FAMILY AFFAIRS

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with LOVE HURTS.]--These two programs consist of well-written contemporary short stories, literary but not highbrow, about love or family life, performed by experienced and sometimes well-known actors before appreciative live audiences. They're pure pleasure. The stories are by turns funny, touching, or sad. The performances range from good to excellent (with Jeff Goldblum's delivery of an Arthur Miller story the best). Only the final piece is marred by what seems to be badly edited-in segments recorded after the fact. Otherwise, both the readings and the audience reactions enhance the listener's experience, demonstrating that fine stories are not dead things on a page, but living experiences waiting to be shared. W.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 06]