William

I'd heard a lot about Tina Fey, but other than the ubiquitous clips of her Sarah Palin imitations, had managed never to see her on either SNL or 30 Rock. So I suppose a lot of the nuances were lost on me. There were parts that were hilarious but her narration was ultimately off-putting. She had a tendency to swallow words, especially in her asides, and often it was just corny. By the end of the book, I felt I had had enough Fey to last me for some time - and no interest to tune in to see more.

I liked Parker's approach of alternating episodes from the title character's life with narrative chapters in the present, so we get a sense of him organically. Would have loved to see how he fit in with the rest of Spenser's

It's vintage Spenser, with an unusual set of villains.

The scene in which Spenser finally gets Jumbo to talk.

Yes.

Though I have a hard time picturing Joe Mantegna as the presumably Irish/English Spenser, Mantegna reads the character with flair and makes Spenser's wise-assery come alive.

Yeah, I missed Marsters too (though maybe not as much as the fan who called him John Marsters) but recall that Marsters' first outing in the series wasn't nearly as polished as his second book. I thought John Glover got into the groove as the book went along, and forgot about the narrator in the pace and tension of the story. Harry's demise seems to have gotten his attention, in a good way. I can't wait to see how or if he keeps the changes in the future.

An ugly, plodding,, thudding bore of a book peopled by cartoon characters and fueled by scant imagination. It's only redeeming feature is Roy Dotrice's wonderful narration though I kept wondering if he wished he were back under New York City with Vincent. Don't waste your time.

I'm interested in the period and in the often untold stories, such as the role of Tory/Loyalist groups in fighting against independence. But the narrator's style made it hard to engage with the content - he had little animation, and every. sentence. or. clause. came. to. a. dead. stop. I've heard many other histories read with vigor and even emotion, and was disappointed in this.

Faulkner isn't for everyone, and it took me several tries to latch onto him, but once I did, years ago now, it was a revelatory experience. Hearing Will Patton read Faulkner and bring voices to those characters is another revelation - I hate having to shut down the ipod and leave the story hanging.

With its dark humor, amazing plot twists and compelling stories within a story, "The Memory of Running" was one of the most enjoyable and hard-to-stop-listening tales I have heard in a long time. McLarty's reading gave it an authenticity that at times made me believe this was a real, factual account. I'm saving it to listen again!