Do you listen to audio books? I always have one on the go. I listen while I’m on the treadmill or when I’m driving long distances in the car. Often the audio books are gay romances, and occasionally books on writing. Listening allows me to maximise my ‘reading’ time, and sometimes the change is nice. I’m finding I’m enjoying ‘reading’ my re-reads via audio book, too.
This week I finished listening to a memoir. The book is I Am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell and is narrated by Johnny Heller.
Some of you may know of Josh through his current endeavours. He and his husband, Brent, bought a farm and when they both lost their jobs, focused on making it profitable. They started making milk and cheese, and eventually were picked up for a reality TV show, The Fabulous Beekman Boys. Now they have cookbooks and merchandise. (You can find out more here.)
Anyway, Josh’s story was wonderful to listen to. It’s fascinating, and humourous, and tragic. It is the compelling story of Josh (a drunken drag queen called Aquadisiac “Aqua”) and Jack (a crack-addicted escort). I think Josh sums it up best in the last lines of the book.
“And she just wants everyone to remember -please remember – that once there was a darkly sparkling, glittering, shimmering, lovely dangerous time in this city when Aqua loved Jack.
And Jack loved Aqua.
And I loved Jack.
And Jack loved me.
And boys will be boys.
And boys will be girls.
And sometimes the show can’t go on.”
Here’s a video I found that shows Josh as Aqua.
While I loved the story and thought the narrator did a great job (even to the point of singing where required), I did have one small niggle – the narrator sounded way too old to voice the twenty-something Josh. But don’t let that put you off because the story is so worth listening to.
If you want to grab yourself a copy, click here.
Happy reading and listening,
Nic <3
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