Creationists: Selected Essays, 1993-2006
A grandfatherly gruffness has crept into the speech of the septuagenarian Doctorow. His aging voice is not at all amiss, for Doctorow's essays on literary and other creative minds (such as Harpo Marx and Albert Einstein) contain the sort of wisdom that should be passed on to the young. Doctorow's canonical choices (Melville, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Harriet Beecher Stowe) will make the listener feel well read as well as amused and enlightened. The essays are best taken one at a time, for Doctorow reads slowly and without affect. He even refuses to draw attention to his often wry remarks, as when he calls Edgar Allan Poe "not exactly the boy next door." Most essays begins on a new track, but this is not always the case, so unfortunately, listeners who have had enough of Ishmael or Jay Gatsby will have to fast forward to find the starting point of the next piece. Doctorow's gentle wisdom will remind listeners of what they liked about their favorite teacher: both knowledge and humor without a trace of pomposity. This is an audio to savor and then to pass down to children or grandchildren who knowJawsbut notMoby Dick.Copyright© American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.