MARCH 2016
AUDIO BOOK REVIEWS
by Jonathan Lowe
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OSCARS
BOOKS: Among the Oscar winners in Feb. that
are based on books (also in audio format) are Room
by Emma Donoghue, read by a gifted full cast. The
Revenant by Michael Punke, read by Holter
Graham (a multiple award winning voiceover actor himself.)
Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell
is nonfiction read by the author. The Big
Short by Michael Lewis is read by the mysterious
yet spot-on Jesse Boggs. Spotlight
is titled Betrayal by The Boston
Globe, and is read by Paul Boehmer, who has done many
fiction and non-fiction titles in the past.) Winner
of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service; movie now
Best Picture. The story behind this
groundbreaking book—one of the most significant
works of investigative journalism since Woodward and
Bernstein’s reporting on Watergate—has
been brought brilliantly to life on the screen in
the major new movie Spotlight. Here are the
devastating revelations that triggered a crisis within
the Catholic Church. Here is the truth about the scores
of abusive priests who preyed upon innocent children
and the cabal of senior Church officials who covered
up their crimes. Here is the trail of “hush
money” that the Catholic Church secretly paid
to buy victims’ silence—deeds that left
millions of the faithful in the US and around the
world shocked, angry, and confused. Here as well is
a vivid account of the ongoing struggle, as Catholics
confront their Church and call for sweeping change.The
authors of Betrayal, and the reporters principally
responsible for the Boston Globe’s coverage
of the scandal, are Matt Carroll, Kevin Cullen, Thomas
Farragher, Stephen Kurkjian, Michael Paulson, Sacha
Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes, and Spotlight team editor
Walter V. Robinson. The coverage and the book were
overseen by deputy managing editor for projects Ben
Bradlee Jr. And finally, David Ebershoff is the author
of The Danish Girl, a New York Times Notable
Book and the winner of the Rosenthal Foundation Award
from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and
the Lambda Literary Award. His collection of stories,
The Rose City, was named one of the best books of
2001 by the Los Angeles Times. His books have been
published in more than a dozen countries to critical
acclaim. Since 1998, he has been the publishing director
of the Modern Library. He has taught at New York University
and Princeton, where he is now a visiting lecturer.
Originally from Pasadena, he is a graduate of Brown
University and the University of Chicago, and he currently
lives in New York City. Narrator Jeff Woodman originated
the title role in Tennessee Williams’ The Notebook
of Trigorin and won the S.F. Critics’ Circle
Award for his performance in An Ideal Husband. In
addition to numerous theater credits on and off Broadway,
his television work includes Sex and the City and
Law & Order. |
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COSMOSAPIENS
by John Hands is a comprehensive exploration of many
fields of science, from cosmology to geology to biology
to chemistry to physics and astronomy to philosophy
and religion. (Plus the nature of consciousness, the
determinism of genetics, and the role of culture.)
The many theories for the origins of life are examined
with lucid prose expertly delivered by voice
actor Gildart Jackson. The history of each
theory is given, with reference to the beliefs of
the day (what the public was thinking), and how new
ideas and findings are opposed by those whose livelihoods
are threatened. Scientists themselves fought bitterly
sometimes with interpretations, and Hands is careful
to put everything in context, showing what current
consensus believes, why, and where it may be leading.
He offers his own ideas too, explaining what humans
can discover and what may never be accessible to discovery
proof. (Multi-universes, string theory, etc.) Listeners
are clear as to who believes what, and why. Was Einstein
and Darwin right about everything? Apparently not.
Darwin’s idea that individuals fighting for
supremacy within species was somehow as important
as fighting one’s environment for survival was
overstated. The competition within species (which
is supported today by our culture of combat), and
even the competition between species, is not nearly
as vital in “survival of the species”
as is adaptation to change in the environment. Cooperation
is more the rule than combat, and that cooperation
can be inter-species as well. This is an epic book
at an incredible download rental price less than the
latest pop album. A no-brainer pick. John Hands has
devoted more than ten years to evaluating scientific
theories about the origins of the cosmos, life, and
humanity. He graduated with a degree in chemistry
from the University of London, was a founding director
of Britain’s Cooperative Housing Agency, and
tutored in both physics and management studies for
the Open University. His fiction and writing have
been published in eight countries. Narrator Gildart
Jackson’s acting credits span the stage and
screen. He is most often recognized for his roles
as Gideon on Charmed and Simon Prentiss on General
Hospital. He has also starred in numerous television
shows, including CSI and Vegas, and recently played
the lead in the highly acclaimed independent feature
film You, directed by his wife, Melora Hardin.
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SUPREME COURTSHIP by Christopher Buckley:
United States president Donald Vanderdamp is having
a hell of a time getting his nominees appointed to the
Supreme Court. After one nominee is rejected for insufficiently
appreciating To Kill a Mockingbird, the president
chooses someone so beloved by voters that the Senate
won’t have the guts to reject her—Judge
Pepper Cartwright, the star of the nation’s most
popular reality show, Courtroom Six. (Sound familiar?)
Will Pepper, a straight-talking Texan, survive a confirmation
battle in the Senate? Will becoming one of the most
powerful women in the world ruin her love life? And
even if she can make it to the Supreme Court, how will
she get along with her eight highly skeptical colleagues,
including a floundering Chief Justice who, after legalizing
gay marriage, learns that his wife has left him for
another woman? Soon Pepper finds herself in the middle
of a constitutional crisis, a presidential reelection
campaign that the president is determined to lose, and
oral arguments of a romantic nature. "Supreme Courtship"
is another classic Christopher Buckley comedy about
the Washington institutions most deserving of ridicule.
Narrated with an adroit yet deceptively casual
skill by actress Anne Heche. |
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