If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

This collection of short essays (taken largely from graduation speeches) by the late Vonnegut is inspiring and engrossing—and makes for great listening thanks to the skillful vocal chords of narrator Scott Brick. Though there is some repetition in the speeches, each one is ultimately unique and lively. Vonnegut proves to be both amusing and poignant in his remarks. While narrator Kevin T. Collins handles the book’s peripheral material, Brick reads the crux of the book: the speeches. He ably teases out Vonnegut’s message, adopting a playful tone and capturing the essence of the author’s words. A RosettaBooks paperback. (Oct.)