Grand Central Publishing 2008
There is something wonderful about a great audio book. While I read Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World in actual print first, I really fell in love with the story after listening to it on audio. Susan McInerney does the narrating for it but it sounds just how I imagined Vicki Myron’s voice. In other words, it sounds like your mother quietly telling you a story. It’s so familiar and soothing. And here’s the thing, it came to me at the perfect time. You see, I am a cat lady without a cat for the first time in more than 15 years. So, being able to share this story made me feel comforted. I believe a lot of that had to do with how well the story was written but also how well the story was read. I don’t often listen to audio books. It seems I gravitate to non fiction stuff over a fiction tale. The first I ever bought was a lecture on Walt Whitman. I have listen to that one 3 times fully and numerous times just one or two lectures. But Dewey is by far my favorite.
If you have never read this lovely little book and you are a fan of any one of these: cats, libraries, small towns, farms, or stories of survival, this is a perfect book for you. Even if you only are interested in just one of those you will be surprised at how much you care about the others by the end of this tale. Vicki does such a seamless job of blending not only her personal life but also the life of a small town- a town that could exist anywhere in the States- with the story of a very special cat. The story takes place in the mid-80s for the most part and during the farming crisis in the middle of our country. Now I was born in 1986 so I don’t really remember it but she reveals how it affected people and I was moved. Then she stirs in her own crushing story of love, loss and serious illness. She battles breast cancer so valiantly all while being a single mom with a deadbeat drunkard ex-husband. In the end, she has a beautiful daughter and a fabulous job at her local library. Unless you have no heart this story will make you cry at some point.
What about you? Do you ever listen to audio books? Or would you like to and just haven’t known where to start? They can get pretty expensive but do you think it’s worth it if it makes the book even better? If you read Dewey, what were you most moved by? Dewey’s story? Vicki’s story? Or the story of the struggling small town?
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I love this writer. She’s so funny and smart and just cool. I picked up Assassination Vacation used at Bogart’s because I loved her stuff and the list of guests seemed really cool. Truth be told if I see Jon Stewart’s name attached I pretty much buy it on the spot. But this is another case of blending in her own life along with the deaths of presidents. It sounds morbid and it is but it’s also brilliantly funny. She gives you little tidbits about each president that I never knew. And even some small coincidences that they had in common with their assassins. So, you come out smarter than you were before. Plus, she has a way of delivering her own lines that I think I would have missed had I read it in print.
See you later, see you soon.
The BookArista 