Changes in our Braille Unit
The Braille Unit supervisor, Donna Marhoun, retired on September 25. She had been the supervisor since the death of Mary Archer in 2009. The new supervisor for the Braille Unit is Jay Maruska. Jay comes to us from Intermediate School District 287 where he had been working as a braillist for the last seven years. He studied braille through Volunteer Braille Services in 2000-2001, and became a certified braillist shortly thereafter. Jay is also fluent in American Sign Language. We look forward to a long relationship with Jay.
Weekend Program Books
Your Personal World (Saturday at 1 p.m.) is airing Goddesses Never Age, by Christiane Northrup, M.D.; For the Younger Set (Sunday at 11 a.m.) is airing Dodger, by Terry Pratchett, and How to Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks; Poetic Reflections (Sunday at noon) is airing You Must Remember This, by Michael Bazzett, and Lines of Defense, by Stephen Dunn; The U.S. and Us (Sunday at 4 p.m.) is airing Northern Slave, Black Dakota, by Walt Bachman, and Degrees of Freedom, by William D. Green.
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
Whatever Happened to the Metric System?, Nonfiction by John Bemelmans Marciano, 2014. 12 Br. Began November 4. The American system of measurement is unique and odd with its esoteric and inconsistent standards. For something as elemental as counting and estimating the world around us, it seems confusing. So how did we end up with it? Read by Michelle Juntunen.
A Matter of Breeding, Nonfiction by Michael Brandow, 2015. 10 Br. Began November 20. Michael Brandow traces the commercial rise of the purebred dog. He reveals the sordid history of the pedigree dog industry and shows how our brand-name pets pay the price with devastatingly poor health. Read by Audray Rees.
Past is Prologue, Monday – Friday 9 a.m
Leningrad, Nonfiction by Brian Moynihan, 2013. 25 Br. Begins November 9. Dmitri Shostakovich’s most famous work – his Seventh Symphony – was set against the tragic canvas of the 1941 German siege of Leningrad and the years of Stalinist repression and terror that preceded it. Read by Arlan Dohrenburg.
Bookworm, Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
Moonlight on Butternut Lake, Fiction by Mary McNear, 2015. 14 Br. Began November 4. Mila Jones has fled the city seeking a safe haven on the serene shores of Butternut Lake. She forms a bond with the troubled Reid Ford but when Mila’s violent husband returns to her life, she and Reid must face down the past. Read by Connie Jamison.
The Girls of Mischief Bay, Fiction by Susan Mallery, 2015. 12 Br. Begins November 24. Nicole, Shannon, and Pam are all having issues with husbands or romance. But they find through romance and heartbreak, laughter and tears, life is richer with friends at your side. L,S – Read by Janelle Mattson.
The Writer’s Voice, Monday, Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
Daring: My Passages, Nonfiction by Gail Sheehy, 2014. 16 Br. Began November 2. In her new memoir, journalist Gail Sheehy reflects on desire, ambition, and wanting it all. She has always been on the cutting edge of social issues, facing many obstacles and opportunities encountered when she dared to blaze a trail in a “man’s world.” Read by Bonita Sindelir.
Going Somewhere, Nonfiction by Brian Benson, 2014. 9 Br. Begins November 24. Brian has a million vague life plans but no sense of direction. So when he meets Rachel, a self-possessed woman who daydreams of bicycling across the States, he decides to follow her wherever she’ll take him. Read by Jim Gregorich.
Choice Reading, Monday, Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
The Bishop’s Wife, Fiction by Mette Ivie Harrison, 2014. 12 Br. Began November 9. As wife of a Mormon bishop, Linda Walheim is expected to fill her days with good works. But when Jared Helm arrives with his daughter claiming that his wife disappeared in the night, she suspects murder. Read by Joan Sanaker.
Friendswood, Fiction by René Steinke, 2014. 13 Br. Begins November 25. Friendswood, Texas, is a Gulf Coast town of church suppers, oil rigs, hurricanes, and football games. When a disaster threatens the peace, it pulls on the community common thread. Read by Andrea Bell.
PM Report, Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
The Chain, Nonfiction by Ted Genoways, 2014. 9 Br. anBegins November 4. On packinghouse production lines, the rule is the chain never slows. Under pressure to increase supply, supervisors have routinely accelerated the pace of conveyors, leading to a rash of other problems. L – Read by June Prange.
Unfair, Nonfiction by Adam Benforado, 2015. 12 Br. Begins November 17. Our nation is founded on the idea that the law is impartial, but the law may, in fact, turn on hidden biases. Unless these biases are addressed, the social inequality we see now will only widen. Read by Jan Anderson.
Night Journey, Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
The Swimmer, Fiction by Joakim Zander, 2015. 12 Br. Began November 2. Klara Walldéen is an aide in the EU Parliament, learning to navigate international politics. But Klara has accidentally seen something she shouldn’t have, and someone will kill to keep it hidden. L – Read by John Holden.
Where Silence Gathers, Fiction by Kelsey Sutton, 2014. 11 Br. Begins November 18. For as long as she can remember, Alexandra Tate has been able to see personified Emotions, and she’s found a best friend in Revenge. He’s her constant companion as she waits outside Nate Foster’s house, clutching a gun. Read by Isla Hejny.
Off the Shelf, Monday – Friday 10 p.m.
Juliet’s Nurse, Fiction by Lois Leveen, 2014. 11 Br. Begins November 2. In death-ravaged Verona, Angelica, a mother mourning the death of her day-old infant, enters the household of the powerful Cappelletti family to become the wet nurse to their newborn daughter, Juliet. L – Read by Beth Marie Hansen.
Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League, Fiction by Jonathan Odell, 2015. 14 Br. Begins November 17. Hazel and Vida – one wealthy and white, the other poor and black – have two things in common: the devastating loss of their children, and a deep and abiding loathing for one another. But when Vida is hired to take care of Hazel and her son, they find they have things in common. RE – Read by John Marsicano.
Potpourri, Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
A Death on Diamond Mountain, Nonfiction by Scott Carney, 2015. 12 Br. Begins November 10. Ian Thorson died from dehydration and dysentery on a remote Arizona mountaintop in 2012. Scott Carney was struck by how Thorson’s demise resembled the suicide of a young woman Carney once knew on a meditation retreat. Is there a connection between intensive meditation and mental instability? Read by Laura Rohlik.
We Know How This Ends, Nonfiction by Bruce Kramer and Cathy Wurzer, 2015. 9 Br. Begins November 26. 2010 had been a good year for Bruce Kramer. But a floppy foot and a leg weakness led to a shattering diagnosis: ALS. Suddenly, Bruce’s outlook on life was transformed. Read by Arlan Dohrenburg.
Good Night Owl, Monday – Friday midnight
The Sympathizer, Fiction by Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2015. 16 Br. Began November 9. In April 1975, a South Vietnamese army general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among them, the general’s trusted captain, is secretly observing the group and reporting back to the Viet Cong. V,L,S – Read by Don Lee.
After Midnight, Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.
Dolls Behaving Badly, Fiction by Cinthia Ritchie, 2013. 11 Br. Began November 3. Carla is many things: weary waitress; aspiring artist; divorcée who can’t detach from her ex; single mom supporting a son, a sister, and a babysitter-turned resident. She is one overdue bill away from completely losing control when inspiration strikes. L – Read by Licia Swanson.
Magonia, Fiction by Maria Dahvana Headley, 2015. 11 Br. Begins November 18. Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a debilitating lung disease. When Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family blames her medication. Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Between her family, Jason, and this new world, where do her loyalties lie? Read by Judith Johannessen.
Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations
