BELL HAMMERS by Lancelot
Schaubert was published a few years ago, but the audiobook was just made
available on NetGalley. The cover is quite memorable and I had been intrigued
by this collection of tales involving Southern Illinois. Schaubert relates decade
long adventures involving Wilson Remus, aka Remmy, a caring, mischievous soul
if there ever was one. An early example is his decision to pee publicly into
the mop bucket of his one room school house in order to distract his classmates
from the horrific radio news about Pearl Harbor. Often compared to the writings
of Mark Twain and described as “a hoot” by Publishers
Weekly, BELL HAMMERS spans seventy years.
Although I did not find the short essays to be that engaging or consistently humorous,
this work is clearly a passion for the author/narrator and describes an
oft-forgotten piece of Americana.
It is interesting to note the changes that are occurring in the audiobook field. Just recently, The Wall Street Journal posted an article titled, “He’s Been Dead for Nearly 10 Years. Now He’s Narrating Your Audiobook” in which they describe how new AI technology is being applied. They profile a variety of newer companies like DeepZen, a London based start-up, and Speechki from Austin and include comments from a number of established publishers. Fascinating to see (and hear!) how this technology is developing!
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