Grover Gardner ’78
Asked to name the books he’s most enjoyed narrating, he describes Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb as “probably the best book I’ve ever read about anything.” Other favorites include Rafael Yglesias’ A Happy Marriage and Thomas Trofimuk’s Waiting for Columbus. His all-time favorite: The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. “It’s a brutally dark and grueling journey, and very few people get all the way through it. I loved every minute of it.” He pauses with an actor’s impeccable timing. “I don’t know what that says about me.” In his off time, he’s a devoted audiophile and music collector with a penchant for building vacuum tube amplifiers from scratch. He devotes zero time to drinking honey-thickened tea or placing steaming bath towels around his neck. “No, I’m terrible about taking care of my voice. Cigarettes, coffee, martinis. Everything you’re not supposed to do.” Grover’s wife, Tanya Perez, also works for Blackstone, doing research and audiobook proofing. The two met years ago during a
theater production in which Tanya was a technician and Grover an actor. “It was a show we both hated. We were so bored we decided to start going out,” Grover recalls. “That, and I didn’t want to go home and change into a costume for a Heaven and Hell Halloween party,” Tanya adds. “Grover provided a much more pleasant alternative in going out to drink Scotch.” The couple lives in Medford, Oregon, with their 9-year-old daughter, and Grover doesn’t foresee much change to the dream he’s already living. “I still love narrating after all these years, and every book is a fresh challenge,” he says. “It’s a comfortable living at this point, and my daughter thinks it’s cool. What more can you ask?”
Listen to Grover read a selection from Stephen King’s The Dark Half at rollins.edu/grovergardner
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