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What I Learned from Barbra
The Audiobook Experience
Well, I did it. I finally finished the mammoth Barbra Streisand memoir. A thousand pages or 48 hours of audio.
I have never been a fan of the audiobook, frankly, and had planned to read it. However, I discovered that I could listen to the audiobook (in Babs’ own voice!) for free with my Spotify account. The catch, though, was that I only got twelve free hours of listening per month, so it took me four months to complete it!
I found the book so engrossing — not only the content but delivered in her inimitable voice — that I would finish my twelve hours within the first week of the month and then have to wait three more weeks to get back into it.
For me, this was not just a book, but an experience. Truly. Years from now I will look fondly back on this winter of my intimate hours with Barbra as I walked on the treadmill, lay in my bed before going to sleep, cooked a dinner with her keeping me company. It took her ten years to write — neither she nor her audience ever thought it would come to fruition. Of all her achievements, this may be her greatest.
When the book first came out, I listened to the much-lauded interview she did with Howard Stern. But later, as I listened to the book, I realized that he hadn’t read the whole book. (Honestly, how could he have? He interviewed…
