A GOOMBA'S GUIDE TO LIFE

As satisfying as a bowl of pasta fagioli, this audiobook is delivered with tongue firmly in jowl by the titular goomba, Steven R. Schirripa. You may know him from "The Sopranos" and numerous films. His Brooklyn accent is as thick as a Bolognese sauce, and his humor as generous as portions at an Italian family dinner. While some "inside information" is shared about the goomba's life, there is plenty of broad satire and a germ of truth in all that he says, despite the clichés of urban Italian- Americans. What we carry away from Schirripa's witty and intelligent banter is one real truth--that goombas are, as he says, the Italian equivalent of the Jewish mensch--an honorable man with a heart of gold. D.J.B.
(c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 04]