Audiobooking 6 April 4, 2021

It’s been just over a year since the previous post. Instrumental Invasion has taken up most of my time, providing a necessary escape from the tumultuous reality.

I continue to listen to audiobooks on days where I workout and run, or even while editing photos. My source remains Audible, now as a paid member. When I’m billed at the end of each month, I use my credit on the next audiobook to listen to. As I type, I have a three-book backlog.

Here’s what I’ve been listened to since Andrea Barber’s memoir:

• Relentless: Unleashing a Life of Purpose, Grit, and Faith by John Tesh – Back and forth between life events and his cancer treatment and recovery
• Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball (read by Lucie Arnaz)
• The Facts of My Life by Charlotte Rae (1926-2018) and Larry Strauss (her son) (read by Charlotte) – Like me, Charlotte’s firstborn son (Larry’s older brother) Andy was on the autism spectrum – I felt deep empathy whenever Charlotte talked about him
• I, Rhoda: A Memoir by Valerie Harper (1939-2019) – As a compulsive overeater, I can relate to Valerie’s struggle
• Inside Out: A Memoir by Demi Moore – Came off as a downer at times
• Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews with Emma Walton Hamilton (her daughter) (read by Julie) – sequel to Home: A Memoir of My Early Years
• The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek (1940-2020) (read mainly by Ken Jennings with a few chapters read by Alex) – Eugene Levy’s last name is pronounced “levvy,” Ken; not “leavy”
• Raised Eyebrows, Expanded Edition: My Years Inside Groucho’s House by Steve Stoliar, who also read Dick Cavett’s introduction in Dick’s voice – Very entertaining – Boo, Erin Fleming!
• The Plus: Self-Help for People Who Hate Self-Help by Greg Gutfeld – recorded in the early days of the pandemic, before a certain event tore the country apart – another one of those books catching me up on all the news I chose to avoid – Greg hates “at the end of the day” just as much as I do
• Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations, and Observations by Craig Ferguson – At times, Craig came close to deriding religion and right-wing political figures
• The Day It Snowed in April: A Memoir by Devin Devasquez – Mostly about her relationship with Prince, but does chronicle her life – seemed to be read in one take, complete with pauses – “at the end of the day”
• Killing Crazy Horse: The Merciless Indian Wars in America by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (introduction read by Bill, otherwise read by Robert Petkoff)
• Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz (read by Michael, Adam, and various celebrites, including Rachel Maddow) – Left-wing politics nearly marred my listening, but I hung in to the end – I’m sure it would have been worse if it came out around the time I listened in October
• All the Way: My Life in Four Quarters by Joe Namath with Sean Mortimer and Don Yaeger (read by Joe)
• Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher by David Cone and Jack Curry (read by David)
• As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden (read by Cary) – Cary isn’t the only voice you’ll hear – we also hear accounts from Rob Reiner (who wrote the foreword), Andy Scheinman, Robin Wright, Christopher Guest, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, and Carol Kane – Fred Savage, Mandy Patinkin, Norman Lear, and author/screenwriter William Goldman are portrayed by the same narrator, whose name I didn’t catch
• The Me Generation…by Me: Growin Up in the ’60s by Ken Levine (la-VYNE) – Left-wing political perspective, but for half-century-old events; didn’t bother me
• Simpsons Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss (“rees”) with Mathew Klickstein (read by Mike, including Judd Apatow’s foreword) – Left-wing political perspective on events from the last 20 years! – Religion bashing, southern state bashing, Bush bashing, Trump bashing, anger over Jonah Goldberg co-opting “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” – Add a misleading cheery voice, and you get a smiling character assassin from Bristol, Connecticut (whose youth predated ESPN, which wasn’t mentioned), verbally shooting down everyone he hates – At least I learned about his days on The Critic before I rage quit listening with an hour to go – Instagram post:

I was a big fan of “The Critic” and have been an on-and-off fan of “The Simpsons.” I heard the cheery voice of Mike Reiss (“rees”) in DVD commentaries for both shows. I thought I would like “Simpsons Confidential.” While it had its moments, the book was mostly a string of personal or locational attacks: Texas, South Carolina, Tim Allen, Republican politicians, etc. Never meet your heroes and don’t listen to their memoirs. I was previously let down in a similar fashion by Ron Perlman, Joely Fisher, Carrie Keagan, and Eric Idle. I was somehow able to tolerate the political asides of Billy Crystal, Carl Reiner, and Ken Levine (“laVYNE”) in their memoirs.
Thankfully, Audible refunded my credit for the book, even with only 55 minutes left to listen to. I used it to buy Jerry Seinfeld’s “Is This Anything?” I hope nothing makes me regret that purchase.
If you want to see Mike’s latest personal attacks on people he hates, he’s on Twitter at MikeReissWriter.

My Instagram post, 1/30/21; a screencap of Audible’s credit was the post photo

• All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage by Stacy Keach (foreword by Alec Baldwin, read by voice actress whose name, again, I missed) – Only political in the ’60s and early ’70s – blessed relief after enduring Mike Reiss
• Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld (chapter titles read by British voice actress) – Jerry’s jokes by decade, prefaced by synopses of his life in each decade
• Never Look at the Empty Seats: A Memoir by Charlie Daniels (1936-2020) – Nearly the opposite of Ken Levine and Mike Reiss politically – pleasant to my center-right ears – nice to learn about his full career besides “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey – Except for acknowledging 2020 events at the end, enjoyable to listen to – “NOTE TO SELF! …”
• Under the Black Hat: My Life in the WWE and Beyond by Jim Ross with Paul O’Brien (read by JR) – Focuses on JR’s WWF/WWE career, beginning at Wrestlemania XV in 1999 (six years after his initial debut) – for a wider life story, I’ll need to check out Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling

There, all caught up.

Until next year’s “Audiobooking” post, happy listening.