Audio Book Review: I'm carpooling with Blair Brown

I must admit that the only thing keeping me out of the Birmingham News in yet another road rage story are the audio books I download or check out from the library. Listening to audio books while fighting rush hour traffic on 1-65 is my equivalent of counting to ten.

Anyone remember the actress Blair Brown from The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, circa 1987? Ah, my dependable Saturday night date. What a sweetheart. Anyway, I just finished listenting to the audio book Digging to America and I must say that Blair Brown’s rich voice reading Anne Tyler’s exquisite phrasing are a match made in heaven.

Digging to America tells the story of two couples, one American and the other Iranian, who meet at the Baltimore airport as they await the arrival of their adopted Korean baby girls. From this day forward their lives intertwine in a clumsy but satisfying way as their children grow and they reach out to embrace each other’s cultures.

Who knew Blair could do so many voices? Bitsy’s aggressive American voice; Dave's forlorn voice; Maryam’s controlled and Ziba’s timid, heavily-accented voices. It’s like I’ve got my own personal theatre inside my car.

The only other voice to captivate me so was Sally Darling’s reading of To Kill a Mockingbird. But that’s another review. Take Blair along for the ride and keep the roads safe.