Congo Journey, by Redmond O'Hanlon (Penguin, 4 tapes, 5 and a half hrs, £10.99 in UK)
Thank goodness. I nearly went blind trying to read this book in minuscule-print paperback - so, just in time for the hols, here it is in audio format, read with a refreshing lack of pomposity and impressive fluency by its genial author. Apart from its intrinsic interest - the Peoples' Republic of the Congo being one of the most inaccessible countries on earth, thanks to a combination of climate and communism - Congo Journey is remarkable for its attention both to mundanely realistic details and outlandishly arcane points of natural history. What makes it almost physically addictive, though, is its quasi-fictional focus on its trio of central characters - Lary Shaffer, the wisecracking American scientist who is, O'Hanlon discovers three days into the expedition, in remission from multiple sclerosis; Marcellin Agnagna, the "native" scientist whose culturally split personality is dwarfed only by his rampant womanising; and O'Hanlon himself, forced to confront a few inner demons along with the bugs and bad cooking of travel writing legend.
The Untouchable, by John Banville (HarperCollins, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)
John Banville's dizzyingly elegant study of an ageing spook is both mordant and poignant, and Simon Callow's equally elegant reading had me catching my breath, chortling and, a couple of times, scrubbing great snuffly tears off my cheeks. The exquisitely tired note which Callow injects into the voice of the elder Victor Maskell is particularly memorable.
The Last Don, by Mario Puzo, read by Joe Mantegna (Random House, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £12.99 in UK)
"Life is what it is: you are what you are." Upon such banalities, muttered in a darkly Sicilian accent, were Mafia empires built - and it's a favourite saying of Don Domenico, the elderly emperor at the centre of this simple but engaging yarn. He wants his grandchildren to live their lives free from criminal activity - all the while, of course, enjoying the little luxuries for which those criminal activites have paid: sports cars, designer houses, etc, etc. Joe Mantegna, veteran of many an on-screen Mafia skirmish, reads with tongue firmly in cheek.
Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood, read by Diana Quick (HarperCollins, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)
Atwood creates a tense, sinister atmosphere in her 1996 Booker-shortlisted novel, which revolves around the guilt or innocence of Grace Marks, locked up at the age of sixteen for the horrific murder of her employer and his housekeeper. Diana Quick works miracles with Atwood's dream-like prose and a cast of thoroughly unsympathetic nasties.
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, with full cast (Naxos, 4 CDs, 4 hrs, £11.99 in UK)
The play's the thing here - no tricks or special effects, just lots of lovely Shakespeare, acted with punch and panache by a cast which includes Anton Lesser as Hamlet, Edward de Souza as Claudius and Susan Engel as Gertrude. A clever sidestepping of the obvious sees Gorecki's Third Symphony join Lutoslawski, Norgard and a theorbo, of all things, on the soundtrack. An impressive treat - and, at not much more than a tenner for the full text on four CDs, an affordable one.
The Yellow Admiral, by Patrick O'Brian, read by Robert Hardy (HarperCollins, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)
The jolly hockey-sticks tone of Patrick O'Brian's boys' own adventures doesn't appeal to me, and I find Robert Hardy's relentless ebullience irritating in the extreme, so this was always going to be a losing combination - in Hardy's favour, however, I must point out that his characterisation of Stephen Maturin, ship's doctor, part-time spy and oddball Irishman, is extremely easy on the ear.
The X-Files: EBE, by Les Martin, read by Kerry Shale (HarperCollins, 2 CDs, £9.99 in UK)
Whaddya mean, what's an EBE? If you can't say "extraterrestrial biological entity" ten times without stumbling, don't bother even opening up this double-CD X-File, read with his usual sparkle by Kerry Shale. The cover opens up into a fuzzy, silly poster of Mulder and Scully which only the most hardened exophile would regard as de rigueur: buffs, however, will realise at once the convenience of CD format for checking over exactly who said what to whom at which close encounter.
Cosi Fan Tutti, by Michael Dibdin, read by Martin Shaw (HarperCollins, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)
If people are going to mispronounce the title of Mozart's exquisite opera, they almost invariably do it a la the title of this tricksy thriller, which combines a number of apparently random storylines into a plot that closely echoes Mozart and da Ponte's, with certain judicious twists. All a bit selfconsciously clever, and as cops go, the detective Aurelio Zen is - well, let's face it, a bit dull. Martin Shaw is a suprisingly unmusical reader - his Italians sound like cheap Russians out of a James Bond subplot.
Deception on His Mind, by Elizabeth George, read by Derek Jacobi (Hodder, 4 tapes, 6 hrs, £10.99 in UK)
Elizabeth George plays a dangerous game in her latest whodunnit, using antiAsian prejudice as a narrative weapon. Like all weapons it occasionally discharges when it shouldn't, leaving a vaguely unpleasant aftertaste. The storyline is strongly maintained, however, and Derek Jacobi's delicious voice takes your ears to a land of aural milk and honey.
Men In Black, by Steve Perry, read by David Dukes (Hodder, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)
Like the movie on which it is based, this is smart, sassy and fully of drop-dead oneliners and smarmy post-modernist pop culture. David Dukes is a new name on me, and he's going straight to the top of my list of favourite readers for his rainbow array of cool voices. Great fun.
