THE PRINCE OF FROGTOWN

I'm not saying that Rick Bragg is the only person who could have read his memoir, but he brings an intimacy and emotion to the work that another narrator would be hard-pressed to match. In addition, he's an accomplished raconteur. He offers up just enough of his native Alabama accent to give the work flavor but not so much that he can't be easily understood north of the Mason-Dixon line. His writing style is eminently listenable. He fills it with colorful metaphors, such as "It was a time when if you had a tattoo, you'd better be a Marine, and if you wore an earring, you'd better be a pirate." This is the kind of book you not only don't want to turn off at the end of a disc, you don't want the book itself to end. R.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2008]