Minnesota Book Awards
Of the 2011 Minnesota Book Awards, several are books that have been or are being recorded by the Minnesota Radio Talking Book. The Reader’s Choice Award went to Laurie Hertzel for her book, News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist. The winner in the Novel category was Vestments, by John Reimringer, a book that is currently being recorded by volunteer Dan Kuechenmeister. In General Nonfiction, the winner was The Opposite of Cold: The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition, by Michael Nordskog and Aaron Hautala. The Minnesota Nonfiction category was won by North Country: The Making of Minnesota, by Mary Lethert Wingerd. North Country was recorded by Art Nyhus and played on “The U.S. and Us,” on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. The winner of the Memoir category was Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA, by Bonnie J. Rough. For Poetry, the winner was Find the Girl, by Lightsey Darst. In Genre Fiction, The Tale of Halcyon Crane, by Wendy Webb was the winner. Our volunteer Mary Hall recorded that and it aired last December. The winner of the Children’s Literature category was My Heart Is Like a Zoo, by Michael Hall. And the winner of the Young People’s Literature category was Blank Confession, by Pete Hautman.
Congratulations to all the winners.
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 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their catalog is also online, and you can access it by going to the main website, http://education.state.mn.us, and then clicking on the link. If you live outside of Minnesota, you may obtain copies of books 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.
See interesting information about current RTB events on the Facebook site for the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network. Register for Facebook at www.facebook.com.
Chautauqua
Tuesday – Saturday, 4 a.m.
Off the Grid, Nonfiction by Nick Rosen, 2010. The grid is everywhere but is it essential? Must one depend on it and the corporate and government infrastructure behind it? Those who live off of it are varied but share one belief: that the grid has let them down. Read by Sally Browne. 13 broadcasts. Began June 9.
How We Age, Nonfiction by Marc E. Agronin, M.D., 2010. Drawing on moving personal experiences, those of his patients and their families, and on in-depth interviews with pioneers in the field, Doctor Agronin looks at what aging means today. Read by Yelva Lynfield. 11 broadcasts. Begins June 28.
Past is Prologue
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.
George, Nicholas and Wilhelm, Nonfiction by Miranda Carter, 2010. Before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins. Together, they presided over the last years of dynastic Europe and the outbreak of the most destructive war the world had ever seen. Read by John Potts. 22 broadcasts. Began June 2.
Bookworm
Monday – Friday, 11 a.m.
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, Fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, 2010. Bertie joins the cub scouts; Matthew rises to the challenges of married life; and Domenica epitomizes the loneliness of a long-distance intellectual. All happens in stoic Edinburgh. Read by Eileen Barratt. 12 broadcasts. Begins June 6.
Leaving Rock Harbor, Fiction by Rebecca Chace, 2010. When Frankie Ross’s family moves to Rock Harbor, her dad finds work in a cotton mill, though strikes threaten the town’s economy. Frankie’s male friends come from different sides: one is the son of a politician, the other a union organizer. Read by Connie Jamison. 9 broadcasts. Begins June 22.
Writer’s Voice
Monday – Friday, 2 p.m.
A Great Unrecorded History, Nonfiction by Wendy Moffat, 2010. E.M. Forster’s homosexuality was the central fact of his life. Though closeted, he preserved a vast archive of his private life, a history of gay experience he believed would find its audience in a happier time. L – Read by Arlan Dohrenburg. 19 broadcasts. Began June 9.
Choice Reading
Monday – Friday, 4 p.m.
The House on Salt Hay Road, Fiction by Carin Clevidence, 2010. When a fireworks factory explodes in a quiet Long Island town, it blows a hole in everyday life. Clay Poole is thrilled. His sister Nancy is more interested in the stranger who appears covered in ashes. Read by Mary Hall. 9 broadcasts. Began June 7.
What Is Left the Daughter, Fiction by Howard Norman, 2010. In the midst of wartime, teenaged Wyatt Hillyer is orphaned when his parents suicide. He moves in with his aunt, uncle, and ravishing cousin Tilda. Then a German student arrives. Twenty-one years later, Wyatt explains to his daughter the sequence of events. L – Read by Scott Ford. 10 broadcasts. Begins June 20.
PM Report
Monday – Friday, 8 p.m.
