Red

I might listen to it again, or to parts of it that are particularly compelling and that describe transformative moments in the writer's life.

It's an autobiography so obviously the favorite character is Jane Lynch, the author and narrator of her own story.

Anytime an author narrates his or her own autobiography, it's a plus. A third-person narrator often misses the appropriate tone for specific incidents and feelings that are being conveyed. Carol Burnett's foreword did not add much. It seemed more like a kind of requisite endorsement from an established comic actress (

An unlikely star sees all her dreams come true.

The best things about this reading are 1) Lynch's own narration 2) Her willingness to tell the

No. Once is enough. That's not a bad thing. I rarely listen to audio books twice. I might buy the book in print or electronic to read parts of it again, but would not listed again.

Julia Child's challenges to keep an active career while caring for her husband as his health failed.

The narrator was far too animated with exaggerated vocal highs and lows and accents in all the wrong places. This was particularly jarring when she had to speak Julia's voice. She gave Julia a high-pitched, fast-paced whiny tone. Julia Child did have a unique voice but it was neither fast nor whiny. You can find dozens of videos of Julia Child online and Kimberly Farr's imitation sounds nothing like the real thing.

Farr also has a tendency when reading lists of things (ingredients in a dish, restaurant names, dinne party guests) to accelerate the pace and increase the tone as she reads. This got very tiring to listen to.

I think I laughed in some spots, but I can't remember.

The story itself is a little over the top. For example, Spitz has a tendency to over-dramatize instances that most people who lived through them know were more mundane. His use of exaggerated metaphor is also overdone, like when he calls someone "more connected than an IBM mainframe."