Obama Confidential:Strange, Odd & Bizarre Letters to the 44th President , by Marc Berlin

Title: Obama Confidential: Strange, Odd & Bizarre Letters to the 44th President [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]

Author: Marc Berlin

Publisher: Spoken Word Inc.

Date: December 1, 2014

Narrators: Jim Meskimen & Tamara Meskimen

Listening Length: 2 hours and 50 minutes





About the Audiobook
From celebrities as diverse as Warren Buffet, Bill Clinton, and Steven Spielberg, to anonymous everyday citizens like the minimum-wage waitress in Oklahoma and a dry cleaner named Al Kayda in Wisconsin,Obama hears it, and gets it, from everyone. And when you're the president, absolutely no subject is off-limits. An ex-student in Illinois is drowning in an ocean of debt; a harried housewife in Wyoming has dubious ideas about how to save hard-earned pennies; while a gun owner in Tennessee vigorously defends his right to bear arms. Obama, who's obviously a very busy man, sometimes answers with a brief innocuous letter of his own. Echoing another classic of U.S. history, Alex de Tocqueville's ; Democracy in America;, 'Obama Confidential' offers a vivid, consistently amusing snapshot of America in the second decade of the 21st century, with hilarious results.

My Take
This review is way overdue and I feel bad about that, but in my defense, I have this audiobook in my car and listen to it all the time. I love it and it keeps me laughing. The different letters that are "written" to the president are hilarious. They are very appropriate for the areas that they "come from". What makes it even better are the different voices that you hear along with each letter. To be perfectly honest, there were times when I forgot that it really wasn't the president or they were made up people. The narrator is very good at changing his voice and mimicking other people.

There are three different discs. All together it is about 3 hours long. This makes it perfect for when you are on a trip and you need to pass time. There are pictures of the president and his wife on the discs. It gives you more of a feeling that he is the voice that is answering the letters. The box set is nice and small and can fit in your glove box.

I don't tend to listen to a lot of audiobooks, but am glad that I had the chance to review this one. Like I stated before, I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Granted, some of them are straight up political, but a lot of them won't be heard as super serious because of the different voices and storyline for all the letters.

About the Author

Marc Berlin is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, author, and satirist.

Berlin is the author of three books of humor, That Cloud Looks Like Jesus, The Skeptic’s Handbook and Obama Confidential.

He grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts and attended The University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania he went to film school at Columbia in New York City for a year. He says he learned zero, so he went out to Los Angeles and became a script analyst. Among other things, his background includes comedy writing for Joan Rivers and being a script analyst for Jack Nicholson.

He and his wife, Heidi, live in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They have no pets.

I was given this complimentary audiobook by Bostick Communications and the author for my honest review.

Wages Creek, by Jeffrey Hickey

Title: Wages Creek

Paperback: 40 pages

Date: April 23, 2014 (2nd ed.)

Publisher: Big-n-Boo Productions

Language: English

About the author: Jeffrey Hickey is an author of three adult novels, The Coach's Son, Morehead, and scary, man. He is currently working on his fourth novel, a piece of historical fiction, Where She Stands. He also wrote and scored a CD of stories for teenage children and adults called Bat and Bones, which will be re-released in the fall of 2014. All his work is or will be available in print, kindle and audio book. He wrote and scored Wages Creek in May and June of 1994. While awaiting publication of this book, he picked many blackberries, and always kept a spatula close by in case things got out of hand.

About the book: There was once a campground on the Northern California coast where a fresh, bubbling stream met the vast Pacific Ocean. The sandy beach was large, the grasses were tall and soft, three ducks had a problem, one man had a cold, and a horseshoe pit was in the middle of the solution. This is the story of a trip my family took to Wages Creek.

My take: Can I start out by saying awesome story! It makes me remember all the times that my parents took us camping when we were younger. We had a lot of fun, but not sure if it was as fun as what happens in this story. I read the book first and then listened to it (you can download it from iTunes or Audible.com) with my daughter while she held the book in her hand. Wages Creek, by Jeffrey Hickey is a breath of fresh air. Listening to the story being read by him really gets you into the book. He is very over the top while reading the story. But I think this is awesome. It totally had my daughter laughing, grabbed her attention and kept her attention throughout the whole story. 

I purposely read the book first without listening to it. I wanted to see how the story read. Most of the time when you hear a story being read, it is different from when you read it yourself. I have to say, this one is different. The read was just as good as listening to it. The author's writing is very engaging. He makes you want to keep reading so that you can figure out what happens. I feel like his style of writing benefits all ages. Not only younger kids will enjoy this story, but older ones as well. I think that everyone should include this book on their child's bookshelf. I don't think there is a person who wouldn't enjoy reading/listening to this story. My daughter listened/followed along with the book twice in a row. She really enjoyed it.

I received this book from Bostick Communications for my honest opinion.