Lovesick Blues, by Paul Hemphill

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 7 hours and 22 minutes long and was narrated by Jonathan Hogan.

This was an amazing story of Hank Williams, a sick, flawed man from nowhere who was probably the greatest country music singer and songwriter of all time. He was born with a form of Spinabifida that made his life miserable all of his days. It was probably a contributing factor to his early alcoholism.

As a teenager, he was the "Singing Kid" on a local radio station in rural Alabama. He had learned the art of being an entertainer from a black street musician named Rufus Payne. His rise to stardom had many fits and starts as he kept sabotaging his career by being so unreliable due to his alcoholism. This dogged him throughout his career, which ended ironically with his failure to get to a performance because he died in the car on the way there.

I knew next to nothing about Hank Williams when I downloaded this audiobook. But I was so fascinated that I am bent on buying some of his music. This is a wonderful and terrible story about a man with genius for creating hit songs and little else. His death is all the more tragic because it came at the age of 29. This is a 4 star car wreck you just can't stopping staring at.

East to the Dawn, by Susan Butler

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audio for free through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 18 hours and 43 minutes long, and was narrated by Anna Fields.

This is the story that goes beyond the legend, and beyond the comfort zone of many who may have admired her. She was a brave and daring aviator, an outspoken feminist, and a bit of a head case.

Back in the early days of aviation, there was very little regulation and it was one of the places where women had the most freedom. Amelia Earhart learned to fly from another woman pioneer, Neta Snook. Amelia had learned about mechanics from her days as an ambulance driver during WWI, when you also had to know how to fix your vehicle. And it's a good thing, because early airplanes needed to be fixed often.

Flying was just a hobby for her for several years. She was earning her living as a social worker. Other women were looking to be the first woman to cross the Atlantic after Charles Lindbergh had become an international celebrity for doing so. American socialite named Amy Guest, who was also a pilot, had wanted to do it, but her family made her back off. She still wanted the project to go on, so she offered to back someone else that she would recruit who would have the right image and do women proud.

Amelia Earhart got the call from a promoter who had heard of her, and asked if she wanted to fly across the Atlantic. Amelia jumped at it, and it made her fortune. She used it as a springboard for a speaking and publishing career.

Amelia eventually married her publisher, who had been married when they first began working together. She didn't want to be tied to one man, however, and actually requested that theirs would be an open marriage.

This book chronicles Amelia's life from early childhood to her disappearance over the Pacific in 1937. Very little is left unexplored, and it done in a sympathetic manner. It's hard to put down, and full of interesting information. That's what makes it a four star book for me.

No Country For Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com through the Alachua County Library. It was 7 hours and 28 minutes long and was narrated by Tom Stechshulte.

This book takes place in the 80s. Llewelyn Moss is a 36 year-old Viet-Nam War veteran who is out hunting along the Tex-Mex border. He happens upon a bullet-riddled car with a dying man, along with a stash of heroin and a lot of cash. Someone is coming for this soon, and Moss decides to take the cash and run.

Now there is a very bad man hunting for the money and the man who took it. This sets Moss on the run and his wife to hide with relatives. But it's no good. There is a trail that has been left unwittingly. It is either kill or be killed.

Most of this book is fast-moving and riveting. Unfortunately, the wheels come off at the end and the ending is most unsatisfactory. I hear the movie is just like it. It's only 2 stars.

The Secret Servant, by Daniel Silva

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 10 hours and 47 minutes long, and was narrated by Phil Gigante.

This is the 7th novel by Silva to feature Gabriel Allon, an Israeli intelligence agent who wishes the world were a safer place so he can go back to work as an art restorer. But, once Allon is on the job, he is totally there, and it's bad guys beware.

In this novel, Allon is sent on a humdrum assignment to purge the papers of an Israeli intelligence asset after he is murdered by an Islamic nut job. While he is there, he finds that he is being shadowed by a man who turns out to be a former terrorist asset who is disillusioned and wants to make sure his name is not in any of the documents either. Through this chance encounter, Allon begins to unravel a plot to kidnap the daughter of the American Ambassador to the Court of Saint James in London. He is almost in time to stop it, but not quite.

Working with the CIA and MI5, Allon is now trying to rescue the woman, and his chance encounter with the former terrorist is indeed fortuitous: one of the kidnappers is his son.

If you are one of those people who is deeply ambivalent about offending radical Muslims or putting the squeeze on suspected terrorists, you will not like this. This is the kind of book Jack Bauer reads on vacation. And that is not the only reason I give it 4 stars. The writing is top notch for the genre and it is very thought provoking.

Boom, by Tom Brokaw

This audiobook was obtained for free from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was narrated by Robertson Dean and was 18 hours and 16 minutes long.

I was quite taken with Tom Brokaw's last best seller, "The Greatest Generation". This book is about the baby boomer generation and it's journey through the 60s. Of course, the 60s is defined not by the numerical dates, but by the events that were a part of the 60s narrative. So, it begins with the assassination of JFK and ends with the resignation of Richard Nixon. It is also about people who were pretty much adults at the time. I was only 9 years old during the 1968 Summer of Love, so my own memories of that tumultuous year are undiluted by hormones or hallucinogens. Memories like mine are not represented here.

This is very much a reporter's collection of interviews, which means his subjects do most of the editorializing. And although Tom Brokaw weighs in with his opinions, you also get the recollections and reconsiderations of Gloria Steinem, Arlo Guthrie, Hillary Clinton, Karl Rove, James Taylor, Pat Buchanan, Carla Hills, Tom Hayden, and a lot of people you may have never heard of, but who played a role in the Viet Nam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, or did a lot of dope.

Whether you miss the 60s or wish they had never happened, there is something here for you. Some of its most famous participants have their criticisms and regrets on both sides of every question. So there really are no definitive answers here, which is appropriate for a book about the generation that made moral relativism and ambivalence our national mood.

It's 4 star entertainment.

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad

This audiobook was obtained free of charge from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 3 hours and 58 minutes long. And although the file said it was narrated by Frederick Davidson, it is actually narrated by David Case.

This novella was originally released in 1902. It's the tale of a young sea captain who is assigned to a ship on a river in deepest Africa. He has just replaced another man who took his own life.

The young captain encounters many dangers while seeking an English-born local demigod who has all but cornered the local ivory trade. He rules his realm with absolute authority and, like every white man in the area, relies on the fears and superstitions of the natives to both rule and survive. The boat's shrill whistle does more to repel armed attack than a fusillade of rifles.

When our hero finds the "great man", he is close to death from cancer, and he never stops trying to stay in power up until the end. He dies in terrible fear, and the sea captain has to deliver the man's memoirs to his widow in England. Although he did not like or admire the man, he likewise helps to embellish the story of how great he was and how his last words were his beloved's name, instead of the actual, "The horror!"

