as enthralling as its subject. The book
chronicles the history and evolution of the
Holmes phenomenon and its enduring
popularity through the seemingly endless
series of incarnations and reincarnations of
the legendary detective. There’s a massive
amount of ground covered in Boström’s
work, and voice actor Grindell presents
it all with a simple, deliberately paced
reading. While much of the information
is fascinating, Grindell adds little excitement to the reading, and robotic pacing
dulls down the narrative. The narration
makes the audiobook a snoozefest. A
Mysterious hardcover. (Aug.)
Wild Things: The Joy of Reading
Children’s Literature as an Adult
Bruce Handy, read by the author. HighBridge
Audio, unabridged, 6 CDs, 7. 5 hrs., $34.99
ISBN 978-1-6816-8789-6
Reading his book in a friendly and
welcoming voice, Handy revisits classic
children’s literature from his youth and
considers the staying power of each as he
reads them to his own children. He discusses classic picture books such as
Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are
and series such as the Oz, Narnia, and
Ramona Quimby books. In each chapter,
he explores a specific book, its background,
related titles, and what he considers the
most poignant elements of the story. In
narrating, Handy clearly communicates
his enthusiasm for rereading the books;
listeners can easily imagine him sitting
next to his children’s bed reading to them.
He has a consistent cadence like that of a
professional narrator that keeps the prose
moving along but is tinged with youthful
exuberance, which proves essential as he
narrates passages from the stories or discusses his children’s or his own initial reactions. It’s a convivial performance sure to
please anyone with a fondness for classic
children’s books. A Norton hardcover. (Aug.)
An Inconvenient Sequel:
Truth to Power
Al Gore, read by the author, Sterling K. Brown,
Danny Burnstein, Marin Ireland, and Shailene
Woodley. S&S Audio, abridged, 4 CDs, 4. 5
hrs., $24.99 ISBN 978-1-5082-4006-8
Gore’s sequel to An Inconvenient Truth
has a wide scope that includes an update
on the state of climate change, a look at
those who have taken up the cause since the
with various generals and advisers becomes
tedious in the audiobook, with Burns
merely reading “Johnson” and “McNamara”
followed by a rendering of their remarks. A
Knopf hardcover. (Sept.)
The Odyssey of Echo Company:
The 1968 Tet Offensive and
the Epic Battle to Survive the
Vietnam War
Doug Stanton, read by C.J. Wilson. S&S Audio,
unabridged, 7 CDs, 9 hrs., $29.99 ISBN 978-1-
5082-2757-1
Actor Wilson’s sensitive reading
heightens Stanton’s story of one soldier
and his platoon during the brutal 1968
Tet Offensive. Stanley Parker, a typical
American teenager, is spurred to join the
Army in 1967 by a patriotic desire to
serve his country and naive visions of battlefield glory. He and his fellow members
of Echo Company arrive in-country and
are plunged into the chaos of firefights,
booby traps, and a relentless and elusive
enemy. Parker is wounded three times; he
eventually makes it home, but the trauma
of war stays with him. Wilson brings a
calm, world-weary spirit to his reading
that effectively captures the disillusionment and emotional exhaustion of
Parker’s time in Vietnam. His recounting
of a child being killed by the Viet Cong
for accepting a can of peaches from Parker
and his resulting emotional breakdown is
presented with heart-wrenching clarity, as
are numerous scenes of death and destruction. Wilson ever so slightly picks up the
pace and adds energy to recount Parker’s
return to Vietnam in 2014, where he meets
a former Viet Cong soldier at a site where
the two fought against each other. It makes
for a very moving ending to this intense
war story. A Scribner hardcover. (Sept.)
From Holmes to Sherlock:
The Story of the Men and
Women Who Created an Icon
Mattias Boström, trans. from the Swedish by
Michael Gallagher, read by Shaun Grindell.
HighBridge Audio, unabridged, 14 CDs, 17
hrs., $44.99 ISBN 978-1-6816-8621-9
Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart
companion Dr. Watson have captivated
audiences from the late Victorian era to
the present day. Unfortunately, the audio
edition of this work of literary criticism
by Swedish author Boström isn’t nearly
the audio edition. Ballerini, a veteran tele-
vision actor with recurring roles on The
Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, performs
the epic 16-hour story so well that a lis-
tener can get lost in it. Ballerini’s voice can
be gentle and carefully modulated or edgy
and fast-talking in character. Particularly
memorable are his portrayals of the comi-
cally indignant Peachy (and her angry
parents), whose ire is palpable enough for
Nicky to need to skip town, and rival love
interest Calla, who runs the Shakespearean
theater that inspires Nicky’s drastic
change of course. Ballerini’s reading of
Trigiani’s novel will have listeners attuned
throughout. A Harper hardcover. (June)
Nonfiction
The Vietnam War:
An Intimate History
Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, read by Ken
Burns. Random House Audio, abridged, 8 CDs,
10 hrs., $40 ISBN 978-0-307-97081-7
Emmy Award–winning filmmaker
Burns continues his tradition of narrating
the audio abridgment of his documentary
work, as he has done before with The Civil
War, The National Parks, and other projects. The results are mixed, but that’s not
because Burns lacks talent as a narrator; he
has a measured, clear voice, and a strong
delivery. Rather, the abridgment itself and
the limitations of the audio format cause
this product to falter—missing are the
intense battle images, the unforgettable
music of the 1960s and ’70s, and the personal interviews with Vietnamese speakers.
Here, the only eyewitness recordings
spliced in with the narration are ones by
Americans. As a result, Burns, with his
natural American accent, becomes the
mouthpiece for Vietnamese soldiers and
civilians, which creates a distance for the
listener. The recordings of U.S. presidents
