Book Review
Noir , fantasy and historical retellings fill the air
By Tom Mayer
From 20,000 feet above to 20,000 leagues below — and a couple more with feet firmly on planet Earth — a quartet of new books and audio renderings will both enliven drive-times and offer one more reason to find that cushy reading chair . All four this go-round are from Blackstone , a publishing house that continues to offer an interesting and intriguing mix of media .
For the audio files
In the category of what ’ s old is what ’ s new : “ Masters of the Air ” and “ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ” aren ’ t exactly new books , but they both get a new treatment as audio books with fresh narrators . Donald Miller ’ s “ Masters of the Air ” isn ’ t just for the World War II buff . It offers the history of the American Eighth Air Force , but with the addition of Joe Barrett ’ s narration — Barrett is a veteran raconteur with more than 200 audio titles and a host of Audie Award finals in his arsenal — the story of the young ( and they were all young ) men who flew the bombers responsible for crippling Nazi Germany takes you into the cockpit beside them .
And the 20,000 feet reference is no exaggeration : the air at that height is thin and freezing and before the Eighth , no body of bombers had successfully straddled that particular stratosphere .
Miller , a WWII expert and professor
Courtesy of Blackstone Publishing at Lafayette
College , weaves interviews , oral histories and international archives into a compelling narrative about an elite group of warriors who essentially fought a war within a war — and spices it with stories of life in wartime England and German prison camps .
World War II is known as the world ’ s first and only bomber war , and “ Masters of the Air ” also gets a fitting visual complement . A series based on the book , under the same name , is now available on Apple TV +.
Not that Jules Verne ’ s “ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ” has suffered from any lack of multi-media attention , but Blackstone ’ s audio version captures the 19th century period piece in ways that infuse real magic into the exotic undersea tale of Captain Nemo and the Nautilus .
You might know the story , and you might know the voice — Courtesy of Blackstone Publishing narrator Aria Mia Loberti starred in Netflix ’ s limited series adaptation of “ All the Light We Cannot See ” — but the combination is
34 • MERIDIAN LIFE