Time's Magpie

If you're planning a trip to Prague, this audiobook will whet your enthusiasm. If you've already visited the great city, the mention of its sights and sounds will jog your reminiscences. Personally, I wouldn't make the trip without Bernadette Dunne, who would read about what I'm seeing and hearing in an ultra-intelligent delivery. Of course, the author has the job of deciding what we shall see on this tour. Myra Goldberg lived in Prague in 1993 and returned to visit there 10 years later. She has chosen what we visit. And in Dunne she could not have found a more affable tour guide. J.P. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine


Myla Goldberg makes a charming guide in this travelogue. Goldberg lived in Prague in 1993 and returned a decade later to see how the city had changed as it shed its Communist past. There are the usual descriptions of Prague's architecture and history, but the observations always sound fresh. Goldberg has a sensitive eye and a quirky wit that make more memorable descriptions of the city's aging subway system, its Museum of Communism (run by an American and located next to a McDonald's), and its cartoonish police officers, who shamelessly milk foreigners for on-the-spot jaywalking fines. This is smart, wholly unpretentious writing, perfectly mirrored by Goldberg's own youthful voice. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine