Holiday Programming
The Radio Talking Book always interrupts our regular programming for a couple days in December to give our volunteers a brief vacation. This year, our holiday programming will begin on Saturday, December 24 at 8 p.m. Regular programming will begin again on Monday, December 26 at 1 a.m. During this time, you may hear a number of our voices from the past. We wish you and yours very Happy Holidays.
Weekend Program Books
Your Personal World (Saturday at 1 p.m.) is airing The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness, by Amit Sood, MD; For the Younger Set (Sunday at 11 a.m.) is airing Alistair Grim’s Odditorium, by Gregory Funaro, and House of Secrets – Battle of the Beasts, by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini; Poetic Reflections (Sunday at noon) is airing 99 Poems, by Dana Gioia, and The Rain in Portugal, by Billy Collins; The Great North (Sunday at 4 p.m.) is airing A Good Time for the Truth, edited by Sun Yung Shin.
Books Available Through Faribault
Books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault, MN. Their phone is 1-800-722-0550 and hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their catalog is also online, and you can access it by going to the main website, www.mnbtbl.org, and then clicking on the link Search the Library Catalog. If you live outside of Minnesota, you may obtain copies of our books via an inter-library loan by contacting your own state’s Network Library for the National Library Service.
Listen to the Minnesota Radio Talking Book, either live or archived programs from the last week, on the Internet at www.mnssb.org/rtb. Call the staff at the Radio for your password to the site.
Audio information about the daily book listings is also on NFB Newsline. Register for NFB Newsline by calling 651-539-1424.
Chautauqua Tuesday, Tuesday – Saturday 4 a.m
First Bite, Nonfiction by Bee Wilson, 2015. 14 Br. Begins December 14. We are not born knowing what to eat. As omnivores, it is something we each have to figure out for ourselves. Food habits are shaped by a whole host of factors: family and culture, memory and gender, hunger and love. Read by Marylyn Burridge.
Past is Prologue, Monday – Friday 9 a.m
Apostle, or Bones That Shine Like Fire, Nonfiction by Tom Bissell, 2016. 21 Br. Began December 6. Author Tom Bissell asks “Who were the apostles, and what was their relationship to Jesus?” The story of the apostles is the story of Christianity and its growth from an obscure Jewish sect to the global faith we know today. Read by Stevie Ray.
Bookworm, Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
The Madwoman Upstairs, Fiction by Catherine Lowell, 2016. 12 Br. Began December 1. Samantha Whipple, last descendant of the Brontë family, is the presumed heir to a rumored trove of material passed down through the Brontë family. Samantha, though, has never seen this alleged estate and believes it may be as fictional as their novels. Read by Holly Sylvester.
Before the Wind, Fiction by Jim Lynch, 2016. 11 Br. Begins December 19. Josh Johannssen’s family has been obsessed with sailboats for generations but that hasn’t kept them together. And Josh, now thirty-one, is pained and confused by whatever went wrong with his volatile family. Read by Robb Empson.
The Writer’s Voice, Monday, Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
Love That Boy, Nonfiction by Ron Fournier, 2016. 6 Br. Began December 6. As a political columnist, Ron Fournier had expectations of what his son would experience during their road trips. He did not have expectations, though, that he himself would learn something – about his son and about himself. Read by Dan Olson.
John Birch: A Life, Nonfiction by Terry Lautz, 2016. 13 Br. Begins December 30. Better known in death than in life, John Birch was shot and killed by Communists in China in 1945 where he had gone, originally, as a missionary. After his death, his name was adopted by a right-wing organization. RE – Read by John Mandeville.
Choice Reading, Monday, Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
Rebellion, Fiction by Livi Michael, 2015. 12 Br. Began December 1. With rebellions tearing the country apart, how far will Margaret of Anjou and Margaret Beaufort go to further the interests of their sons? Both women see the legitimacy of their sons’ prospects, and they will stop at nothing. Read by Eileen Barratt.