This literary classic is seen by many as a depiction of the evil of mankind and how it hides beneath a thin veneer of civilization. No argument here. But it is also an entertaining piece of writing which recalls other stories of civilized English gentlemen being confronted with the alien strangeness of the jungle and less civilized people. I cannot give it less than 4 stars.

The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke

This audiobook was obtained from NetLibrary.com, through the Alachua County Library. It was 13 hours and 2 minutes long, and was narrated by Will Patton.

This is my second post-Katrina New Orleans crime novel in the past two weeks. In this story, four young black looters are using a stolen motorboat to get to the abandoned homes of the wealthy, and run into a bit of bad luck. And that's to put it mildly. First, they score a big load of cash, cocaine, and a hand gun from a home that is owned by one of New Orleans' most feared and vindictive crime boss. Second, they decide to steal a gas can from a garage so they can refuel their boat. The garage happens to belong to a man whose daughter was raped by two of the men. A shot rings out in the dark, and one is killed and another paralyzed.

New Iberia Sheriff's Department Detective Dave Robicheaux is mobilized to help in New Orleans, and he is tasked with investigating this crime in a sea of wrongdoing. The crime boss, Sidney Kovick, is also mobilizing his people to find the people who sacked his house and urinated in the spice drawer.

This is one of the better Dave Robicheaux novels in a long time. I had thought it might be time to retire Dave, but I was wrong. I get a little weary of his frequent political asides, but Dave is a flawed man, so one more is not so noticeable if you let yourself get absorbed by the story. And this one is easy to fall into. This one gets 4 stars.

House of Thunder, by Dean Koontz

This audiobook was obtained for free from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library, It was 9 hours and 57 minutes long, and was narrated by Laurel Merlington, and an uncredited male narrator.

Susan Thornton is a 32 year-old physicist who works for the Milestone Corporation. She suffered a head injury during a serious auto accident, and now all she can remember is the murder of her boyfriend during a college fraternity hazing. And this is relevant because the four sadists who killed the boy are either patients or are working at the hospital where she is recovering; even though they all have been dead for years.

The four miscreants are now bent on exacting their revenge. And Susan cannot get anyone to believe that the four young men who are all still the same age as they were 13 years ago are out to get her. Is she losing her mind? Is it a vast conspiracy? Well, this is a Dean Koontz novel, so it has to be the latter. This novel was originally published under a pen name, Leigh Nichols, back in 1981. And that's the only clue I will give you.

A fairly engaging thriller with gripping fear, violence, and a bit of romance; this is not Dean Koontz at his best. But it is a good writer at home in this genre, so I give it 3 stars.

Last Known Victim. by Erica Spindler

This audiobook was obtained for free from Overdrive Audio, through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 11 hours and 51 minutes long, and was narrated by Susan Ericksen.

I thought I was discovering a new author, but as I was searching for the cover art, I discovered that she has 12 titles in print, and that there are 8 books that are no longer in print. It goes to show you that you can develop a fan base while much of your market still does not know you exist.

This book is about Patti O'Shay, a police captain in New Orleans, who lost her husband, another police officer, during the upheaval of Hurricane Katrina. There is some evidence linking his death to an at-large serial killer the press has labeled "The Handyman" because he collects his female victims' hands. Suck a collection is discovered when a stinking refrigerator is found, after Katrina, with some decomposing trophies.

The Handyman has survived, however. And he is stalking an exotic dancer who distrusts the police so much that she tells them enough lies to screw up the investigation, and to make herself a possible suspect.

At times, it seemed like this book was just too busy. The love lives of the characters were not interesting enough to rate the distraction it created. However, the characters are well written and complex enough to be believable. It's a 3 star book.

Feed, by M. T. Anderson

This audiobook was obtained as a free download from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 5 hours and 1 minute long, and was narrated by David Aaron Baker.

A kind of technopunk novel set in what seems to be the mid to late 21st century. I may have missed a time reference. All the kids have had live feed installed from an early age. Now you can Instant Message each other, get updates, surf the net, and even watch network programming in your head. No one has to be smart anymore, because you can look up everything right now, wherever you are. So now we are all smart! And networked, and exploited by a continual stream of advertising to let you know you can also order anything you want, right now, from inside your head.

The most powerful thing about this book is not the concept, but the way the author makes it all so real. The kids are all high school age, going to privatized schools, and getting "malfunctioned" by going to game sites that quite literally blow their minds. Except for one girl, Violet, whose parents had home-schooled her and acquiesced to having her feed installed later in her childhood. Violet's awareness of a life beyond the feed makes her especially enticing to Titus, a boy who is caught up in the consumer culture of mindlessness. She likes real experiences, instead of the bizarre fads that overwhelm kids on an almost daily basis, now that it can be done so quickly.

If you can get past the fairly regular barrage of F-bombs, this is a very well-written and disturbing book. It all seems so possible in our own lifetimes. The dialog is an especially eerie feature. The adults talk like the kids today ("Dude, that was, like, awesome!") and the kids have a new jargon in which all sentences are punctuated by calling each other, "Unit!" No, it's just the boys that do that. And the girls are all hung up on a show called, "Oh! Wow! Thing!"

This is part tech satire, part sad love story, and it is especially engaging as an audiobook, where you can experience the Feed as it periodically bursts into the narration. This is a solid 3 star book with gusts of 4.

Higher, by Neal Bascomb

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com, was 11 hours and 10 minutes long, and was narrated by Richard M. Davidson.

The 1920s were the perfect time for egos, ambition, idealism, and innovation to thrive. And it was at the very apex of the Roaring 20s, just before the collapse of the stock market, that the modern skyscraper began to flower.

This story is about the men who designed, financed, and built the tallest buildings in the world at the dawn of the Great Depression. Walter Chrysler, the newly minted automobile magnate, was an engineering junkie who played an active roll in designing the Chrysler Building. The architect, William Van Alen, was a highly regarded designer who had acrimoniously split with his business partner, H. Craig Severance. Severance was now building a competing project at 40 Wall Street, and both men were determined to build the tallest building in the world.

This is a more interesting book for all the background on the creation of the technology that allowed buildings to go from the load-bearing masonry construction that limited height, to the steel-cage design, high speed elevators, and improved hydraulics that make it possible to both build and inhabit skyscrapers.

But it's the human story with its attendant drama that takes "Higher" to another level. All of the parties who were involved in these projects had come from humble beginnings, and these buildings were also intended to be monuments to ideas and hope; something that we would do well to grasp in our cynical age. This is a 4 star book.

Deepwater, by Matthew F. Jones

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com, was narrated by Richard Ferrone, and was 9 hours and 8 minutes long.

A very weird and creepy book. Nat Banyon is a handsome drifter who works well with his hands. He meets an old man on the road named Herman Finch, and Finch hires him to do some painting at his motel. Herman is an ex-prizefighter who is married to a beautiful young woman named Iris who came to him as a traveler in need of some work three years earlier.

