Kirsten Potter delivers a spirited performance of this eclectic collection of essays by American fiction writer Ann Beattie. Potter's warm, midrange voice and attentive pacing pull listeners into the closely observed pieces, which range widely from a visit to painter Grant Wood's Iowa hometown to an appreciation of novelist Elizabeth Spencer amd a discussion of Alice Munro's literary oeuvre. Beattie, a PEN/Faulkner Award winner, displays her trademark humor, elegant prose styling, and critical insight throughout the collection. While most listeners will recognize many of Beattie's topics, Potter's excellent performance ensures that even the unfamiliar is interesting. By varying the tempo, speaking conversationally, and projecting an audible smile when a sentence is amusing, Potter keeps listeners engaged throughout.
Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
Duration: 8 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798212325554
Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Inspiring collections of Angelou reading her poetry. These selections showcase Angelou's smooth, lyrical voice and her warm vitality. Her innate rhythm celebrates her verse and offers the poems to listeners as they should be remembered. Occasionally Angelou comments between the selections, and occasionally she interjects a resonant laugh.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: N/A
Publisher: Random House Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
An audiobook that’s best experienced one chapter at a time, each essay like a daily letter from a friend visiting home.
A series of reflections on Venezuela’s past, present, and future, combined with a travelogue of the Venezuelan author’s visits there after fleeing to Canada. Gustavo Rex’s narration is clear and listenable. His performance has a momentum that propels listeners from sentence to sentence, though his tone, pitch, and style throughout are so consistent that most scenes and chapters are not audibly distinct from one another. This matches the prose, which meanders without a traditional narrative and doesn’t have strong peaks or valleys of emotion.
An audiobook that’s best experienced one chapter at a time, each essay like a daily letter from a friend visiting home.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
Duration: 8 hrs, 12 mins
DD ISBN: 9781668660508
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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