FIRST WORDS

An anthology of aural essays, monologues, reminiscences and interviews, some complete and some excerpted, some taped on camera and some before a live audience. Writer/readers include stand-bys, such as Spalding Gray, Bailey White, Wallace Shawn and Andrei Codrescu, plus some less familiar to audiophiles and National Public Radio listeners. Gray and the Will Rogersish Tom Bodett seem peculiarly flat. Some successful pieces--Peter Mathiessen's anecdote on Nepal, Codrescu's sardonic "The Difference" and Nora Dunn's hilarious "Ashley Ashley" make, by contrast, some other offerings sound precious and forced. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 98]