You don't need a PhD in literature to know that Nat and Iris are going to have a lurid affair. But this book could stand to have some sort of audio subtitles to warn you of all the dream sequences: "The following is happening in Nat's head..." And the evil possibilities begin to multiply as Nat gets tidbits of odd information about the boyfriend that Iris didn't tell him about, who arrived with her, but then disappeared. A waitress at the motel restaurant thinks he's at the bottom of the lake.

Is Herman a killer? Will Nat and Iris be discovered? Will they get away with all of Herman's loot? Will Herman kill Nat first in a boxing match he has scheduled with the younger man? The questions do not stop here, and it all ground to a halt at a fairly unsatisfying ending.

I had a love-hate relationship with this book, pretty much the way Nat was conflicted between seeing Herman as a rival and as a father figure. The characters were really good in the way they got in your head, but the story had too much foggy weirdness and an ending that did not deliver. I have to give it 2 stars.

Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky

This audiobook was obtained as a free download from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 13 hours and 13 minutes long, and came in two parts, the first read by Daniel Oreskes, and the other by Barbara Rosenblat.

This book is actually two novellas that were part of a planned set of five. They were written contemporaneously during and about the German occupation of France. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, died in Auschwitz after being deported as a stateless person of Jewish origin.

The first novella, "Storm in June", is about the fear and dread of the German invasion. The men of fighting age are all gone. Businesses are relocating on the fly. Carloads of possessions pass desperate refugees as they head for safer ground. Whole towns are stripped of their food as the hordes pass through. For these people, the war is a huge disappointment after defeating Germany in 1918. The veterans of that war feel as if their sacrifice was for nothing. The surrender of France is a relief, just to stop the bombs and the fear of death.

The second, "Dolce", deals with the effects on the citizens of the occupation. Wealthy families host German officers, some with more grace than others. Young women, coming of age when all the young men are Germans, weigh their natural feelings against the possibility that these young men may have killed or imprisoned their fathers and brothers.

As much as it's a tragedy that the rest of this work was never finished, it is also the height of irony that such a beautifully written account was halted by the author's date with the Holocaust. And it's also a revealing look at a part of history that does not get much coverage: the lives of invaders and collaborators, when all the French had was the Passive Resistance.

I wanted it to go on. It is sad that it could not. 4 stars.

The No Asshole Rule, by Robert I. Sutton, PhD

This audiobook was provided by Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 2 hours and 59 minutes long, and was narrated by the author.

I will probably get emails from people whose Victorian sensibilities are offended that I would even review this book. I probably would not have even thought of getting it except that the author was interviewed on a podcast recently, and I found it intriguing.

A-word aside, this book is written like some real scholarship went into it. And even if you are uncomfortable with using that word, you probably have thought it when certain people come to mind. That is because it is a convenient one-word definition of the people who are rude and abusive, particularly of people who are less powerful. I have known a couple of pastors who fit this description. And they would probably miss the point that their behavior is the real issue, and not just the rude word I imagine when I think of them. That sort of obtuseness is part and parcel of the malady that afflicts not only themselves, but others.

This book is very thought provoking and engaging. It may also be the perfect anonymous Christmas gift. 4 stars.

The Strong, Silent Type, by C. Kelly Robinson

This audiobook was obtained free from NetLibrary.com, was 11 hours and 28 minutes long, and was narrated by Ezra Knight and Lizzie Cooper Davis.

Deacon Davis is a former Pittsburgh Steeler and son of a late, great civil right leader. He is politically active as an organizer and speech writer, but he is also a stutterer. After a particularly bad performance on a TV interview, the organization he has been working for gives him the pink slip, and he is persuaded to take part in a speech therapy experiment that will take several weeks of intensive rehabilitation at a college facility.

Davis' life is already pretty complicated. He has a daughter by one woman who is the daughter of a crime syndicate kingpin. He has a son by another woman. That boy is 13 and in trouble at school for groping a female classmate. He also has a black sheep brother who has had cocaine issues. He is still investigating their father's death and is the last person on earth who still thinks it was murder. Add to this the speech therapist that Deacon has a sexual relationship with during his rehab, and this turns into a pretty depressing stereotype festival.

As a voyeuristic soap opera, it's worth 2 stars if you like that kind of thing.

Zugzwang, by Ronan Bennett

This novel was a free download from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 8 hours and 28 minutes long, and was narrated by Stephen Lang.

A real chess geek would recognize the term, zugzwang, but the general public would have to run to a dictionary. In chess, it is a position in which you are compelled to move, but that doing so leads to your loss. When you have no good moves, and you wish you could pass, that is zugzwang.

And that is the metaphor for this book, set in 1914 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Revolution is afoot, and there is a big chess tournament in town. The greatest players in the world are on hand, and one of them needs professional help. Rozental is a brilliant player, but he is socially challenged and schizophrenic. An admirer named Kopelzon, a great violinist, takes Rozental to his friend, Otto Spethmann, a psychiatrist and our protagonist. All three men are Jews in a time when Jewishness is a handicap.

As if Rozental does not have enough problems, he is also being used as an unwitting pawn in a plot to assassinate Czar Nicolas, who will be honoring the winner. There are enough twists and odd characters in this story to keep your mind busy, and it is a story that is well told, for the most part. What makes this especially interesting to the chess geek is that Rozental is a thinly veiled version of Akiba Rubenstein, a chess master of the era who was a certifiable nut case. The tournament is real, and the plot is foiled; the better to preserve Czar Nicolas' date with destiny in 1918.

Spethmann works to uncover the source of Rozental's mental illness, as well as the plot that involves his patient, his friend, and his daughter, who has been sleeping with Bolsheviks. There is a lot going on here, including Spethmann's affair with the daughter of a powerful political leader, and a little gratuitous sex that seems out of place for the story. Nonetheless, this gets 3 stars, and even a non-chess player could enjoy it.

Fay, by Larry Brown

This audiobook was a free download from NetLibrary.com, was 17 hours and 24 minutes long, and was narrated by Tom Stechschulte.

Fay is pretty while trailer trash living in an abusive home situation. Her story begins with her deciding to go feral with only 2 dollars tucked in her bra. She is 17, vulnerable, and brings out the worst in men. Even the kind and well-intentioned Mississippi State Trooper Sam Harris is sucked into the vortex of sex and violence that is attendant in her life. Although she cannot be blamed for most of what happens, she does change the climate wherever she saunters.

This is a somewhat depressing story of bad choices colliding with bad luck. But it's sense that redemption is just within reach keeps you involved with characters for whom you can want it.

I can't put my finger on what keeps this from being a four star book, but I can only give it 3 and 1/2.

The Know-It_All, by A.J. Jacobs

This audiobook was a free download from Overdrive Audio, through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 15 hours and 24 minutes long, and was narrated by Geoffrey Cantor.

