Books added, program changes
Radio Ralking Book continues to record new books while airing rebroadcasts. The goal is to build a backlog buffer of materials.
Minor program changes have been announced. The 38-minute Style program aired at 10:20 a.m. Sat has has been replaced by 10,000 Tales, news from Greater Minnesota. 10,000 Tales’ former 58-minute slot, 7 a.m. Sun, has been replaced by a new program, Harper’s, readings from Harper’s Magazine.
Chautauqua*
Monday – Friday 6 a.m.
The Dawn of Everything, nonfiction by David Graeber & David Wengrow, 2021. A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation. Read by John Potts. 25 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 1.
Past is Prologue*
Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
The Greeks, nonfiction by Roderick Beaton, 2021. A sweeping history of the Greeks and their contributions to civilization, from the Bronze Age to today. Read by Stevie Ray. 21 broadcasts; begins Wed, Aug. 3.
Bookworm*
Monday – Friday 12 p.m.
The Lincoln Highway. fiction by Amor Towles, 2021. Four boys set out to travel the country in search of a fresh start: Emmett and Billy want to find their mother who left them when they were young, and Duchess and Woolly are on the hunt for a stashed wad of cash. Each of these young men is chasing his dreams, but their pasts are never far behind. Read by John Holden. 20 broadcasts; begins Tue, Aug. 2.
The Seed Keeper, fiction by Diane Wilson, 2021. A haunting novel spanning several generations, our story follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Read by Cintra Godfrey. 13 broadcasts; begins Tue, Aug. 30.
The Writer’s Voice*
Monday – Friday 1 p.m.
The Passenger, nonfiction by Chaney Kwak, 2021. In March 2019, the Viking Sky cruise ship was struck by a bomb cyclone in the North Atlantic. This is the suspenseful, harrowing, funny, touching story by one passenger who contemplated death aboard that ship. Read by Philip Lowry. Four broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 29.
Choice Reading*
Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
Matrix, fiction by Lauren Groff, 2021. Seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey and finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. Read by Pat Muir. 10 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 1.
A Phở Love Story, fiction by Loan Le, 2021. Two Vietnamese American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants. Read by Carol McPherson. 13 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 15.
Afternoon Report*
Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
Perversion of Justice, nonfiction by Julie K. Brown, 2021. Dauntless journalist Julie K. Brown recounts her uncompromising and risky investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s underage sex trafficking operation, and the explosive reporting for the Miami Herald that finally brought him to justice while exposing the powerful people and broken system that protected him. Read by Jim Tarbox. 15 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 1. – S
The Steal, nonfiction by Mark Bowden & Matthew Teague, 2022. A week-by-week, state-by-state account of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, written by veteran journalists. Read by Jim Gregorich. 9 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 22.
Night Journey*
Monday – Friday 7 p.m.
The Morning Star, fiction by Karl Ove Knausgaard, 2021. A mysterious celestial body appears in the late-August sky, accompanied by Biblical omens, hallucinations, and increasingly uncanny events in the natural world. Tracing the lives of nine interconnected characters, our story sets these enigmatic phenomena against the minutiae of everyday life. Read by Don Lee. 24 broadcasts; begins Tue, Aug. 2. – L
Off the Shelf*
Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
The Sweetness of Water, fiction by Nathan Harris, 2021. George Walker grieves his son Caleb who he believes was killed in the Civil War. George meets up with two young brothers who had been enslaved at the house next door. The three start a peanut farm, until Caleb returns. Read by Therese Murray. 13 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 8. – L, V
Tell Me an Ending, fiction by Jo Harkin, 2022. Across the world, thousands of people are shocked by a notification that they once chose to have a memory removed. Now they are being given an opportunity to get that memory back—but what are the consequences for contending with what they tried to forget? Read by Dan Sadoff. 16 broadcasts; begins Thu, Aug. 25. – L, S, G
Potpourri*
Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination (re-broadcast), nonfiction by Susan Douglas, 2004. Few inventions evoke such nostalgia, such deeply personal and vivid memories as radio. “Listening In” traces the history of how radio culture and content have kneaded and expanded the American psyche. Read by Marylyn Burridge. 23 broadcasts; begins Wed, Aug. 3.
Good Night Owl*
Monday – Friday 10 p.m
The Furies (rebroadcast), fiction by Katie Lowe, 2019. The story of a girl trying to fit in, whose obsessive new friends and desperation to belong leads her to places she’d never imagined dark, dangerous, and possibly even violent. Read by Carol McPherson. 13 broadcasts; begins Mon, Aug. 1. – L
Before She Knew Him (rebroadcast), fiction by Peter Swanson, 2019. A chilling tale of a young suburban wife with a history of psychological instability whose fears about her new neighbor could lead them both to murder. Read by Therese Murray. 10 broadcasts; begins Thu, Aug. 18. – V
RTB After Hours
Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
Wild Rain, fiction by Beverly Jenkins, 2021. A fearless female rancher forges her own path in the wake of the Civil War and becomes involved with a reporter from out east. Read by Karen Ray. 9 broadcasts; began Mon, Aug. 1. – S
The Death of Jane Lawrence, fiction by Caitlin Starling, 2021. Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, this gothic horror story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by similar genre pieces. Read by Brenda Powell. 16 broadcasts; began Mon, Aug. 15. – V, S
Weekend Program Books
Your Personal World, 1 p.m. Sat, presents Good Anxiety by Dr. Wendy Suzuki, read by Beverly Burchett.
For the Younger Set, 11 a.m. Sat, presents The Mighty Dynamo by Kieran Crowley, read by Pat Muir, followed by Pony by R. J. Palacio, read by John Schmidt.
Poetic Reflections, noon Sun, presents God of Nothingness by Mark Wunderlich, read by Mary Knatterud, followed by frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss, read by Jim Ahrens.
The Great North, 4 p.m. Sun, presents Minnesota’s Geologist by Sue Leaf, read by Tony Lopez.