POWER TRIPPING
Summertime and the listening is easy. Or is it? For summer vacation, the best audiobooks are about long, strange trips, as Katherine A. Powers explains with these choice selections.
THE DOG OF THE SOUTH Charles Portis Recorded Books. Unabridged, 8 hours
Published almost 40 years ago, The Dog of the South still remains the funniest U.S. road novel ever written. It is the story of Ray Midge ’s pursuit of his wife, Nor ma, from Arkansas down through Mexico to Belize. She has gone off with Guy D up ree, a pathetic creep, the two travelling in Ray’s cherished Ford Tori no, his precious recording of Dr. Buddy Casey’ s lecture on the Siege of Vicksburg still in the tape player. (“No o ne could hope to keep the whole of that lecture in his head at once, such are its rich es .”) David Aaron Baker, a Southern er himself, narrates this masterpiece of dead pan comedy with the precise degree of exasperation, pedantry and clueless ness that are Ray’s governing moods.
LESS Andrew Sean Greer Hachette Audio. Unabridged, 8¼ hours
Andrew Sean Greer’ s Pulitzer Prize-winning nov elisa highly entertaining comedy of mis adventure and, ultimately, a moving loves to ry.At the start, Arthur Less is in a state of dire melancholy brought on by the approach of his 50 th birthday, his publisher’ s rejection of his latest novel and an invitation to the wedding of his one-time boyfriend. He simply can not accept that last or deal, so he escapes across the globe by accepting a handful of expense-paid writing and speaking gigs.The se take him to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Egypt, Morocco, India and Japan. Robert Petkoff’ s overall narration is calm, if occasionally and fittingly bewildered, and he delivers a virtuoso performance in rendering the story’ s multitude of accents.
A WALK IN THE WOODS: REDISCOVERING AMERICA ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL Bill Bryson Random House Audio. Unabridged, 9¾ hours
So me time in the mid-1990s, Bill B ry son decided to break out of his “waddle some sloth” and reacquaint himself with the grand eur of the U.S. by walking on the 3,380- kilometre Appalachian Trail. Starting in the punishing aisle so fan outdoor outfitter, he and a friend set out on a gruelling, exhilarating 800- km trek through snow, rain and he at.Be set by vicious insects and the occasional barbaric fellow trekker, the two travel from Georgia through North Carolina, West Virginia, to Front Royal, Va. Later, B ry son covers stretch es of the northern trail and nearly loses his friend, who wanders away into the track less Maine fore st.Rob McQuay brings a fine B ry son es que note of self- deprecation, affront and finickiness to his reading of this extremely funny, informative account.
THE RIVER OF DOUBT: THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S DARKEST JOURNEY Candice Millard Bookson Tape. Unabridged, 12¼ hours
Nursing a “bruised spirit” after his unsuccessful presidential run in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt embarked a year later on an expedition into the rain forest of Brazil to explore the mysterious water way known as the River of Do ubt.The party included his son Kermit; a notorious ly hapless quartermaster who equipped the group with Rhine wine and stuffed olives; an elderly, highly presumptive German priest; and a guide, bearers, oarsmen, ox en and mu les. Millard, a master at evoking character, follows the adventure soft his disaster prone cavalcade as it confront sa treacherous river, alien terrain, disease and hostile Indians. Paul Michael narrates this great book in a rolling, engaged voice, evoking all its suspense and disastrous mis calculation.
STORMY WEATHER Paulette Jiles Harper Audio. Unabridged, 12 hours
Stormy Weather, by Paulette Jiles, is the story of the Stoddards, a Depression-era family travelling through Texas from one oil field to the next. Jack— husband, father, drink er and incorrigible gambler—scratches out a meagre living. After his death, his wife, three daughters and a beloved quarter-horse stallion move back to the maternal family farm, now derelict and blasted by drought. Middle daughter Jeanine, whom we follow from childhood to young woman hood, is the he roof this beautifully written tale of hard luck, resilience and determination. Colleen Del any brings a restrained Tex an accent to the narration and a sense of urgency to horse races, white-knuckle rescue sand the battle against maniacal weather.