When Arnold Jacobs was a boy, he thought he might be the smartest kid in the world. By the time he was married and a young editor at Entertainment Weekly, he believed that he had gotten dumber. That is when he had a flash of inspiration and decided to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002 Edition.

This quest was also, at least partially, an attempt to impress his father, who had begun the feat himself a long time ago, but gave up early and focused on writing mind-numbingly dense law books.

What follows is a very funny tour of the Britannica, and how reading it turned him into an insufferable bore. Jacobs' life is seriously impacted by this quest for knowledge self-aggrandizement. He and his wife are a working couple that is trying to get pregnant, so this is a bad time to start nerdifying oneself. The Britannica project also causes him to consider the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and even his own relationship to God.

This was a very funny, and even thoughtful, book if you can overlook the casual f-bombs. I give it 3 stars because, as much as I enjoyed it, I was starting to get anxious for it to end.

Easy Prey, by John Sandford

This audiobook was a free download from NetLibrary.com, was 12 hours and 37 minutes long, and was narrated by Richard Ferrone.

I am not reading these in order, just as I find them. This is the 11th in the Prey series about detective Lucas Davenport. He is investigating the deaths of two women who were at the same party. One is a local hotel hostess who had her neck broken and was stuffed in a closet. But they didn't find her until after they had found a strangled, and world famous, supermodel.

The order of these discoveries is meaningful because it is also the root of the investigation's misdirection. It is focused on the high-profile victim, and who would want to kill her.

This is a typical good story and good characters from an author who consistently delivers. And Richard Ferrone is the perfect narrator for the Davenport stories.

As a dedicated Davenport fan, I take note of the appearance of certain characters. In this one, Lucas is still on a break from his former lover, Weather Karkinnan. In later books, they will be married. This one was good but not outstanding at 3 stars.

Just a Guy, by Bill Engvall, Alan Eisenstock

This audiobook was a free download from Overdrive Audio, through the Alachua County Public Library. It was narrated by Bill Engvall.

The most likable of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour has created this autobiographical tour of his life and the things he finds interesting. If you are already a Bill Engvall fan, this is for you. If you were hoping that this was a book by the next Dave Barry, you will be sorely disappointed. It has a few funny moments, but it could have been condensed down to an interview.

I actually like Bill Engvall, and I cannot blame him for cashing in on his transient fame, but there is nothing compelling about this book. At best, I call it 2 star mind candy.

The Lords of Discipline, by Pat Conroy

This audiobook was a free download from NetLibrary.com, was 22 hours and 10 minutes long, and was narrated by Tom Stechschulte.

This was one of Pat Conroy's first novels, published in 1980. It is loosely based on his experiences as a cadet at The Citadel, where Conroy played Division 1 basketball in the mid 60s. Years later, Conroy wrote a non-fiction book about his senior year at The Citadel called "My Losing Season".

This one is about a young cadet, Will MacLean, who survives his plebe year and all the attendant hazing, and continues his college years as an iconoclast. He is a studious English major, a student athlete, and an uninspiring military specimen. Fortunately, he is part of a band of brothers. He and his 3 roommates would take a bullet for each other, and it is all that makes their time at South Carolina Military Academy possible.

During his senior year he is tasked with keeping watch over the school's first black cadet. This mission is not for the faint-hearted. Not only is this boy going to get the hazing of his life; but there is a secret organization on campus dedicated to keeping the school "pure", and they don't observe any limits.

This is a long book, but it flies by because there is so much going on. There is also much that will touch you, anger you, and even inspire you. This is Pat Conroy's most emotional book, in my opinion, because it strikes so close to his own heart. Even "The Great Santini", a book based on his relationship with his father, does not bring up Conroy's bile like this one. He hates bullies, and he hates the system that creates them; even turning former victims into bullies.

It was easy to give this one 4 stars.

Power Play, by Joseph Finder

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audiobooks, through the website of the Alachua County Public Library. It was read by Dennis Boutsikaris, and was 8 hours and 30 minutes long, including an author interview.

Jake Landry is a lower level executive at an aircraft manufacturer. The company has recently gotten a new CEO, a woman, to clean up some sloppy business practices. Jake gets the call to come on one of those off-site team-building retreats where executives get to bond under rugged circumstances. He is the low man there, and he is not particularly ambitious. But he has a past that had to be expunged from his record when he turned 18.

As the opening night meeting is getting underway at the remote wilderness lodge, the entire executive team is captured by paramilitary types who are posing as errant hunters. Their goal is to force them to ransom themselves with a huge bank transfer, and they are willing to kill some of their hostages to make that point.

This story has excellent characters and a fast moving story that gets to the point without rushing things. It's a four star story.

Shadow Account, by Stephen Frey

This audiobook was gotten from the Alachua County Public Library, was on 10 CDs and was read by Ken Kliban.

Connor Ashby is a young investment banker, lounging in his apartment with his hot girlfriend when he checks his email. It appears to have been sent to him by mistake. It's from someone named "Rusty" who is panicking and telling his boss that their book-cooking plot is about to be uncovered. As he is contemplating the origin of this missive, hot girlfriend asks him to go out and get her something. When he comes back, his apartment has been trashed, the girl is dead, and there is an armed man with bad aim still inside. Connor escapes with only a minor wound, but when he gets back with the police, the apartment is in good order, the girlfriend is gone, and now it's about to get complicated.

This promising start loses its way when it becomes tangled with yet another complicated story that is populated with less interesting characters. This book was needlessly complex and the story too improbable. It's like the mad scientist who is leaving the hero to die as soon as the rats chew through the cheese-encrusted rope that holds back the net full of hungry fiddler crabs that are lusting for human flesh. There has to be a simpler way to get things done.

I give it 2 stars for at least keeping me from moving on to the next book.

Hidden Prey, by John Sanford

This audiobook was obtained from Netlibrary.com for free, was narrated by Rick Ferrone, and was 12 hours and 41 minutes long, including an author interview at the end.

Lucas Davenport, tough as nails detective, is trying to solve two murders that seem totally unconnected. This is number 15 in John Sanford's "Prey" series, and it is one of the better ones. You can always count on good characters and good writing, but this one has that special element of an intriguing idea: a leftover Soviet spy cell that has been in place since before WW2 has never been exposed and has never given up on the Revolution.

Spying has been a sort of family business. But in Minnesota, their specialty has not been cloak and dagger; it's been more like the underground railroad. They helped extract operatives through the Canadian border. But the 92 year-old patriarch has been grooming his grandson for the business by teaching him the darker arts. And the kid is getting good at it.

Lucas Davenport has evolved from the earlier books, that featured deranged serial killers and a regular change in love interests. Lucas is now married to a longtime lover, and he seems fairly domesticated.

This gets 4 stars. It's good to see Sanford back. I will always check his books out.

Straight Into Darkness, by Faye Kellerman

This audiobook came from the Alachua County Library, was on 12 CDs, and was narrated by Paul Michael.

