If ever a book cried out for audio, this is it. Dorothy Parker, one of the wittiest women of the 20th century, decimated the hypocrisies of her time with the razor-sharp, prolific (if not always pithy) selections of verse, short stories, criticism, song lyrics, and screenplays. Lorna Raver provides the voice, at once snappish and elegant, that quipped about a Katharine Hepburn performance, "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." After an introduction to Dorothy Parker's world, Raver treats listeners to a compilation of her writings, performed with Parker's "magnificent disregard" for recklessness. The collection, graced by Raver's luminous reading, makes for wonderful listening.

2008 Audies Finalist