Recent books on tape
Robert Cooper
Never underestimate the power of the spoken word. Because of the success of Spoonface Steinberg (BBC Radio Collec- tion, £5.99, 1 hour) — 12,000 copies sold in four months — a book version will soon be in the shops. It tells the story of a seven- year-old Jewish girl facing death from can- cer. When originally broadcast on Radio 4, platoons of tattooed lorry drivers were said to have pulled into lay-bys to weep uncontrollably over their Yorkie Bars. Lee Hall's I Luv You, Jimmy Spud will be released in October (BBC Radio Collec- tion, £5.99, 1 hour). More tears are assured. Be warned. Do not attempt to lis- ten to Sian Phillips reading Elizabeth David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine (Penguin Audiobooks, £8.99) on an empty stomach. It is almost beyond human endurance to hear of the flavours and invit- ing smells without making a bee-line for the deli. We have the author to thank for delivering us from the austere days of corned beef and rice pudding, and Sian Phillips for such a delicious reading.
I doubt if garlic was top of Count Dracu- la's shopping list. He had an irritating habit of eating between meals instead. Bram Stoker's Dracula (Naxos, 4 hours, CD £12.99, Tape £8.99) is performed with tremendous zest by a cast starring Heath- cote Williams as Dracula and Brian Cox as Van Helsing. There's nothing like a trip to Transylvania to bring out the best in the Naxos sound-effect department; creaking doors, eerie music, bats flapping against the window-pane. A chilling experience.
Wendy Cope reading her collection of poems, Serious Concerns (Faber, Penguin Audiobooks, £8.99), provides us with an hour of cracking entertainment. The title poem is Cope's response to a Spectator arti- cle describing her as 'witty and unpreten- tious, which is both her strength and her weakness'. One of the joys is Cope's chat- ter between poems; random thoughts on anything from dieting and relationships to pollution and war. A gem, and shortlisted for a Talkie award in November.
Also recommended is the unabridged version of Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum (Chivers Audio, 12 hours 20 mins, £16.95). Enter the crazy world of Ruby Lennox, her family and antecedents. The strong plot and well- crafted characters are ideal for an audio book. Everyone we meet is daft; Susan Jameson manages to join in the fun but still remain firmly in command as storyteller.
Graham Swift's Last Orders (Sterling Audio, unabridged, 81/4 hours, £15.95) is disappointing. No fault of the plot, but whoever cast Michael Jayston as reader could have been more imaginative. He sounds far too much of a toff as he strug- gles to wrap his 'vocals' round the South London voices of the four blokes on a day- trip to Margate to scatter the ashes of their recently departed friend. Also, with so much dialogue, more voices would have helped us know who is talking; Jayston makes life confusing.
One of the drawbacks of Radio 4's Book at Bedtime is resisting the temptation to nod off mid-episode. A welcome tape then is Seamus Deane's Reading in the Dark (Reed Audio, 2 hours, abridged, £7.99). Stephen Rea's reading is mesmerising. He makes us believe that this is his story and the result is an emotion-charged two hours. The action is set amidst the troubles of Northern Ireland where we experience fear, betrayal and murder within the family.
Also from Ireland is Frank McCourt reading his childhood memoirs, Angela's Ashes (HarperCollins, Audio Books, 3 hours, abridged, £8.99). We soon find out why 'worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood'. Dimeless in New York and starving in Lim- erick, it's a miracle that McCourt survives; others in his family are not so fortunate. No professional actor could improve on the author's down-to-earth, often witty reading.
`Santa Monica Beach, 1993. Lithograph by Paul Hogarth. From Drawing on Life: The Autobiography of PautHogarth, introduced by Richard Ingrams (David & Charles, £30, pp. 192)
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