Axel Berg is a Munich policeman during the mid 1920s. He is investigating a series of brutal murders in the midst of tumultuous time. Hitler is on the rise, Jews are expendable, and they make excellent suspects. The trouble is that Berg is a conscientious policeman who wants to catch the actual killer. He also has a hard time fitting in with the anti-semitic mania. He is not a lover of the Jews, but neither can he be bothered looking for reasons to persecute them. He is a WW1 veteran, of Danish origins, fond of "subversive" art and music, and cheats on his wife. He is not lovable, but in contrast to the lunacy around him, he is heroic.

Excellent characters in a solid story during intriguing times, this one just slips into 4 star territory.

The Cell, by Stephen King

This audiobook was downloaded free from NetLibrary.com, was 12 hours and 27 minutes long, and was narrated by Campbell Scott.

This one takes off running as a man finds himself in the middle of the Cell Phone Zombie Apocalypse with no warning at all. Whether it is a terrorist plot or demons is never ascertained, but some devilish pulse through the cell phone networks is turning everyone into their most primitive and bloodthirsty selves quicker than you can say, "Can you hear me now?"

Our hero is Clayton Riddell, a struggling illustrator who has just made the big time just in time for it not to matter. He is able to team up with a small band of people who were lucky enough to have been off their phones when the terror struck, and now he just wants to get in touch with his estranged wife and his 11-year-old son. Are they dead, undead, or just fleeing for their lives? You don't dare pick up a phone to call them. Because you could also become one of them.

Both gory and philosophical, this book is not about reaching a conclusion. The phone zombies and the "normies" are all ruined people. One group has lost its minds, while the other has lost it's faith. It's a cliff-hanger that leaves you falling and falling...

It's worth 3 stars if you like this sort of thing!

River of Doubt, by Candice Millard

This audiobook was found at the Alachua County Public Library, came on 10 CDs, and was narrated by Paul Michael.

When my customers find out what an audiobook junkie I am, they sometimes make suggestions to me from their own reading. This year, someone told me about "River of Doubt" and I was immediately intrigued because I am a big fan of Teddy Roosevelt. I could not find this title for awhile, and even now it is unavailable at Amazon.com. But one day a search on the library website turned it up, and I put it on reserve. It was waiting for me when I got back from vacation.

This is a wonderful mix of history, biography, and suspenseful adventure. Any one of those descriptions is enough to lure me in, but all three, combined with Theodore Roosevelt risking life and limb in the Amazon jungle as a form of post-election therapy makes this unforgettable. Candice Millard takes you there with research that would rate as overkill if it were about anyone else.

It's both gripping and sad, as it also turns into a father and son examination. TR and his third son, Kermit, near-lethal hardships and acquit themselves admirably. Kermit was very much his father's son when it came to physical endurance and toughness in the midst of calamity. But away from the snake and cannibal infested testing ground, they were two totally different men.

I will avoid the spoilers and say that this is a 4 star delight, whether you are a history buff or and adrenaline junkie.

The Good Guy, by Dean Koontz

This audiobook comes from the Alachua County Public Library, is on 9 CDs, and is narrated by Rick Ferrone.

I am a huge Dean Koontz fan, so I make a point of subscribing to his email newsletter and getting on the waiting list before the latest book even gets to the library. This one was good, but not great.

This is the story of a man who is mistakenly given a packet of money and a photograph by another man who wants someone killed. Our hero is a self-employed mason who is just minding his own business over a beer when he meets the over-anxious courier who has gotten ahead of his rendezvous with a hit man. The courier splits before our unwitting friend can open the envelope and see that he is expected to kill a young woman he has never seen before. Soon, the hit man arrives, approaches him, and now there is a decision to be made. Does this ordinary working guy hand over the money and the instructions and let nature take its course? Or does he attempt to interfere, perhaps saving this woman's life?

An interesting enough premise, but a below average villain for a Dean Koontz novel. Also, the man and woman who spend their time evading the killer are just not interesting enough. If you read a lot of Koontz, you could swear you have met them somewhere else. And you'd be right.

It saddens me to do so, but this is only a 2 and 1/2 star book.

Consider the Elephant, by Aram Schefrin

This book is available for free from Podiobooks.com, and is available in 37 installments. Find it here. This dramatized, unabridged audiobook is not suitable for younger listeners because of explicit sexual content.

This is a novel about John Wilkes Booth and the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. It is based on extensive research, using actual letters to and from Booth that reveal a great deal of detail about events and his state of mind. It is very well written. The characters are vividly portrayed, and the story is riveting, even if you know how it turns out.

Your American History class would have been a whole lot more interesting if portions of this book had been made available. A film adaptation of this book would be a unique offering that I would love to see.

This gets 4 stars.

Marwan, by Aram Schefrin

This audiobook came in 32 episodes from Podiobooks.com, was in mp3 format, and is narrated by several unidentified persons.

This is a novel about Marwan al Shehhi, one of the September 11 hijackers. It is a chilling story based on the documented investigation into the terror attacks. I was curious to see how the author, Aram Schefrin, managed to humanize such a monster. Could a complex individual full of misgivings have flown into the 2nd tower of the World Trade Center? Or would he have to be a complete sociopath?

This book was hard to put aside, and the time flew by. "Marwan" was both sad and riveting. Schefrin succeeds at keeping your pity for Marwan separated from your horror of what he has done. And you need to do that to see the next terror attack coming. Marwan was not a "bad seed", but he had many of them sown in his brain. Ideas matter, and you cannot fight them with mere law enforcement.

Adams Vs. Jefferson: (The Tumultuous Election of 1800), by John E. Ferling

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com, was 11 hours and 33 minutes long, and narrated by Jack Garrett.

You don't know how little you have really been taught about American History until you start reading books on the Founding Fathers. I got the same names and dates drilled into my head year after year with precious little light ever entering that would have helped me understand my country and its system of government.

The Election of 1800 was the first contested election in American history. The Election of 2000 has nothing on this. And the opposing forces come right out of the same molds that popped out our current leaders. The Federalists were the party of law and order and a strong military. They fought to enact the "Alien and Sedition Acts". These were the Patriot Act on steroids. The Republicans (not the same party we know today) was anti-military and in love with the French Revolution, although a bit queasy about the acts of terror. It's funny how little really changes; only the names and places.

This was a gripping and vivid story of the men who guided our nation in its formative years, their feet of clay, and a lot of surprises for people who thought they knew their American History. Well written and well ready by the narrator, Jack Garret; this book is a 4 star champ.

Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, From Cocaine to Foie Gras by Jeff Henderson

This audiobook came free from Netlibrary.com, was 8 hours and 3 minutes long, and was read by the author.

