Saving Graces, by Elizabeth Edwards

This audio book was 13 hours and 42 minutes long and was narrated by Bernadette Dunne.

This is not the Elizabeth Edwards book in which she tells about her husband's affair. Senator John Edwards is a kind and idealistic husband and politician with a noble and intelligent wife in this book. I am not yet aware of how she portrays her relationship with John the philandering weasel, but he contrasted poorly with the hard luck missus he has in this one.

This is her story, from her upbringing in post-war Japan as the daughter of a Naval officer to the tragic death of her teenage son and her discovery of a cancerous lump just a few weeks out from the 2004 election, when her husband was the Vice-Presidential candidate. She is a smart and thoughtful woman who was devastated by the loss of her son, Wade, in a car accident that had nothing to do with alcohol. She deals with the day to day coping that goes on for years and never leaves her consciousness. This could have been a dreary book, but she is such a good writer that it never bores you. This is a solid 3 star book thtat rises to 4 if youu identify personally with either of her losses.

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.

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.

Down From Troy, by Richard Selzer

This book was 9 hours and 9 minutes long, and was narrated by Sam Gray.

I got this from Net Library, and it got my attention because I grew up in Troy like the author, Richard Selzer. Dr. Selzer is about 3 years older than my Dad, who also grew up in Troy, NY. I phoned home and was actually surprised when I found out that they did not know each other.

Dr. Selzer loves a good turn of phrase, and his writing is nearly poetic in its narration. It was, at times, a sentimental trip down memory lane for me, although I didn't think he covered enough of the Holy ground for my taste. This book was much more about how and why he became a doctor, and about his parent's opposing influences on him than anything else. Troy is just a backdrop, and one before my time. Only some of the real icons of the city, like Frear Park, Manory's, the Troy Music Hall, the Green Island Bridge, and the Troy Public Library (where I got my first library card), get much description that is familiar to me.

By the time I grew up in the 60s and 70s, the gangsters and the whore houses were all gone. So was much of its manufacturing. Time was passing Troy by. This book will be most interesting to modern Trojans, as well as fans of Depression Era biography. For its excellent writing, hobbled only by too much attention to medicine, it gets 3 stars.