It's hard to avoid binge-listening to this hilarious celebrity memoir. The author is even more fun in real life than he is in his electrifying performances on stage and screen. Covering his life before landing his first role on Broadway, Rannells's stories about growing up in Omaha and struggling as a young actor in New York City are immeasurably enhanced by his emotional narration. He doesn't shy away from difficult memories of sexually predatory older men. In these passages there is an understated blank tone to his delivery that captures the survival of abuse with haunting realism. Rannells brings an entire theater company of voices to this production. His words energetically rise and fall as he creates an explosively creative listening experience. J.T. 2020 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Pub Date: March 12, 2019
Duration: 7 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781984843388
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
James Michener tells the real stories behind the man and his books. The recording is read with skill and consistency although the reader does little to enhance the robust, larger-than-life incidents related in the book. Due to the first-person narrative format, there is no opportunity for the narrator to change his voice. This makes some chapters monotonous as they go on and on in the typical Michener style. The listener may also become confused because the stories are not told chronologically. This is not a great choice for the audio format, but Michener fans may stick with it to the end.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 22 hrs
Publisher: Books on Tape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
In a quest for a sense of inner contentment and self-worth, Gloria Steinem brings the reader on a journey of investigation and discovery. Steinem reads the text herself in a straightforward and friendly, but not intimate, presentation which is so easy to listen to it invites repetition--thus ensuring the painless relearning of the lessons of the book. It's difficult to tell from the reading that this audiobook is abridged; each section can stand alone. Nonetheless, the listener wished the book were unabridged. Steinem left me wanting to learn more.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Dove Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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