Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Backstories That Matter


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This week, Michele Cobb joins host Jo Reed to dig into

audiobooks built on backstory, beginning with Expert Witness, where
Gabra Zackman delivers Anne Wolbert Burgess’ account of trauma, justice, and the evolution of expert testimony with clarity and restraint. Next, they turn to A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever, a joyful, detail-packed oral
history of the 1984 film Spinal Tap—an ensemble cast production led by
Rob Reiner, where seemingly spontaneous commentary makes the audiobook the definitive way to experience the story. The episode closes with We Did OK, Kid, a reflective memoir in which Kenneth Branagh’s elegant narration frames Anthony Hopkins’s vulnerable reflections on craft, ambition, and a life shaped by performance. Together these audiobooks show how lived experience—whether in the courtroom, on a film set, or across a lifetime in acting—gains depth and resonance when shaped by a narrator who knows when to be restrained, playful, or quietly vulnerable.

Audiobooks Discussed:

Expert Witness: The Weight of Our Testimony When Justice Hangs in the Balance

by Ann Wolbert Burgess with Steven Matthew Constantine, read by Gabra Zackman

A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap, written

and read by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry
Shearer 

We Did Ok, Kid: A Memoir by Sir Anthony Hopkins, read by Kenneth

Branagh with the author


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Behind the Mic With Kirkus ReviewsBy Kirkus Audiobook Reviews

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