Books Available Through Faribault
The following is a sampling of the many books read on Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network. All books broadcast on the network are available through the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault. The library is currently experiencing difficulties and books are not being duplicated. When this changes it will be announced. 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 for your password to the site.

Access Press is one of the publications read at 9 p.m. Sundays during the program It Makes a Difference. Another news program, Nothing but the Truth, will be reinstituted this summer, at 10 p.m. Sundays. It is hoped this will fill the gap in listeners’ interest in news. The program takes an in-depth look at today’s high-profile court cases, political and financial scandals, unsolved crimes and other controversies. The Reading Room, the former Saturday 10 p.m. program, is moving to Sunday night at 10 p.m., and Wanderings, which had been on Sunday at 10 p.m. will be heard overnight at 2 a.m. Saturday morning.

Chautauqua, Tuesday – Saturday 4 a.m.
A Splintered History of Wood, Nonfiction by Spike Carlsen, 2008. Without wood, we wouldn’t have fire, heat and shelter. If civilization had developed, our lives would be vastly different from today. Read by Art Nyhus. 15 broadcasts. Begins July 13.

Past is Prologue, Monday – Friday 9 a.m.
This Republic of Suffering, Nonfiction by Drew Gilpin Faust, 2008. During the Civil War, 620,000 soldiers died. Today’s equivalent would be six million. The many deaths changed our understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Read by Alvin Apple. 11 broadcasts. Began June 23.

Bookworm, Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
Dewey, Nonfiction by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter, 2008. Dewey Readmore Books was the library cat of Spencer, Iowa, but his story started very ignobly: being stuffed into the returned book slot. Read by Connie Jamison. 9 broadcasts. Began July 7.

Potpourri, Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
Home, Nonfiction by Julie Andrews, 2008.Born to a vaudevillian mother in 1935, Julie Andrews spent a childhood on radio, in music halls, and giving concerts all over England. She made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend. Read by Constance Crane. 13 broadcasts. Begins July 29.

Choice Reading, Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
The Clothes on Their Backs, Fiction by Linda Grant, 2008. The child of refugees, Vivien reinvents herself through reading. Against her father’s wishes, she befriends an uncle who wants to share his life story. Read by Ann Hoedeman. Nine broadcasts. Begins July 21.

PM Report, Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
The Second World, Nonfiction by Parag Khanna, 2008. Until recently, America has dominated world economics. That has been replaced with a geopolitical marketplace in which the European Union and China compete with the United States to shape world order on their own terms. Read by Malcolm McLean. 16 broadcasts. Begins July 15.

Night Journey, Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
The Apostate’s Tale, Fiction by Margaret Frazer, 2008. In the spring of 1452, nuns at St. Frideswide’s priory are preparing for the end of Lent when long-vanished Sister Cecely returns. Nine years before, she left with a man. Now her lover is dead and she has returned with her son. Read by Joy Fogarty. 10 broadcasts. Begins July 27.

Off the Shelf*Monday – Friday 10 p.m.
The Gift of Rain, Fiction by Ran Twan Eng, 2008. Philip Hutton befriends Hayato, a Japanese diplomat in Penang. When war begins, Philip realizes his mentor and friend is a spy. V – Read by Bob Malos. 20 broadcasts. Began July 2.

Evening Odyssey, Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Fiction by Junot Díaz, 2007.Oscar is an overweight ghetto nerd, doomed by a generations- old family curse. L – Read by John Beal. 11 broadcasts. Begins July 21.

Good Night Owl, Monday – Friday midnight
Black & White and Dead All Over, Fiction by John Darnton, 2008. A newsroom editor, with a reputation for killing stories with his pen, is found killed with that same tool. V,L – Read by Neil Bright. 16 broadcasts. Begins July 27.

After Midnight, Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.
Nation, Fiction by Terry Pratchett, 2008. Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his village away. He finds Daphne, the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave. Drawn by their fire, other refugees slowly arrive, all hungry, all frightened. Read by Wally Peters. 11 broadcasts. Begins July 14.