Stories I Only Tell My Friends

by Robe Lowe
January-April 2014

I have to admit something. I have been a completely pathetic reader this year. The good thing is that it's only May and I've already taken three trips/vacations, with 2-3 more still pending, but all that fun and frolic seriously cuts into my reading time. It just doesn't pay to read after a night out of drinking ... it only means that I end up rereading that same chapter over again. And though I love to read on an airplane, once I'm at my destination, reading wanes. Mainly because there is always a TV in the bedroom; one thing I will not allow myself at home. It's proof right there that I will choose the boob tube over a book. Anyway...

I've had the Audible version of Stories... since it first came out. A friend of mine pestered me incessantly to read it. Not sure why I held off. Rob Lowe really has some amazing stories about his life experiences. He's kind of like Forrest Gump in that way ... he literally was always at the right place at the right time to meet actors, politicians and even princesses ... and date practically all of the women he met.

This audiobook is the perfect example of when it's appropriate for the author to narrate his own book. Lowe has an amazing ability with impressions, expressions and compassion. There were parts that were laugh-out-loud funny, and stories that were poignant and sad (his inadvertent involvement with Flight 96). There's really no need to write a complete synopsis because that would serve to only give away the surprise and delight of each anecdote. I will, however, say that the stories about the casting and the making of The Outsiders were my favorite. I'm dying to watch that movie again now that I know a little of the inside scoop.

I suppose at some point I will listen to his latest, Love Life, which supposedly was written because there was such a high demand from fans for "more." Bottom line is that this is worth the listen. I'm sure the written word is good as well, but his voice made it that much better. No great literary work, but a fun look into an actor's crazy life.

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