Audiobook Excerpt narrated by Jeff Woodman

Looking for Alaska |

Audiobook excerpt narrated by Jeff Woodman.

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Woodman: Miles halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe flight at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the great perhaps.

Jeff: When I opened my bathroom door after my shower, a towel rapped around my waist, I saw a short muscular guy with a shock of brown hair. He was holding a gigantic army green duffle bag through the door of my room. He stood five feet nothing and was well built like a scale model of a donas and with him arrived the stink of stale cigarette smoke ''great I thought'' I'm meeting my room mate naked. He hid the duffle into the room, closed the door and walked over to me.'' I'm chip martin, ''he announced in a deep voice, the voice of a radio DJ, before I could respond he added ''I'd shake your hand but I think you should hold on damn tight to that towel till you can get clothes on,'' I laughed and nodded my head at him, that's cool right to nod and said ''I'm Miles halter nice to meet you.''

''Miles as in to go before I sleep, he asked me.'' Huh, it's Robert frost poem you've never read him?'' I shook my head, ''no'', ''Consider yourself lucky, he smiled.'' I grabbed some clean underwear, a pair of blue Adidas soccer shorts and a white t-shirt mumbled that IL be back in a second and ducked back into the bathroom, so much for a good first impression, ''I see you've decorated the place, he said'' gesturing towards the world map.'' I like it,'' and then he started naming countries.

He spoke in a monotone as if he'd done it a thousand time before.'' Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Honduras and so on.'' He got through the A's before looking up and noticing my incredulous stare.'' I could do the rest but it would probably bore you, something I learnt over the summer, God!!! You can imagine how boring new hope Alabama is in the ''summer'' time, like watching soy beans grow, where are you from by the way?'' Florida, I said,'' never been, ''that's pretty amazing the country's thing, I said.

'' Yeah... everybody's got a talent I can memorize things, and you can...?''

I know a lot people's last words. It was an indulgence learning last words, other people had chocolate I had dying declarations.

Woodman: Much awaits Miles at covert creeks school including Alesca young, clever, funny, screwed up and dead sexy. Alesca will pull miles into her labyrinth and catapult it into the great perhaps.

Jeff: And now is as good a time as any to say that she was beautiful. In the dark beside me, she smelled of sweat and sunshine and vanilla and on that thin mooned night I could see little more than her silhouette except when she smoked, when the burning cherry of the cigarette washed her face in pale red light, but even in the dark I could see her eyes, fierce emralds. She had the kind of eyes that predisposed you to supporting her every endeavor and not just beautiful but hot too, with her breasts straining against her tight tang top, her curved legs swinging back and forth beneath the swing flip flops dangling from her electric blue painted toes.

It was right then between when I asked about the labyrinth and when she answered me, when I realized the importance of curves of the thousand places where girls bodies ease from one place to another, from arc of the foot to ankle to calf, from calf to hip to waist to breast to neck to ski slope nose to forehead to shoulder to the concave arch of the back to the batt et cetera. I'd noticed curves before of course but I had never quite apprehended their significance. Her mouth close to me that I could feel her breath warmer than the air, she said...' 'that's the mystery isn't it? Is the lab rant living or dying?, which is he trying to escape? the world or the end of it?''

I waited for her to keep talking but after a while it became obvious that she wanted an answer. Huh, i don't know I said finally, ''have you really read all those books in your room?''

Woodman: Looking for Alesca brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have in another. A stunning debut it marks John greens arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction. Available on CD or as Mp 3 files on CD, this title is unabridged and seven hours long.

This audio excerpt is provided by Brilliance Audio.