Books: Audiobooks

The Postman poems read by Madonna, Sting,Ralph Fiennes et al The Path to Power read by Margaret Thatcher

Distracting thoughts of the Renault Clio ads came to mind on first hearing Pablo Neruda's poems from the film The Postman (Il Postino) (Speaking Volumes, pounds 8.49) read against Luis Bacalov's music from the film, but on listening again - again and again - I was completely won over. Sting, Madonna, Wesley Snipes, Ralph Fiennes and Julia Roberts are among the star voices reading Neruda's witty, beautiful lyrics on love, life and the meaning of poetry.

As the unusually honest blurb on The Path to Power (HarperCollins, pounds 6hrs, pounds 15.49) puts it, ``Margaret Thatcher intends to go on writing her story into the history books - her way.'' I felt like a rabbit hypnotised by a stoat as I listened to the Iron Lady's carefully crafted account of her rise and fall, intoned with breathy self-importance. It is cruelly revealing and absolutely mesmerising.