The Restaurant Critic’s Wife, Fiction by Elizabeth LaBan, 2016. 11 Br. Begins December 19. Lila has a master’s degree, a work-obsessed husband, two kids, and lots of questions about how she ended up here. With her husband obsessed with anonymity, Lila begins to wonder if her own identity has disappeared. S – Read by Sue McDonald.
PM Report, Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
The Health Gap, Nonfiction by Michael Marmot, 2015. 14 Br. Began November 29. Dramatic differences in health are not a simple matter of rich and poor; poverty alone doesn’t drive ill health, but inequality does. Empowerment is the key to reducing health inequality and improving the health of everyone. Read by Jan Anderson.
Incarceration Nations, Nonfiction by Baz Dreisinger, 2016. 12 Br. Begins December 19. One of America’s most far-reaching global exports is the modern prison complex; its impact is seen from South Africa to Brazil. Author Baz Dreisinger looks into the human stories of incarcerated men and woman and those who imprison them, creating a jarring, poignant view of the world to which most are denied access. Read by Ilze Mueller.
Night Journey, Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
The Case of the Yellow Diamond, Fiction by Carl Brookins, 2015. 8 Br. Began December 7. A dead man on the floor of his office in Minneapolis won’t lead P.I. Sean Sean to journey to Yap Island to protect his new client. He knows the value of research and asking questions in the right places. Eventually, he finds the flaws in nefarious plans and brings down a criminal enterprise. Read by Mike Piscitelli.
The Ex, Fiction by Alafair Burke, 2016. 10 Br. Begins December 19. Jack Harris’s world falls apart when he is invited to begin dating again after the death of his wife three years before. Twenty years earlier, he was engaged to Olivia Randall, now one of New York’s best lawyers, who is convinced Jack is being framed for murder. L – Read by Nan Felknor.
Off the Shelf, Monday – Friday 10 p.m.
The Mirror Thief, Fiction by Martin Seay, 2016. 25 Br. Began December 5. In sixteenth century Venice, the invention of the mirror was state-of-the-art technology and the ruling Council of Ten handed down an edict to prevent the secrets from leaving the island. One man decided to try to outwit the Ten. Read by Tom Speich.
Potpourri, Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
The Making of the American Essay, Nonfiction edited by John D’Agata, 2016. 36 Br. Began November 14. John D’Agata, professor of Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, has long been a defender and anthologist of essays. His passion for the form has led him to search for and discover a treasure trove of what the genre is capable of – essays from before our country was a nation, up to the present day. L – Read by Carol McPherson.
Good Night Owl, Monday – Friday midnight
Katherine Carlyle, Fiction by Rupert Thomson, 2015. 10 Br. Began December 6. As an IVF baby, born eight years after she was frozen as an embryo, Katherine felt different than others. Her mother was dead by the time Katherine was nineteen, and her father was increasingly distant. So, instead of going to college, Katherine disappeared. S – Read by Natasha DeVoe.
The Association of Small Bombs, Fiction by Karan Mahajan, 2016. 12 Br. Begins December 20. In 1996, a small bomb goes off in a television repair shop in Delhi claiming the life of two brothers, but also affecting their friend, Mansoor, who survived. Mansoor becomes involved with activists and others who are very focused on the independence of their homeland. L,S – Read by Mike Piscitelli.
After Midnight, Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.
All the Birds in the Sky, Fiction by Charlie Jane Anders, 2016. 11 Br. Began December 2. From an early age, Patricia and Laurence had different ways of seeing the world. In school they became wary allies until a guidance counselor intervened. Now as adults, they are on opposite sides of a war between science and magic and the fate of the world depends on them both. L,S – Read by Laura Young.
The Passenger, Fiction by Lisa Lutz, 2016. 11 Br. Begins December 20. When her husband dies, “Tanya Dubois” has one option: to go on the run again. When police realize she doesn’t officially exist, they’ll have questions that she cannot answer. L – Read by Laura Rohlik.
Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations
