Thursday, February 9, 2017

Audio Book Review & Blog Tour ~ Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald, narrated by Heather Henderson



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
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.
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.

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Click HERE to listen to an Excerpt


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



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