This was a pretty entertaining book that chronicles the life of a young black man's career track from petty criminal to crack merchant to prison pot scrubber to high class chef in Las Vegas. It's also a disturbing look at some of the warts of African-American culture. I don't think Jeff Henderson was trying to portray the black church as one with a willful blindness toward its drug kingpins, or if he knows that there is an uneasy truce between vice and virtue that is bought with the money that comes to the offering plates. I suppose I am bringing this up because of my own sensitivity to the incongruities in many white churches. There are a lot of things to be embarrassed about, unless you are willing to do the noble thing and confront them.

What Henderson nails down in this story is that redemption is not just about being given a pass the next time around. It is about doing the work, paying the price, and overcoming the same obstacles everyone faces, black or white or Latino, to be a top chef and commanding top dollar. Management skills are as important as your sauces, and he learned his the hard way. He was not an overnight success.

This gets 4 stars.

The Long Ball : The Summer of '75 -- Spaceman, Catfish, Charlie Hustle, and the Greatest World Series Ever Played, by Tom Adelman

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com, was 12 hours and 54 minutes long (including the author interview), and was narrated by Richard M. Davidson.

Even if you lived and followed baseball during this time, and I did, there are a lot of details and back story that you miss. Tom Adelman's research and reporting give you all the dirt on the season of 75, and the grusome details of the collision course between the Big Red Machine and the almost-there Red Sox.

Adelman weaves together all the snippets of conversation he has dug up to re-create the real time drama of the 1975 world series. And his analysis of the league politics and how the team owners finally lost their hold on individual players is clear to the average fan. It's quite understandable to me now how player salaries have spiraled up and up. It is that same old lesson from other unions: Bad owners abuse players; players organize and win their rights; players abuse their rights; ticket prices rise higher and higher, punishing the poorest fans.

This dramatic and insightful book makes you want to see every season picked apart like this one. It was a fan's dream and worth all 4 stars.

The Pleasing Hour, by Lily King

This audio book was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com. It was 8 hours and 54 minutes long, and was narrated by Suzanne Toren.

This was a pretty slow moving story of an American au pair who lands a job with a family that lives on a house boat. The mother, Nicole, is stern and aloof with her American helper, who eventually nurses a crush on the husband, Marc. The feeling is mutual, but nothing comes of it.

This book was a sort of character study for its own sake. I found myself checking to see how much time it had left several times. Well written, but forgettable. I give it 2 stars.

The Blue Hour, by T. Jefferson Parker

This book came from the Alachua County Library and took up 9 compact discs.

I have liked most of Parker's other books, which is why I picked up this one. Unfortunately, I really didn't like it.

Maybe I am sick of serial killers. Maybe it's hard to keep this genre fresh. Or maybe the characters just never got any traction with me.

For starters, there is Tim Hess, a cop who has come out of retirement, even though he is taking chemotherapy. He is teamed up with an ambitious, hard case hottie named Meci Rayborn, who is half his age. Can you see it coming?

A series of gruesome murders are taking place, except there are no bodies. The killer drains them, embalms them, and saves them somewhere, leaving their purses behind. One of their suspects is Romanian born Matamoros Colesceau, who has undergone chemical castration. He is due to be released, and his chemicals withdrawn. The whole neighborhood now knows who he is, and he is under siege by cameras and angry neighbors who are counting the days until he is relocated.

Tim is just not engaging enough. Merci is just annoying. Colesceau is simply pathetic. I was glad to take frequent breaks from this book. That's why it gets 1 star.

The Rookie, by Scott Sigler

This audiobook came from Scott Sigler's Podshow Page, was 26 episodes long, and includes a lot of author's extras.

I have been hesitant about reviewing these audiobooks because they are not just audiobooks. Each episode is a show, with some chatter from Scott, and promos of other podcasts. However, I just got done listening to another dog of a book that was published the conventional way, and realized that some of these books were much better.

"The Rookie" is set hundreds of years in the future, when the known Universe has been conquered by an alien race. In a new twist, human beings are not the only planetary race that has been subjugated. Several other alien races are now part of a greater empire, and that master race has found a pacifying replacement for war: American style football.

Scott Sigler has created a universe in which all the alien races have something to bring to the field. Some make great linemen, some receivers, but the Ionath Krakens have a great rookie quarterback named Quentin Barnes.

Barnes grew up in the quarries, an orphan in a slave labor camp, where they only had really big stones to use as the ball. He is recruited by a scout for the Krakens, a team that is owned by an alien organized crime boss. This is Quentin's ticket off the rock pile. But it's a dangerous game in this new universal order. It is not all that unusual for players to be killed in the game.

Sigler has given us alien creatures with flaws and foibles as well as loyalty and honor. Religion, politics, crime and prejudice have not been bleached out of the story; overwhelming us with technology. I am NOT a fan of science fiction, but this was an episode I waited eagerly for every week.

Books that can do that get 4 stars.

The Giants of Irish Literature: Wilde, Yeats, Joyce and Beckett, by George O'Brien

This audio book was 8 hours and 18 minutes long, and was narrated by the lecturer, George O'Brien. It is part of the Great Scholars series that features renowned professors teaching their specialty. It was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com.

For its biographical sketches of the authors and their times, it was interesting. For the analysis of the writing, it was considerably duller. I recently listened to James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and enjoyed it. Listening to it being picked apart was much less enjoyable.

To his credit, Professor O'Brien did make me put Oscar Wilde on my short list of authors to check out. That pushed this offering into 3 star territory only barely.

Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

This audio book came from the Alachua County Public Library on 6 CDs, was 7 hours long, and was narrated by Stephen J. Dubner.

I was on a long waiting list to get this book from the library. I have been hearing about it for a long time.

It's Steven Levitt's research that is the basis of this book. The sub-title refers to him as a rogue economist, but I think that only means he talks about everyday things instead of the consumer price index and gross domestic product. This book seems to be a mesh of psychology and economics: a study of incentives and how they motivate people in the real world. It seeks to answer questions like: How has legalized abortion affected crime rates? And, If there is so much money in dealing drugs, why do so many drug dealers live at home with their moms?

This book's completely rational, utilitarian approach to human behavior in the marketplace delivers a lot of surprises. It is completely amoral, so it will unsettle people who have the strongest moral compass. But it will be fair in that it disturbs people on both sides of a moral issue. After all, if you just go by the numbers, you can come to some pretty dehumanizing conclusions.

It wasn't a long book, so that means it got to the point. It waded into geek speak only long enough to establish its credentials. It was highly entertaining and thought-provoking, and worth 4 stars any day.

Waiting `Til the Midnight Hour, by Peniel E. Joseph

This audio book was a free download from NetLibrary.com, was 13 hours long, and was narrated by Beresford Bennett.

As a white kid growing up in Upstate NY during the 60s, that names of Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, "Rap" Brown, and Angela Davis were not familiar to me. Even Malcolm X would have drawn a blank in a neighborhood with no unrest and few blacks. And those who did live among us were fully integrated into the neighborhood. I even had an African American history class in the 6th grade, but the aforementioned pioneers of the Black Power movement were not yet history. They were the news. At least they were in other parts of America.

