{"id":9011,"date":"2017-04-05T13:15:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T17:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9011"},"modified":"2026-01-23T19:34:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:34:52","slug":"promised-land-audible-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9011","title":{"rendered":"Promised Land, Audio Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Promised Land<\/a><\/em>, Audible Edition (1976\/1987) Robert B. Parker<\/a> narrated by Michael Prichard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I’ve discovered that I exercise best with exciting mysteries I’ve previously read. If the book is good, then I want to keep walking just a little bit longer, to hear just a little more. But it can’t be something I’ve never read, because then I won’t stop listening, and that interferes with trying to function as a normal human.<\/p>\n

I’ll be honest, there isn’t anything wrong<\/em> with Michael Prichard as the narrator. The problem is that my first Spenser book was Small Vices<\/em>, read by Burt Reynolds, and he does such a fantastic job, this version just fell a little flat.<\/p>\n

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone through the Spenser series, and I decided that since I’ve finished up all the Faith Hunter Jane Yellowrock audible books that are currently available, Spenser would be a good choice. But not starting at the first book, because that wasn’t particularly a favorite. But since I already had this audio book, it seemed a fine place to start.<\/p>\n

And it was.<\/p>\n

A man hires Spenser to find his wife. Only the husband is in over his head with other things, and the wife doesn’t necessarily want to be found and returned home.<\/p>\n

First, this book has Hawk’s first appearance. (I think that Hawk is where the narrator fell the flattest for me. I love Hawk, and this reading just didn’t do it for me.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve asked Spenser here to see if he can find my wife, Pam.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hawk said, \u201cI\u2019ll bet he can. He\u2019s a real firecracker for finding things. He\u2019ll find the ass off of a thing. Ain\u2019t that right, Spenser?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou always been one of my heroes too, Hawk. Where you staying?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2019m over amongst de ofays at de Holiday Inn, Marse Spensah.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t say ofays anymore, Hawk. We say honkies. And you don\u2019t do that Kingfish dialect any better than you used to.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe not, but you should hear me sing \u2018Shortnin\u2019 Bread,\u2019 babe.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019ll bet,\u201d I said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Second, this book has Spenser and Susan working out their relationship. Susan irritates the crap out of me in some of the later books, which is why I forget that I quite like her in the earlier books. She’s strong–quite a strong woman for who she is and at the time this book was written–1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have a real relationship you gotta suffer?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to risk it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to know that if it gets homely and unpleasant you can\u2019t just walk away.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that means marriage? Lots of people walk away from marriage. For crissake, I got a lady client at this moment who has done just that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter what, twenty-two years?\u201d Susan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne point for your side,\u201d I said. \u201cShe didn\u2019t run off at the first sprinkle of rain, did she. But does that make the difference? Some J.P. reading from the Bible?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Susan said. \u201cBut the ceremony is the visible symbol of the commitment. We ritualize our deepest meanings usually, and marriage is the way we\u2019ve ritualized love. Or one of the ways.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAre you saying we should get married?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment I\u2019m saying I love you and I\u2019m waiting for a response.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that simple, Suze.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I believe I\u2019ve gotten the response.\u201d She got up from the bar and walked out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’d also forgotten how much thought Spenser puts into what he does and who he is. He finds Pam Shepherd, but refuses to return her to Harvey–or even tell Harvey where she is. He just tells Harvey that she is healthy and left of her own volition.<\/p>\n

He also refuses to turn his back on the couple, even though they have both completely screwed up their lives.<\/p>\n

But it’s more than that. Even once they talk again, it’s clear that everything isn’t hunky dory, and that they both had problems they need to work out–it’s realistic.<\/p>\n

And of course there is the food.<\/p>\n

\u201cNope. I\u2019ll take the fighter, lover, but the gourmet cook is a sexist remark.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d cooked this no one would say you were a gourmet cook. It\u2019s because I\u2019m a man. A man who cooks and is interested in it is called a gourmet. A woman is called a housewife. Now eat the goddamned spaghetti,\u201d I said. She did. Me too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And now I’ve started, I figure I’ll just keep on listening–and Michael will be sad, because he loves Spenser as well, but never thinks to listen to audiobooks on his own. :)
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong> (Dinged because I just can’t love the narrator.)<\/p>\n

Published by Random House Audio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Promised Land, Audible Edition (1976\/1987) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard I’ve discovered that I exercise best with exciting mysteries I’ve previously read. If the book is good, then I want to keep walking just a little bit longer, to hear just a little more. But it can’t be something I’ve never read, because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,43,41],"tags":[106,107],"class_list":["post-9011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mystery","category-private-eye","category-reread","tag-robert-b-parker","tag-spenser"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2ll","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22532,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22532","url_meta":{"origin":9011,"position":0},"title":"Looking for Rachel Wallace, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking for Rachel Wallace, Audio Book (1980) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard (Spenser) Publisher: Random House Audio Rating: 8\/10","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Looking for Rachel Wallace","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Spenser-Rachel-Wallace.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22553,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22553","url_meta":{"origin":9011,"position":1},"title":"Valediction, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Valediction , Audio Book (1984) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard (Spenser) Spenser continues to unravel as Susan moves to California to work. And starts seeing someone else. Paul is staying with Spenser for summer break, and suggests Spenser take a case for the director of the dance company\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Valediction","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Spenser-Valediction.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9042,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9042","url_meta":{"origin":9011,"position":2},"title":"The Judas Goat, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"April 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Judas Goat, Audible Version (1978) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard Spenser has been hired by Hugh Dixon, a millionaire whose family was killed in a bombing in London. Hugh Dixon wants the terrorists caught or killed, and he'll pay Spenser a bounty for each kill or capture.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Spenser-Judas-Goat.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9288,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9288","url_meta":{"origin":9011,"position":3},"title":"Ceremony, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Ceremony, Audio Book (1982\/1992) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard April Kyle is a pretty sixteen year-old runaway who is working as a prostitute somewhere in the Combat Zone in Boston. Her father wants nothing to do with her, but her mother wants her safe, so Spenser takes on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Spenser-Ceremony.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22555,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22555","url_meta":{"origin":9011,"position":4},"title":"Ceremony, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Ceremony, Audio Book (1982) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard (Spenser) April Kyle has run away from home, and although her father has disowned her, her mother still wants to know where she is. Where she is, is the Combat Zone in Boston, turning tricks. This is not a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ceremony","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Spenser-Ceremony.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9296,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9296","url_meta":{"origin":9011,"position":5},"title":"The Widening Gyre, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"September 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Widening Gyre, Audio Version (1983\/1992) Robert B. Parker narrated by Michael Prichard Spenser is hired to protect a conservative candidate for the Senate. There are several interesting things here. 1) I'll need to check, but I don't think his military service was mentioned here at all. So no Korea.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Spenser-Widening-Gyre.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}