Though they feel tacked on, the essays about her excursions abroad are, in fact, the best part of the audiobook. With the exception of a near assault when visiting the Masai in Africa, Powell is at her most amusing describing her adventures in the abattoirs and with the meats of other lands.
Part of the problem with listening to this is that Powell reads it. It is not her performance, which is generally quite good, especially given that she is a not a professional narrator. She can, however, sound brittle and uncomfortable when reading about her affairs, one-night stands, and many other personal problems, and her discomfort becomes ours. If an actress had read this book our level of unease may have been somewhat reduced, but as it stands, parts of her story can actually make a listener cringe.
A lighter and far less stressful audiobook is “Good Omens,” the collaboration between the wildly imaginative minds of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. In this comic novel, the apocalypse is imminent, though it may be held off by the unlikely friendship of an angel, Aziraphale, and a demon, Crowley. Both have been living on earth for quite some time and rather like it. Hate to see it end, in fact.
The halting of total annihilation is no easy task, especially since the anti-Christ, who must usher in the apocalypse, doesn’t quite realize who he really is because of a switch-up at birth. The four “Horsepersons of the Apocalypse,’’ who learn of the exchange, are zipping around on Harleys trying to find the Satan child, only to encounter the “ other Four Horsemen,’’ a chapter of Hell’s Angels. Also trying to find the anti-Christ is Anathema Device, who owns the only copy of an astonishing accurate, prophetic book written by one of her ancestors, Agnes Nutter, a 17th-century witch.