This book was fascinating, enlightening, and disheartening. It was fascinating because it fleshed out the players in America's Civil Rights movement. It was enlightening because it was a very human story anyone could identify with. It was disheartening because every problem is viewed through the lens of the black/white struggle. And not every problem in the black community is the fault of white people.

One of the things that sticks out here is that all the leaders were so incredibly young. By the time he was 29, Stokely Carmichael had met Ho Chi Mihn and Fidel Castro. He had been all over the world, including China, and was a world famous icon of revolutionary struggle. What do you really know by the time you are 29? Consequently, some of the players no longer believe what they did when they were getting everyone else on board.

This is a terrific story of people insisting on being heard. It worked, warts and all. There are characters who will surprise you and impress you and annoy you. This was an engrossing story and worth every one of 4 stars.

The Innocent Man, by John Grisham

This audio book was obtained from the Alachua County Library, and was on 10 CDs.

First, I was surprised that this was not a novel. I hadn't really paid attention when I picked it up, and I was almost done with the first disc when I just had to check. No, this is the true story of how easy it was for several men to get convicted of serious crimes, even getting the death penalty, without being guilty. If you don't believe that anyone really gets convicted who is not guilty, this will disturb your little world. If you are in favor of the death penalty, it might bother you, but only if you cannot disconnect your emotions from your ability to reason.

This is primarily the story of Ron Williamson, a local sports hero who descended into drugs, alcohol, and metal illness after failing to advance his baseball career. This made him an easy target for a maniacally aggressive prosecutor in a small town when a local girl is murdered in her apartment. There was no evidence placing Williamson at the scene, and a much better suspect was completely overlooked, but it seemed that the police and DA went after him for no other reason than their disdain for him.

Williamson was eventually cleared, narrowly missing execution, and won a huge lawsuit for wrongful prosecution. There is not much heroic about Ron Williamson. He is too pathetic to be a hero, but the villainy of the local law enforcement in Ada, Oklahoma is so disturbing that it is little surprise that someone eventually had to speak out about it. Do NOT visit this town or get pulled over for anything there!

4 stars of pure moral outrage.

Night, by Elie Wiesel

This audio book was 4 hours and 17 minutes long, including a reading of Wiesel's speech to the Nobel Prize committee in 1986. It was free from NetLibrary.com.

This book was originally published the year I was born, 1958. That was 13 years after Elie Wiesel's liberation from the German death camps at the age of 17.

When I was growing up, all adults still had a fresh remembrance of the monstrous regime that had terrorized the world, and the Holocaust was already a part of the vocabulary. I saw all the movies about Nazi atrocities, and took seriously my duty as a part of humanity to remember what was done to the Jews and other minorities. How I missed this book is a wonder.

This story sets itself apart from the rest of my personal witness of the media's rendition of the Holocaust. Most books and movies focus on the cruel inhumanity of how the Jews were treated. Wiesel's book spends the first half documenting the denial of the Jews as they saw it coming. Yes, there are a couple of voices in the wilderness, but they are usually scorned and despised for their prescience.

This simple account, unadorned by the gratuitous violence of most Holocaust movies, made it easy for me to believe that the average German citizen could have been in the same state of unbelief while this was happening. It is also a grim warning to all of us that neutrality only benefits the oppressor, as Wiesel states in his speech to the Nobel committee. We must take sides in the resistance to dictators. And we must do it early. At least, that's what I came away with. And this gets 4 stars.

Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy, by Pietra Rivoli

This audio book came free from NetLibrary.com, was 9 hours and 35 minutes long, and was narrated by Eliza Foss.

An economist is both annoyed and inspired by a protest against globalization by impassioned college students. After hearing one of the open-air speakers demand to know if we know were our t-shirts come from, economist and professor Pietra Rivoli goes to a souvenir shop, buys a t-shirt, and begins tracing its origins...and its destiny.

This is one of the most readable and interesting stories of the economic food chain you are likely to come across. It was a real page-turner with a stunning conclusion, that we all should be able to come to on our own: both the sweat shops and the protesters are important ingredients in the global ecosystem.

If you are a rabid free-trader, you must read this! It will alter your view of those naiive kids and their signs. If you are one of those capitalist-hating anti-globalists, you also should read this. If you have an open mind, it will temper your outrage and help you focus your efforts.

From the heavily protected and subsidized cotton fields of West Texas to the wide open, unregulated global recycling market in Africa, your t-shirt and been places and one things. And then it may come back again as it is broken down and respun into new thread!

Warning: there is lots of history in this book about the folly of working too hard to prevent trade. The English woolens industry kept cotton out of its markets for centuries. But regulations got weaker and weaker in the face of the eager public adoption of cooler cotton clothes. The last regulation to die was the one that required that the dead had to be buried in a wool suit!

Great stuff. Four stars. Oughta be a text book in our schools...

The Florabama Ladies' Auxiliary & Sewing Circle, by Lois Battle

This book was a free download from NetLibrary.com, was 13 hours and 37 minutes long, and was narrated by Christine McMurdo-Wallis.

In Florabama, Alabama a lingerie manufacturer is moving offshore and leaving its hourly workforce behind. These are mostly women, and their best hope is a loophole a Displaced Homemakers program at the local community college.

In another part of Alabama, Bonnie Duke Cullman, a well-bred, comfortable woman and upper crust homemaker, discovers that her emotionally distant husband has made a train wreck of their finances. Their divorce leaves her without a rich husband to sue for alimony. She ends up taking a job with the community college in Florabama as the director of the Displaced Homemakers program. The difference between Bonnie and her educationally disadvantaged charges is that she has a rich father who was able to pull the strings needed to get her the job to begin with.

I expected her differences with the laid off ladies to breed discontent, but their differences among them have prepared them for life's discrepancies. Hilly Pruit and Ruth Elkins are next-door neighbors and close friends, even though Hilly is a bar-hopping red-head out of a country song, and Ruth is a quiet church-goer keeping her wayward daughter's brood of rug-rats.

Bonnie's connections and high-priced worldview come in handy as she matches her boutique connections to the ladies' skills, and convinces them that there is a market for Jane Austen era party dresses for little girls. And she is right. But that does not keep disaster from striking just as a glimmer of hope appears.

Characters trump story and this is a chick flick waiting to happen. Too much of a soap opera and too many missed opportunities to be 4 stars, but it's easily worth 3.

The New Golden Age, by Ravi Batra

This unabridged audio book came from the Alachua County Public Library on 9 CDs, and was read by Brian Emerson.

If you make enough predictions, you are bound to get some right. Both psychics and economists count on this, and Professor Batra is no different. In fact, Batra was the winner of an Ig Nobel prize in 1993. He was described as a, "shrewd economist and best-selling author of "The Great Depression of 1990" ($17.95) and
"Surviving the Great Depression of 1990" ($18.95), for selling enough copies of his books to single-handedly prevent worldwide economic collapse."