Crisis Economics, Nonfiction by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm, 2010. Roubini predicted the recent financial crisis in advance of anyone else. He believes economic disasters are both probable and predictable. Read by John Demma. 15 broadcasts. Begins May 9.
Broke, USA, Nonfiction by Gary Rivlin, 2010. For many, the Great Crash of 2008 meant troubling times. Not so for those in the flourishing poverty industry, for whom the economic woes spell opportunity to expand and grow. L – Read by June Prange. 13 broadcasts. Began May 30.
It’s Really All About God, Nonfiction by Samir Selmanovic, 2010. Our religions have become self-serving God management systems. Our ongoing, sometimes violent power struggles over who owns God and what God wants for the world are serving neither God, humanity, nor the planet. Read by Bob Rees. 9 broadcasts. Begins June 16.
Making Our Democracy Work, Nonfiction by Stephen Breyer, 2010. Charged with the responsibility of interpreting the Constitution, the justices of the Supreme Court have the power to strike down laws enacted by our elected representatives. When their decisions are unpopular, how does the Court maintain the public’s faith? Read by John Demma.10 broadcasts. Begins June 29.
Night Journey
Monday – Friday, 9 p.m.
This Body of Death, Fiction by Elizabeth George, 2010. Lynley is called back to Scotland Yard when the body of a woman is found stabbed and left in a London cemetery. While he works in London, former colleagues follow the murder trail to the New Forest, where secrets lurk among the trees. L – Read by Nancy Felknor. 28 broadcasts. Began May 23.
Angel with Two Faces, Fiction by Nicola Upson, 2010. Disillusioned with theater in May 1935, Josephine Tey is spending the summer with the Motleys at their estate in Cornwall. The Motleys are involved in an amateur theatrical production that becomes the stage for a real-life tragedy. L,S – Read by Ann Hoedeman. 12 broadcasts. Begins June 30.
Off the Shelf
Monday – Friday, 10 p.m.
A Fierce Radiance, Fiction by Lauren Belfer, 2010. Claire is following development of a new drug, penicillin, that will save many lives when she finds herself falling in love with one of the researchers. L,S – Read by Esmé Evans. 18 broadcasts. Began May 30.
I Curse the River of Time, Fiction by Per Petterson, 2010. Arvid Jansen is trying to bridge the gulf between himself and his mother. He is in the throes of a divorce; she has just been diagnosed with cancer. Years before, Arvid chose the communists and the factory over the college education his mother desired for him. Read by Jeffrey Weihe. 7 broadcasts. Begins June 23.
Potpourri
Monday – Friday, 11 p.m.
The Temptress, Nonfiction by Paul Spicer, 2010. In 1925, Midwestern socialite and heiress Alice de Janzé moved to Kenya where Westerners farmed their estates, partied until dawn, and conducted illicit trysts. But one romp ended when Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, was shot. Read by Isla Hejny. 8 broadcasts. Began June 6.
Travels in Siberia, Nonfiction by Ian Frazier, 2010. Officially, there is no such place as Siberia. No political or territorial entity has Siberia as its name and no people are known to speak a language called Siberian. But Siberia still hovers across the northern third of Asia. Read by Dan Sadoff. 22 Br. Begins June 16.
Good Night Owl
Monday – Friday, Midnight
Stiltsville, Fiction by Susanna Daniel, 2010. On her first trip to Miami, Frances finds houses built on pilings in the bay. On the dock of a stilt house, she meets Dennis and a new future reveals itself. L – Read by Alletta Jervey. 13 Br. Began May 30.
Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, Fiction by Maaza Mengiste, 2010. In 1974, Ethiopia is on the eve of revolution. Yonas’s father, Hailu, has been jailed after helping a state-sanctioned torture victim die. And Yonas’s brother, Dawit, has joined the underground resistance movement – a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. V – Read by Laura Rohlik. 12 broadcasts. Begins June 16.
After Midnight
Tuesday– Saturday, 1 a.m.
Shadowrise, Fiction by Tad Williams, 2010. Southmarch Castle is about to be caught between two enemies, the ancient, immortal Qar, and the insane god-king, the Autarch of Xis. Meanwhile, the king’s children, Princess Briony and Prince Barrick, are trapped far away from home and fighting for their lives. Read by Chris Colestock. 25 broadcasts. Begins June 2.
Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations
