Anybody Can Do Anything
by Betty MacDonald
Narrator: Heather Henderson
Length: 8 hours 30 minutes
Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press
Audio Release Date: May 30, 2016
Audio Release Date: May 30, 2016
Genre: Humor, Memoir
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"The best thing about the Depression
was the way it reunited our family and gave my sister Mary a real opportunity
to prove that anybody can do anything, especially Betty."
After surviving both the failed chicken farm - and marriage - immortalized in The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald returns to live with her mother and desperately searches to find a job to support her two young daughters. With the help of her older sister Mary, Anybody Can Do Anything recounts her failed, and often hilarious, attempts to find work during the Great Depression.
After surviving both the failed chicken farm - and marriage - immortalized in The Egg and I, Betty MacDonald returns to live with her mother and desperately searches to find a job to support her two young daughters. With the help of her older sister Mary, Anybody Can Do Anything recounts her failed, and often hilarious, attempts to find work during the Great Depression.
Anybody Can Do Anything is absolutely hilarious!
The Depression era was a difficult time in history and from what I learned from
my grandparents, life was not easy for most.
Even though this was a hard time, Betty MacDonald shares this part of
her life with the perfect slice of humor that had me laughing out loud. With the help of her sister, Mary, she held
many jobs and gained skills she never thought possible. Even though this is Ms. MacDonald’s memoir,
her sister Mary steals the limelight in my opinion. With her can-do attitude and
never-take-no-for-an-answer mentality, I really felt she was the glue that held
this family together during this time of their life.
Anybody Can Do Anything is completely
stand-alone, but if you want to read/listen in order, I would start with The Egg and I first, then Anybody Can Do Anything, and then end
with The Plague and I. Although each book is fantastic and enjoyable
I found that I enjoyed Anybody Can Do
Anything just a tad bit more than the others due to all of Mary’s shenanigans.
She was just fun to learn about.
Anybody Can Do Anything is narrated by
Heather Henderson. I simply love all the voices of Heather Henderson but most
of all her voice of Betty MacDonald. She
has this certain ability to draw the listener in and convince you that Ms.
MacDonald is sitting right in front of you relaying the events of her life. The production quality is superb and the
pacing of the narration was just right. Ms.
Henderson is a delight to listen to and makes an already great story positively
amazing.
Overall,
Anybody Can Do Anything was an absolute
delightful listen that was fun and entertaining. Betty MacDonald wrote with such humor that I found
myself laughing out loud many times. Not
only is Ms. MacDonald a funny and witty writer she is also just plain
entertaining and with Heather Henderson’s narration added makes this amazing read/listen.
Story
– 4 stars
Performance
– 5 stars
Overall
– 4.5 stars
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a
blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Post
Hypnotic Press, Inc. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of
it.
Betty Bard MacDonald (1907–1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children’s books,
burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers
embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on
Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, andThe
Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was
drawn to MacDonald’s vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on
life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and
Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald’s Ma and
Pa Kettle characters.
MacDonald followed up the success of The
Egg and I with the creation of Mrs.
Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and
with three additional memoirs: The Plague
and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside
Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything
(recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life
raising two teenage daughters on Vashon Island).
Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald’s
archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, the first
biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the
memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary
persona.
Heather Henderson is
a voice actress and audiobook narrator with a 20-year career in literary and
performing arts. Her narrations include
the NYT bestseller (now also a feature film) Brain on Fire; and Sharon
Creech’s The Boy on the Porch, which
won her an Earphones award and was named one of the Best Children’s Audiobooks
for 2013 by Audiofile Magazine. She earned her Doctor of Fine Arts degree at
the Yale School of Drama, and is co-curator of AudioEloquence.com, a pronunciation research site for the
audiobook industry. In 2015, Heather was
a finalist for a Voice Arts Award (Outstanding Narration, Audiobook Classics),
for her narration of Betty MacDonald’s The
Egg and I. 
Grand Prize
Anybody Can Do Anything Giveaway #1
1st Runner-up
Anybody Can Do Anything Giveaway #2
2nd Runner-up
Anybody Can Do Anything Giveaway #3
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