YOU BETTER NOT CRY Stories for Christmas

In the earliest of this series of Christmas reminiscences, Burroughs's performance seems manic and exaggerated, but that's intentional: His reading is appropriate to the loopy childhood terror he was and the dysfunctional family he came from. Even listeners who feel put off should persist. While his life doesn't calm down much (until the last piece, which verges on the trivial), his reading becomes more conventional—but never ordinary. In two key pieces—one about a lover with AIDS, one about his drinking—he matches fine, perceptive writing with heartfelt, note-perfect narrating, achieving an emotional power few audiobooks can match. Burroughs’s life can be a wild ride, and his reading can match it, but it's a ride worth taking. W.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2010]