, since the movie is getting a wider
release in America.
(Jonathan is sponsoring National Slow
Motion Day on Feb. 26. Google it!) |
BOOKS TO READ WHILE WORKING
January 2012 - Audiobooks reviewed by Jonathan Lowe |
 Bruce
Miles achieves a remarkable symbiosis with the main character of
THE
DIRTY PARTS OF THE BIBLE by Sam Torode, performing this most unusual
love fantasy, which features Tobias Henry--son of a Baptist
preacher--who sets off on a road trip to Texas yielding many offbeat
delights. Imagine a young Garrison Keillor, minus any inhibitions, who
jumps on a rail car in search of adventure, girls, and lost treasure.
Tobias has been repressed, distressed, and obsessed, and now he'll
discover just what those passages in the Bible really mean--and in
real life--before it's too late or he turns into his father. The text
is funny and quirky, with plenty of odd "Lake Wobegon" types raised on
hell fire preaching, afraid to dance or drink or look at a woman's
ankles. Can Tobias find life and love before he dies? Narrator Miles
is on track, consistently prepared to deliver the proper tone,
steering the story's arc with a wide range of emotional identities,
from singing to weeping. Always believable, the audio version is a
must hear.
Short of using a lie detector, it's hard to take
people at their word, these days. Especially politicians and used car
salesmen. . . maybe even your boss. If you've wondered how to tell
what someone is really thinking, WHAT EVERY BODY IS SAYING by Joe
Navarro will teach you how to read body language: what to look for,
and what gestures and postures really mean. In addition to a
discussion of brain science and nonverbal cues (not just facial
expressions, but also arm, leg, torso and hand positioning), a PDF
file included in the audiobook illustrates the concepts discussed.
Paul Costanzo reads this insightful book co-written by an ex FBI man
and a PH.D.
Once again, loyalties are tested in a
blasted future of brutal war which yawns between episodes of peace. In
HALO: Grasslands by Karen Traviss, the franchise of novels based on
the video game continues as Kilo-Five is recruited to accelerate the
Sangheili insurrection. A shield world guards a treasure of Forerunner
technology which may change the game, but does the game ever really
change in the end? Euan Morton narrates this latest episode, which
develops its own side stories at its own pace. The writing is good,
regardless of how much new is learned about the Spartans and others,
as the experience Traviss has in writing screenplays and other gaming
franchises such as Star Wars and Gears of War comes to bear here.
Scottish actor Morton, as narrator, has a sharp yet versatile English
voice, lending dimension to both male and female characters. Now if
only someone would imagine a universe where the basest of primitive
brainstem urges doesn't propel everybody to bloodlust and power over
others. But I suppose that's asking too much. What would you do with
the video game controllers and fire buttons?
Richard Ferrone
is an ideal narrator for THE DEVIL'S ELIXIR by Raymond Khoury, about a
lost Central American drug capable of inducing a very unique
experience, with FBI agent Sean Reilly and his archaeologist
girlfriend Tess Chaykin facing brutal drug kingpins to uncover the
truth and protect their son. Ferrone excels at crime thrillers, and
his deep voice here leads intriguingly down jungle paths in a formula
suspense reminiscent of Clive Cussler, beginning back in 1700s Mexico
and moving to the present day to establish character relationships.
Finally, Janet Evanovich's latest novel is EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN,
but somehow it just doesn't have the magic of her earlier novels,
particularly the first, ONE FOR THE MONEY, which has recently been
made into a Tri-Star film starring Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum,
and showing how she became a bond hunter after losing her job as a
lingerie buyer. Vinnie, Morelli, and all the offbeat characters are
spot-on in the book (and now the movie), so delightfully real and
outrageous that Evanovich had women lining up by the thousand for
years in book signings. Hundreds still do, but, alas, more than just
one book a year since 2002 tends to overwork a character, and jade
readers. If only she was up to seven now instead of eighteen, we would
not now be witnessing the end of Stephanie Plum in the hearts of
readers. Although the film will certainly revive interest in those
unfamiliar. Just don't expect the movie sequels to reach eighteen.
Costly movies are far more relentlessly focused on box office than
books. My own interview with Evanovich is at Tower Review, where
you'll discover which narrator Janet prefers to read her books on
audio. |
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Audiobooks are a great way to pass the time during those
long (and often boring) work hours at the postal service. To find the latest audiobooks
of note check out Jonathan Lowe's Audio Books Review (left). Lowe
recently retired from the Postal Service after 22 years.
Geezer
Postal:
Postmarked for Death
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