Did You Know…?
The Radio Talking Book was the first radio reading service in the world in 1969. As more services began, they borrowed programming from us. Today, our signal is heard around the world via our internet stream, and various programs are heard on forty other reading services around the country. In addition, many books recorded for the Radio Talking Book are posted to BARD, a downloadable function of the National Library Service. We have a wide reach!
Weekend Program Books
Your Personal World (Saturday at 1 p.m.) is airing The Quarter-Life Break-Through, by Adam Smiley Poswolsky, and 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; Poetic Reflections (Sunday at noon) is airing 99 Poems, by Dana Gioia; The Great North (Sunday at 4 p.m.) is airing In Winter’s Kitchen, by Beth Dooley, and 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
The Gene, Nonfiction by Siddhartha Mukherjee, 2016. 15 Br. Began November 1. Doctor Vincent DeVita, a leading oncologist, says that the war on cancer is winnable, that we’re well on our way to curing cancer, but that there are things we need to change in order to get there.
Read by Yelva Lynfield.
Past is Prologue, Monday – Friday 9 a.m
Theodore Roosevelt in the Field, Nonfiction by Michael R. Canfield, 2015. 13 Br. Began November 2. Theodore Roosevelt was a statesman, soldier, and larger-than-life politician – but he was also an explorer, naturalist, and conservationist. Never has there been a president less content to sit still behind a desk. Read by John Potts.
Battling the Gods, Nonfiction by Tim Whitmarsh, 2015. 15 Br. Begins November 11. Although adherents and opponents of atheism present it as an invention of the European Enlightenment, disbelief in the gods, originated in a far more remote past. Read by Esmé Evans.
Bookworm, Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
The Light of Paris, Fiction by Eleanor Brown, 2016. 13 Br. Began November 3. Madeleine is trapped by her family’s expectations, her controlling husband, and her own fears. Then she learns of her grandmother’s trip to Paris during the Jazz Age and decides to create her own trip like that. Read by Julie Bolton.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Fiction by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, 2016. 7 Br. Begins November 22. Harry Potter, now an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, is also a husband and a father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his son, Albus, struggles with the family legacy. Read by Joe Sadowski.
The Writer’s Voice, Monday, Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
Home Game, Nonfiction by Bret Boone and Kevin Cook, 2016. 9 Br. Began November 1. Questioned by scouts because of his small stature, supposed lack of power, and cockiness, Bret Boone didn’t care about family legacy, fighting his way to the Majors in 1992. Yet he built a career with 3 All-Star appearances, 4 Gold Gloves, and much more. Read by Jim Gregorich.
Unbroken Brain, Nonfiction by Maia Szalavitz, 2016. 16 Br. Begins November 14. Author Szalavitz believes addictions are caused by a sort of learning disorder. This explains why they are so varied, why addiction can seem more like a choice than an illness, why it typically strikes young people, and why some people outgrow it. L – Read by Pat Muir.
Choice Reading, Monday, Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
The Woman in the Photograph, Fiction by Dan Gynther, 2015. 10 Br. Began November 7. Model and woman-about-town Lee Miller moves to Paris in 1929, determined to make herself known. She seeks a job with charismatic artist Man Ray, but soon becomes more than that: his model, his lover, his muse. S – Read by Beth Marie Hansen.
The Other Joseph, Fiction by Skip Horack, 2015. 8 Br. Begins November 21. Haunted by family tragedy and a felony conviction, Roy Joseph has labored in exile. When he is contacted by a teenage girl claiming to be his lost brother’s biological daughter, Roy embarks on a journey across America, yearning for connection and the prospect of family. Read by John Gunter.
PM Report, Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars, Nonfiction by Stephen Prothero, 2016. 11 Br. Begins November 14. Author Stephen Prothero says that “culture wars” are not a modern invention. They have been the mechanism by which our nation continually wrestles with, and expands on, what it means to be American. Read by John Demma.
The Health Gap, Nonfiction by Michael Marmot, 2015. 14 Br. Begins 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.
Night Journey, Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
The Kiskadee of Death, Fiction by Jan Dunlap, 2015. 6 Br. Begins November 14. Birder Bob White finds a famous Winter Texan dead in one of the Rio Grande Valley’s World Birding Centers during his January escape from Minnesota’s deep-freeze. The murder investigation uncovers illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Read by Laura Young.
Pegasus Down, Fiction by Philip Donlay, 2016. 11 Br. Begins November 22. A CIA-operated jet on a clandestine mission disappears in Eastern Europe. On board are an American scientist being extracted from Slovakia and his liberator, Dr. Lauren McKenna, code name Pegasus. Lauren is Donovan Nash’s wife and he will use his millions and his connections to save her. V,L – Read by Neil Bright.
Off the Shelf, Monday – Friday 10 p.m.
The Dark Lady’s Mask, Fiction by Mary Sharratt, 2016. 18 Br. Began November 9. Aemilia Bassano Lanier is beautiful but in a loveless marriage. To gain escape, she frequently cross-dresses to gain freedoms only men enjoy. Then she meets a little-known poet named Shakespeare and everything changes. Read by Don Gerlach.
Potpourri, Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
The Making of the American Essay, Nonfiction edited by John D’Agata, 2016. 36 Br. Begins 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
Horsefever, Fiction by Lee Hope, 2016. 11 Br. Began November 2. Nikki has the talent to compete in horse eventing but fear holds her back. Her husband hires Gabe, a former eventer. Before long, an attraction develops between them. V,L,S – Read by Diane Ladenson.
Luckiest Girl Alive, Fiction by Jessica Knoll, 2015. 13 Br. Begins November 17. Ani FaNelli is close to living the life she’s worked hard to achieve. But a secret in her past threatens to destroy everything. L – Read by Nan Felknor.
After Midnight, Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.
Beatlebone, Fiction by Kevin Barry, 2015. 7 Br. Began November 8. John Lennon comes to Ireland seeking calm. But he puts himself in the hands of a shape-shifting driver full of charm and whimsy. L – Read by Trish Barry.
The Sellout, Fiction by Paul Beatty, 2015. 11 Br. Begins November 17. The town is being removed from the map. To restore his town to public attention, the narrator tries to reinstitute slavery and segregate the local school. V,L,S,RE –Read by Dan Kuechenmeister.
Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations
