I haven’t read Hemingway In longer than I can remember. Now, thanks to a friend who sends me books on tape, I am listening to TRUTH AT FIRST LIGHT, which is so far an arresting tale of an African safari in the twilight years of such things, in the classic sense of those things. I am not even half way through and I am “captured” the rhythm of his prose – his Hemingwayness. He seems to leave no “stone unturned” when it comes to touching on every element in a scene. Listening rather than reading is quite different in that the mind seems to me to do more work and is engaged at a deeper level of “painting” pictures and being there with the author. Having Brian Dennehey read to me, I can easily imagine it is Papa himself narrating.

 The jacket blurb calls this “a blend of autobiography and fiction”. I submit that all autobiography is at best fiction. And in addition, I think fiction at its best is truth.

 On Listening –

 I appreciate situations that permit listening. Driving, treadmilling, yoga, cooking. I’m a radio boy who used to lie in bed wearing headphones listening into the night to a homemade cat whisker tuned crystal set that brought voices to me from far away. I love reading words on a page. I love watching a well done movie version of a book. My mind fairly soars, however, listening to a well read audio book.