|
Love, laughs, and the return of Frank McCourt
REVIEWS BY SUKEY HOWARD Dave Barry, Florida's finest, funniest observer of the human comedy, has gone from columnist to novelist without losing a bit of his exceptional wit. Big Trouble, a zany addition to the blossoming "bunch-of-South-Florida-wackos" genre, takes us into the murky underbelly of Miami and the murky machinations of men's minds. The plot -- with its madcap twists, careening turns, and great chases -- and the characters -- from an endearingly hapless homeless man to Moscow Mafia merchants and New Jersey Mafia hit men to a Miami jerk named Herk, a smart cop named Monica, a dumb cop named Walter, an even dumber dog, a malevolent toad, a trio of teenagers, an out-of-work ad man, and an unhappy wife (to name but a few) -- are beyond summation. Suffice it to say that the biggest trouble with Big Trouble, and Dick Hill's hilarious performance, will be the sudden guffaws and bursts of laughter it will undoubtedly cause.
By Dave Barry Brilliance, $27.95, 7 hours ISBN 1567404596
Anything but plain Jane Rosenal, the narrator of Melissa Banks's best-selling novel-in-installments, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, is witty, wise-cracking, and uncommonly insightful -- though she'd probably say "hindsightful," if anything. Jane, like almost everyone she knows, is looking for love and finding that the road to Mr. Right is full of heart-breaking booby traps, but that it's better than the road not taken at all. Ms. Banks reads and does it so well that you're sure you're hearing Jane's own voice -- vulnerable, tough, rejected, rejoicing.
By Melissa Banks Penguin Audio, $24.95, 6 hours unabridged ISBN 0141800283
The tie that binds
Billy Mann, the hero and narrator of William Kowalski's captivating debut novel Eddie's Bastard, captivatingly performed by Campbell Scott, was wrapped in a basket and left on the doorstep of a dilapidated mansion in Mannville, New York, like some Dickens character. Three-month-old Billy was the answer to his sad, whiskey-soaked grandfather's prayers: a child, the son of his own mythically handsome, heroic son who died in Vietnam, to carry on the Mann line and, more importantly, to hear the stories of all the Manns who went before -- some in shame, some in glory. And so, with grandpa telling the tales, we grow up with Billy as he learns to weave the old stories into his own new story and learns to live, and love, and be a Mann.
By William Kowalski HarperAudio, $25, 6 hours ISBN 0694522058
Texas tempest
On September 8, 1900, a horrendous combination of wind and water hit the Texas Gulf Coast. Eight thousand men, women, and children lost their lives, and Galveston -- then a gleaming, growing, enterprising city -- lost its future. Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, read by Edward Herrmann, lives up to its ambitious subtitle. With fascinating detail and careful research, author Erik Larson intertwines a hair-raising description of the hurricane and its devastating aftermath with a vivid portrait of Isaac Cline, the respected head of the U.S. Weather Station in Galveston. He also offers an equally vivid portrait of that era in America, at the last turn of the century, when "the hubris of men led them to believe that they could disregard even nature itself."
A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History By Erik Larson Random House Audiobooks, $25, 5+ hours ISBN 0375408827
Murder on the moors A new Elizabeth George mystery is always welcome audio news, especially when it's narrated, as is In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner, by Derek Jacobi. Ms. George's super-competent crime busters, Thomas Lynley, the elegant, aristocratic New Scotland Yard Detective Inspector, and his less polished, but completely committed, sidekick Barbara Havers are back on the scene, though uncomfortably at odds with each other. It all starts when Lynley is called in to investigate the brutal killing of attractive, accomplished Nicola Maiden, the daughter of a highly respected former colleague. As they look for leads, peeling back the layers of Nicola's life, they uncover a dark, seamy core and a surfeit of suspects with multiple motives.
By Elizabeth George BDD Audio, $25.95, 6 hours ISBN 0553478192
Soul food
There are those who see the world and ask, Why? And there are those who see the world and ask, Why not? Neale Donald Walsch, author of the best-selling Conversations with God books, has become an inspirational leader and speaker who can turn the "whys" into "why nots." Now you can listen to his message on three separate audios taken from sessions he's conducted with live audiences -- Neale Donald Walsch on Abundance and Right Livelihood, on Relationships, and on Holistic Living -- and you can hear his genuine joy and delight in sharing this time with his listeners, in sharing his spiritual insights and his deep belief that we carry within us the power to create the world of our grandest imaginings.
By Neale Donald Walsch New World Library, $11.95 ISBN 1577311167
Neale Donald Walsch on Relationships
Neale Donald Walsch on Holistic Living
Sukey Howard reports on spoken word audio each month.
|
Support your 
