I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story

Hastings's heartbreaking tale of lost love amid the blood-soaked war zone that is modern-day Iraq, is a tale better realized in print than in audio, despite narration delivered by the author himself. Hastings's reading is hurried, unfolding at a panic-stricken, rushed pace that will have listeners backtracking throughout. As good a writer as Hastings is, he sounds uncomfortable and out of his element, struggling to get through the reading as fast as he can, which in turn loses the poignancy of his memoir. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover. (May)