Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters
Written by: Mallory Ortberg Narrated by: Zach Villa, Amy Landon Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins Unabridged Audiobook Release Date:01-21-15 Publisher: Tantor Audio Imagine some of the famous (and infamous) characters from literature, including mythology, having access to the modern technology of texting and voice mail. The exchange between Gilgamesh and Ishtar is very funny. She is trying to convince him to come join her and he repeatedly points out that her former boyfriends are either dead or MIA. Plato trying to explain the allegory of the cave is hysterical. He is trying to explain it to someone who is taking it literally and wants to go save all the poor cave dwellers before the fire gets to them. It includes more modern works also, like two characters from Fight Club, discussing Fight Club. Never seen the movie or read the book but I do know the first rule of Fight Club so it was very funny. Texts from Jane Eyre is a great deal of fun to listen to. The narrators do an amazing job with the different characters and the emotions. The snark flows nicely. This is also one book that I think would work much much better an an audio than reading it. I did not read the book, physical or kindle. I listened to the Audible version. I know I am not doing this book justice in my description. It really is funny. The only reason is rated 4 instead of 5 stars because I am woefully ignorant of some of the pieces featured, like Daisy Miller, The Outsiders, and The Babysitters Club. At two hours and twenty-two minutes this is the perfect listen for a drive or just some free time that you would like to to be filled with humor.
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The City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison
Narrator: Alex Hyde-White, Bonnie MacBird, D. C. Fontana, David Gerrold, Gabrielle de Cuir, Harlan Ellison, J. Paul Boehmer, Jean Smart, Jim Meskimen, John Rubinstein, Judy Young, Larry Nemecek, LeVar Burton, Orson Scott Card, Richard Brewer, Richard Gilliland, Richard McGonagle, Robert Forster, Ryan Britt, Ryan C. Britt, Scott Brick, Stefan Rudnicki, Veronica Scott Published by Skyboat Media on 05 July 2016 Length: 8 hrs This review was first posted on https://audiobookreviewer.com/reviews/the-city-on-the-edge-of-forever-by-harlan-ellison/ The City on the Edge of Forever is ranked among the top episodes of the original Star Trek series. It was written by renowned science fiction author Harlan Ellison. But what was filmed and aired was not what Ellison wrote. He spent the next thirty years fighting with Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, and the legions of fans who held Rodenberry in deity-like devotion to tell the story of what happened to his version. The audiobook is broken into sections. It includes an introductory essay by Ellison, the two different “treatments” the script went through, the script itself, the revised script and an afterwards written by Peter David, D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, Melinda Snodgrass and George Takei. Harlan’s introductory essay is filled with vitriol. Since he narrates this section himself, it comes through loud but not clear. I had a hard time understanding everything that was said. Mr. Ellison’s emotion makes his speech unclear. Personally I feel this would have been better handled by a professional narrator. The treatments of the script are interesting. It is a winding road that takes us through the offices of Roddenberry and the TV executives. Each had their own perspective on what the story should look like. Ellison’s objections to the changes were overruled and ignored. When he tried to publicly discuss his dissatisfaction with the changed script, he was vilified by Roddenberry. The scripts, teleplays, differ greatly from what was aired. Listening to the teleplays as they were intended to be done is amazing. Several of the concepts/plot points were eliminated because either Rodenberry or the network execs were offended with them. SPOILER ALERT: One of these eliminated concepts shows up in a later episode where the Enterprise in an alternate universe is a pirate ship END SPOILER ALERT. Another concept that the network found offensive shows up in a Star Trek: Voyager episode if I remember correctly. All in all Ellison’s original teleplay was wonderful and elegant. What the public saw was considered one of the best episodes of the series. But if you have only ever had hamburger steak, you do not know how fantastic prime rib can be. The narration and performance of the audio book is good. The only part I really had issue with was the previously mentioned parts narrated by the author himself. Everything else was clear and easy to understand. There are several narrators, male and female, some with direct connections to the Star Trek franchise. They all do a good job. This is a must for Star Trek fans. I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. York must focus on addiction recovery programs (column)
Nann Halliwell2:24 p.m. EDT September 21, 2016 This article first appeared in the York Daily Record The topic of addiction and how to treat overdoses has been in the news quite a bit this year. The opioid/opiate addiction, whether it is prescription pills or heroin, is getting worse. It is already an epidemic in many areas of the country. While many news organizations and legislators focus on the immediacy of Narcan to save lives and legislation to control the prescribing of opioids, very few talk about the rehabilitation and recovery that addicts need. That is where the solution to this crisis lies, in recovery. If addicts cannot see a way through, a path that ends in success, it is impossible to stop the addiction. That is why the recovery process is so important. When addicts finally arrive at a rehab and recovery facility, it is because they have reached the bottom. They have lost everything due to their addiction. They have even lost hope. There are many treatment-based rehabs in our area. Treatment based means they are based on research or models. Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous provide a peer support model. There are some evidence-based programs where the plan is based on what has been shown through scientific evidence to work. I am not aware of any of those programs in the York area. I had the opportunity to visit an evidence-based program, Mending Fences located in Morriston, Florida, in October 2015 as it was just beginning to set up and then again in August 2016 when it was operating and had clients. Last year, Mending Fences resembled a skeleton with musculature and organs just coming together. The potential was visible although the finished product was not. The staff, literally the beating heart, was onsite and working to create the program that would allow clients to recover. By August 2016, the program had clients who had already finished the program and moved on to their next step in recovery. The program has follow-up component that continues to support clients once they go home. Wendy Lader, Ph.D., M.Ed., CEO of Mending Fences explained that the Mending Fences program is trauma informed. The staff works with clients using psychology to identify and work through the issues underlying addiction. While the programs are individualized to a degree, they all have the same basis, which is to discover the trauma basis for the addiction. The clients work in therapy-related activities and work with the horses in equine therapy. Currently, detox is done at another facility and then the patient comes to Mending Fences, but they have applied for a license to provide light detox. They would like to expand to adolescents, first responders and military personnel and add the necessary certification for mental health clients without addiction. "At Mending Fences we believe in treating the issues which frequently underlie the addiction, not just the symptoms, such as anxiety, depression or mood changes, but rather why the client might be suffering from those co-occurring disorders," stated Wendy Lader. She continued, "Our treatment team, (psychiatrist, nurses, psychologists, mental health therapists, substance abuse counselors dietitian and recreational therapist), conduct thorough assessments to help determine what components of the client's biological makeup and/or social environment may be contributing to his or her addiction and then create an individualized treatment plan to address those issues." Mending Fences currently has nine horses used in the program. For a horse to be in a psychotherapy program, it must be healthy and safe. It must engage well with people and be very calm when necessary. Marilyn Sokolof, Ph.D., the director equine facilitated psychotherapy, explained, “The horse will give clear feedback about the energy that people bring to them (they will clearly “say” yes or no, depending on the congruency of a person’s emotional state).” Mending Fences is located in a gorgeous area not far from Ocala. The area has a history of thoroughbred horse farms. The owner of Mending Fences, Rob Miller, built the facility as a premier rehab facility for horses. After the tragic death of his horse named Mending Fences at the 2007 Preakness, and the 2012 death of a trainer and horse, Mr. Miller closed the facility until he could develop a new use for it. He believed that something good could emerge from the two tragedies. In connection with Dr. Wendy Lader, his friend for 37 years, they developed a plan to make the facility a place of healing. It is important to educate about the dangers of addiction and to have Narcan available to stop overdoses. But it is equally important that plans for rehabilitation and recovery are supported and discussed. As in life, one solution does not fit all, and that is why programs like Mending Fences are so important. At the end of the day, the most important part of recovery is the client recovering hope, the hope that they can beat the addiction, the hope that they can resume a normal life, and the hope that each day will find them stronger in recovery than the day before. Nann Halliwell lives in East York. I began The Scattered and the Dead series about with Book 0.5 about six months ago. As the books have been published, 1.0, 1.5 and now 2.0, I have read them. It has been a very enjoyable series. The series continues following Fiona, Lorriane, Ray, Baghead and Decker. New characters like Marcus are introduced.
The world that the authors created in the first book disintegrates and burns. As the old world is destroyed, new worlds arise. It is not the same civilization as before. It is many different ones. What they are is determined by who formed them and under what circumstances. They are all brutal. The action in the book happens at a steady pace. There is never a boring minute. The characters continue to change as the world around them changes. I think the reason I have enjoyed this series so much is the “grayness” of the characters. There is no black or white. No one is perfectly good or purely evil, although a few come very close to the second one. It makes the characters more realistic to me. Based on the ending of The Scattered and the Dead Book 2, the series is far from over. Good news for fans like me. I received a free copy from the authors in exchange for an honest review. Title: The Jolly Roger Social Club
Author: Nick Foster Narrator: Donald Corren Publisher/Date: Blackstone Audio, 07/12/16 http://www.audiobookjukebox.com/ The Jolly Roger Social Club is a true crime story that details the murder of five people by William Dathan Holbert. What makes this story so unusual is that the victims were members of the ex-pat community living in the Republic of Panama. They chose Panama because they believed they could live with a higher standard of living than in the United States and they thought they would be safer. Ultimately it was neither. I first heard of “Wild Bill” Holbert several years ago. When the audiobook came out, I requested it from Audiobook Jukebox because I felt I had a unique perspective as a review, I spent time in the Panama Canal Zone as a child. I am familiar history and culture. It is an important part of the equation as the book does a terrific job detailing. The story details Holbert as he continuously reinvents himself as he stays one step ahead of the law. When Holbert and his girlfriend Reese arrived in the Darklands area after wandering around Costa Rica and other areas of Northern Panama, they fall in with the ex-pat community whose motto is live and let live. They keep to themselves, do not assimilate into the Panamanian community. The community isolation by culture and geography, most of Darklands is accessible by boat only, is perfect for this con-man. The book is fascinating cautionary tale. The trail does have a lot of twists and turns which lead to a thrilling conclusion. Donald Corren does a great job narrating. His voice is pleasant to listen to and he enunciates clearly. I would listen to another book he narrated. If you enjoy the true crime genre, I highly suggest The Jolly Roger Social Club. I received a copy of the audiobook from The Audiobook Jukebox in exchange for an honest review. |
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