Monday, April 8, 2013

FROM THE ALOTT5MA TRAVEL DESK, WEEP NO MORE DIVISION: Commenter Bill couldn't help but wonder, on a day when the target city is much in the news:
I'm meeting some friends for the Kentucky Derby and was hoping someone had any ideas for things to do. I'll be in Louisville from Thursday through Sunday.

And a second question for those who have no answer for the first. I'm looking for audiobook suggestions for my 12 hour roundtrip drive. I'm not much of an audiobook person, as I only have two. The one I recommend to everyone is "True Grit" as brilliantly read by Donna Tartt (here's a 10 minute sample). The other is "Snow Crash," which I enjoy, but then I'm a Neal Stephenson groupie.

10 comments:

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  2. Jordan9:41 AM

    I found the Louisville Slugger factory to be a bit underwhelming, but I've heard great things about the Ali Museum.

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  3. Years and years ago I heard Joe Mantegna read an Elmore Leonard novel and that was pretty great. It looks like he, naturally enough, also reads a lot of the Spenser novels, if that's your jam. And, he's apparently read The Godfather.

    Amy Sedaris's reading of her "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" was hysterically funny and weird. The book is a cookbook/entertaining guide which seems odd for a good audiobook but she makes it work. Plus, when I got it on CD, the last CD had all the recipes for download as text files.

    I've read, but not heard, Tina Fey's Bossypants, and I hear the audiobook may actually be better as Fey does such a good job reading it.

    If you pick your audiobooks by who's doing the reading, this is a fun place to see some of who's read what: http://www.audioeditions.com/audiobook-readers.aspx

    Fun facts: Neil Patrick Harris has done editions of 3 Beverly Cleary books. Laura Linney did a Little Women, which seems sadly to only be available on cassette.

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  4. La Binsk1:36 PM

    I can recommend the following audiobooks:

    The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection as read by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone. Suitably moody and creepy - although you may want to save that for Halloween.

    Homicide: A Year On the Killimg Streets [Abridged] as read by Reed Diamond. This is the book written by David Simon which gave rise to the series, Homicide: Life On the Street. And, of course it's read by one of the TV series' actors - the one who played Detective Mike Kellerman. Interesting with a wry, dark sense of humor.

    A Song of Ice and Fire series by as read by Roy Dotrice. He really does a marvelous job in bringing all the many different characters to life.

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  5. victoria2:10 PM

    I am not much of an audiobook person either, but I've been on a big Gary Shteyngart kick lately and I have a feeling Super Sad True Love Story would work tremendously well in that format.

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  7. StvMg8:31 PM

    I'll second the recommendation for the Ali Museum. I went there about five years ago and thought it was outstanding. Lots of video and interactive stuff rather tha just showing his gloves from various fights.

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  8. We listened to one of the Beverly Cleary books done by NPH (Henry Huggins) on a long road trip last summer--LOVED IT. (With 4 kids in the car now, our audio book selections have changed.) I am thrilled to know he did two more, we'll have to be looking for those at the library.

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  9. Louisville - check out Museum Row. Also, the restaurant scene was really good. Hammerheads has great bbq, and Meridian Cafe is a delicious breakfast/lunch place that is fantastic at accommodating food issues.

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  10. bill.8:49 PM

    thank you for the recommendations.

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