Short Story Sunday: Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand by Lisa Scottoline
Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand
Series: We Could Be Heroes: Short story 1 of 5
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini
Published: February 7, 2023
Audiobook: 1 hour 13 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Read: February 10, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
When amiable Italian immigrant Pigeon Tony discovers that local drug dealers are pressuring his young neighbor into joining their ranks, he resolves to put an end to the crime wave before it can take over the community. Pigeon Tony knows the law isn’t always on the right side, but it takes only one person to rally a revolution.
Jessica’s Review:
This is the first short story in Amazon’s We Could be Heroes series and takes all of the ‘Tony’s’ characters from Scottoline’s popular Rosato and DiNunzio series. I am a fan of Scottoline and was very excited when I heard about this short story, and I have really missed her R&D novels.
As the title shows, Pigeon Tony is the featured character in this short story, but all of the Tony’s appear along with Mary DiNunzio! All of the Tony’s are much older and are scene stealers in the R&D series. If you have read the series then you already know what you need to know about these characters that you have grown to love over the years. If this is your introduction, the story may seem a bit ‘out there’ for you with the way the characters act.
Pigeon Tony’s Last Stand is a quick and enjoyable read for fans of the series. The narrator did a great job. I really hope Scottoline gets back to the R&D series, but it seems that she has a new love of writing historical fiction.
Purchase Links: This short story series is currently available only on Kindle and Audible.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Gather Round the Sound (from Audible)
Gather Round the Sound: Holiday Stories from Beloved Authors and Great Performers Across the Globe
Reviewed By: Jessica
Date Listened to: December 5, 2018
Length: 1 hour 12 minutes
Jessica’s Rating: 2 stars
Book Description:
Audible’s 2017 holiday collection includes:
Zip Code 12345
This mini-documentary centers around a peculiar holiday tradition at General Electric’s headquarters in Schenectady, NY. For two decades, GE has been receiving thousands of letters from kids – children who think they’re reaching Santa Claus. And every year, a handful of GE employees give up their December lunchbreaks to respond to each and every letter.
An Aussie Night Before Christmas, by Yvonne Morrison, performed by Magda Szubanksi
This rollicking rewrite of the famous old poem ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas gives the original version a hilarious Aussie twist. Magda Szubanski, Australia’s most trusted personality, caries this incredibly fun romp. Kangaroos pulling the sleigh, a beer for Santa, and all the over-the-top Australian lingo, it’s everything you’d expect.
The Music Coming from the House, by Paulo Coehlo, performed by Daniel Frances-Berenson
In this magical story from the author of The Alchemist – the master of the modern parable – a disguised king visits a poor village, and what he sees through the window of a house changes his life, and those of the occupants.
The Signal-man, by Charles Dickens, performed by Simon Callow, Dan Starkey, and John Banks
For literature lovers, the holiday season needs a little Dickens. We dug up a story of his that you may not be familiar with, originally published in the Christmas edition of a Victorian short story periodical. Of course, ghosts are involved in this 19th century work told by Simon Callow (Outlander) and Dan Starkey (Dr. Who).
A Very Improvised Holiday Musical
What would the holidays be without some carols? Vern, a New York City-based improv troupe, performs a few improvised holiday songs
Jessica’s Review:
Gather Round the Sound was free on Audible and there was a good reason for that: It really did not need to be made into a compilation of short stories/performances. This one was a big miss for me. The best short was Zip Code 12345: I really enjoyed it and wish it had been expanded. If this had been the whole ‘book’ that would have been fine with me!
Apparently I am not a Dickens fan as The Signal-man wasn’t for me. When it was over I had no idea what had happened. Maybe it was the narrators with their accents that ruined it for me. The ‘musical chapters’ were also subpar. They were meant to be funny and entertaining, but were far from that.
I cannot recommend this compilation: I say listen to the first chapter Zip Code 12345 and skip the rest. I hate saying this, but it just did not deliver.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
The Princess Diarist
Author: Carrie Fisher
Narrators: Carrie Fisher and Billie Lourd
Published: November 22, 2016
Audible: 5 hours 10 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened: February 28- March 5, 2018
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
The Princess Diarist is Carrie Fisher’s intimate, hilarious and revealing recollection of what happened behind the scenes on one of the most famous film sets of all time, the first Star Wars movie.
When Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved—plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Today, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a (sort-of) regular teenager.
Jessica’s Review:
It was bittersweet to listen to the audiobook version of The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. She also narrated it and it was great to hear her voice again. In some ways it was eerie as she talks about her future death/obituary, and even her mother, and they are both no longer with us.
She talks about her experience with Star Wars and she never expected it to be what it became. She was 19 when she filmed it, so she was still a baby in some ways. I enjoyed hearing the stories she tells, and she relates them with enthusiasm. She was not a perfect person and you see that in the drug use she mentions and her affair with Harrison Ford. If you are looking for juicy details on that you are out of luck, she doesn’t spill them. Harrison was 34 and married when they had their affair. There is some foul language as well, but nothing extreme: This is someone’s life and no one is perfect.
Fisher found diary entries when she was filming Star Wars. Those are read by Billie Lourde. You see the feelings she had while she wrote those. The diary entries are not that long compared to the rest of the book, so for me it was more of a memoir than about her entries. I actually was not as interested in them as I was with the rest of the memoir.
If you are a fan of Star Wars in any way, I recommend The Princess Diarist.
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