When Batra is not delivering an anti-Bush and Cheney rant, this idealistic Hindu slant on history is actually quite provocative and entertaining. It is mostly an expansion on P.R. Sarkar's theories of social evolution. These theories propose that societies are comprised of 4 social classes: laborers, intellectuals, warriors, and acquisitors (capitalists). The intellectuals, warriors and acquisitors take turns dominating and ruling society as the laborers cast their lots with each group in a predictable progression. The domination of the rich acquisitors always ends in massive corruption, immorality and poverty. The warriors and labor take their country back, establish order, fairness and traditional family. Eventually, they give way to the intellectuals, who are better at governing than conquering. Then they give way to the business people, who are better at expanding opportunity. When not enough people are taking advantage of opportunity, and those who are live like kings, the warriors again ascend to restore justice. At least, that is theme of this book.

It is easy to get caught up in Batra's worldview because he draws on so much history to demonstrate his thesis. And much of that history comes from beyond Western Civilization, which raises the level of fascination. He tells us that there are frequent examples of Golden Ages, which he always assigns to the time after the evil rich are dethroned. Of course, these Golden Ages come on two-edged swords. It is not uncommon for them to have rather puritanical backlashes against pornography, prostitution, and homosexuality. The poor are not just sick of the injustices of the rich. The perversion and vulgarity of the age usually suffers as well. The recent squeeze on talk radio hosts Don Imus and Opie & Anthony were not led by the Religious Right, but by civil libertarians devouring their own kind. Apparently, a lot of people have limits after all.

Like a good economist, who has been burned by his own lack of judgment in the past, Batra demonstrates that there are also escape clauses for the social cycle and all that comes with it. After venting his spleen on Bush and the Iraq War, he actually dares to say that the rest of the world needs to pitch in and help because America has saved the world's bacon before, and that failing to do so could be a big mistake! He even intimates that history may vindicate Bush in the end.

In the last chapter, he also does a little back-pedaling on the meaning of the Golden Age. But I can forgive him because I always grade economists on a curve. In spite of its sometimes puzzling contradictions and omissions, I gave this book 3 stars for having much to offer any discussion on national and international affairs. There is something to offend everyone, and to enlighten as well.

Schmidt Delivered, by Louis Begley

This audiobook was obtained from Netlibrary.com, was 8 hours and 11 minutes long, and was free. It was also narrated by George Guidall.

This is a sequel to "About Schmidt", which was made into a movie that starred Jack Nicholson. The movie was pretty good, which is what lured me to download this book.

I didn't care for it. A novel needs at least one likable character for me to get on board. Schmidt is a retired attorney who is everybody's ATM. His bloodsucking daughter scorns him to his face while shaking him down. The young woman who lives with him is already looking for greener pastures while driving the BMW he gave her. Some bad penny that he tried to help out has failed again and is now back on his doorstep. And he could be dangerous.

Add to that the only really compelling character, a pushy billionaire who is trying to get Schmidt out of retirement to run one of his foundations, and there is really no one to pull for. That leaves Schmidt, who you wish would just blow everyone off, get on a sailboat, and sail away with no forwarding address. But who cares if he does, because he is such a schmuck.

One star is all it's worth, and a distant one at that.

Stationary Bike, by Stephen King

This short audiobook was downloaded from NetLibrary.com, was only 1 hour and 28 minutes long, and was read by Ron McLarty.

This is not a horror story, but an odd piece of fantasy fiction. An overweight man in his late 30's, Richard Sifkitz vows to lower his cholesterol and his weight. Mr. Sifkitz is also a commercial artist, so to relieve the boredom of riding his new stationary bike, he paints a wall mural to watch as he rides. The mural contains parts of his past, and parts of himself. More or less.

Not great, but 3 stars for imagination...and brevity.

Dark Genius of Wall Street, by Edward Renehan

This book was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com, was 14 hours and 50 minutes long, and narrated by George Wilson.

This great biography is about one of the players of America's Gilded Age, Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons.

I don't know if you can really get a grasp of American history without getting to know the players. Jay Gould was the most notorious stock manipulator of the 19th century, and one of the richest men in the world during his lifetime. He began as a teen-aged land surveyor who got stiffed by his employer. From there he began publishing the maps he was stuck with, then got into the hide tanning business. By the time he was in his early 30s he owned a railroad and was driving his competitor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, crazy.

Unfortunately, he made a train wreck of his reputation in the stock market. The times were incredibly corrupt, and you had to be a dirtbag to keep from getting skinned. So he became the biggest dirtbag of them all. By the time he died, every paper could only speak ill of him.

Yet, this was a very humanizing look at a man who made a vast fortune bringing other millionaires to the point of nervous exhaustion. He was a devious competitor and a micro-managing CEO of every company he was involved in. He was brilliant, yet he was also a tragic figure who lamented, toward the end of his life, that he could give his children everything except a good name.

4 stars for this amazing trip back to Victorian Era America.

The Great Fire, by Shirley Hazzard

This book came from the Alachua County Library, was published in 2004, is 11 hours and 15 minutes long, and was narrated by Virginia Leishman.

Shortly after WW2, a young British Officer has gone to Japan to do research for a book. He is in his early 30's, divorced, and falls in love with his superior's teenage daughter. This is not as racy as it sounds. Think: audio version of "Masterpiece Theatre". Slow, plodding story with lots of engaging scenery. Harmless is canceled out by dull. This is a one-star book.

Thieves' Paradise, by Eric Jerome Dickey

This book also comes from the Alachua County Public Library, was on 12 CDs, 12 hours and 30 minutes long, and narrated by Bill Andrew Quinn. I plucked this one off the shelf because I recognized the author's name, and I knew I had never read him.

At 25 years old, Dante Brown has no family, no job, and plenty of baggage. He did a long stretch in juvenile hall as a teenager after he pulled a gun on his abusive father, who was also a police officer. Both parents are now dead, and his luck has been more down than up. While waiting for a new employer to call him, Dante falls back on the safety net offered by Scamz, a slick con-man who provides short term employment for the entire black community at one time or another. At least it seems that way in this story.

I found this story rather disturbing because it looks like every black person with a legitimate job only serves as an undercover asset for Scamz: stealing credit card information, acting as a courier for stolen plastic, assisting in real-estate swindles. And every woman is a snake. They are either trying to tag some innocent dupe to be the daddy of someone else's child, stepping out on the dupe, or doing anything for money. If I had written this, I could expect to see my face on Fox News right next to Reverend Al's talking head.

If this is just an "authentic novel about black culture", it's a serious downer. I find it hard to believe that every African-American is on retainer for an ad hoc firm of grifters. I don't know anyone like this. Or maybe I do and I just don't know it.

A very sad story well-written, for which I cannot forgive its infectious negativity. It gets 2 ambivalent stars.