Audio Books In Review

Written by Larry McMurtry
Read by Lee Horsley

I watched the TV miniseries some 20 years ago, but it’s been so long that I had completely forgotten the story. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Westerns…so I thought I’d wade into this Pulitzer Prize winner once again.

Captains Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae (Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall owned these roles in the miniseries) are former Texas rangers who’ve been living a quiet life in the small Texas border town of Lonesome Dove. Both are getting up there in age…in their 70s…and are about as different as two people can be. Yet, they’ve had a 30-year friendship and have tremendous respect for each other. Gus is also somewhat infatuated with the town whore (Diane Lane in the miniseries) named Lorena. But she’s very young (early 20s, maybe) and very jaded from being badly treated by men.
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written by Orson Scott Card
read by Stefan Rudnicki (and a full cast)

I’ve heard “WOWs” about this book for years whenever lists of great books are brought up. But I didn’t know the first thing about it. It got high marks from listeners on Audible, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

WOW. Yeah, it’s really good. I don’t quite understand Audible…which has promoted this as another Audible Kids product. When I think of “kids”, I think of really young, small people. I rarely call teens “kids”. Yet, this book is not appropriate for pre-teen audiences, and certainly not for young children. But…having said that, it’s absolutely wonderful.
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written by Barbara Kingsolver
read by Dean Robertson

I saw a respected friend reading this book several years and she seemed to be enjoying it. I’ve been somewhat curious about it ever since, and it was on sale for under 10 bucks via Audible last week, so I went ahead and grabbed it. It’s my first exposure to Kingsolver’s work, and I must say, it was quite impressive.

Poisonwood is the story of Nathan Price (a Baptist preacher), and the 5 women in his life: his wife and four daughters. In fact, the entire story is told (in succession) thru the mouths/minds of these ladies. Rev. Price is the dominant character, at least early on…and he turns out to be rather loathsome…abusive, arrogant and harshly judgmental. Unlike many religious “baddies”, he’s not just about “keeping up appearances”. He’s a true believer. But, as he doesn’t seem to see himself capable of much wrongdoing, he’s extremely hard on those around him. He has a ready answer for everything (and a corresponding scripture), and no need to consider the thoughts/opinions/feelings of others…including an apparent insensitivity to whether anyone really cares what he thinks, says or believes.
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