Across the Pond
In August, Radio Supervisor, Stuart Holland, made a visit to Glasgow, Scotland, and stopped in to visit at Insight Radio, Glasgow’s radio for the blind, run by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). Insight Radio was Europe’s first radio for the blind, but the approach is a bit different from what listeners to the Radio Talking Book hear. It is a main channel radio and much of the programming is not reading. If you wish to listen to some of what they do, it is on the internet at http://www.insightradio.co.uk/listen-live.html.
Weekend Program Books
Your Personal World (Saturday at 1 p.m.) is airing The Prosperous Heart, by Julia Cameron and Idea-Links, by Jim Link; For the Younger Set (Sunday at 11 a.m.) is airing Wolf Storm, by Dee Garretson; Poetic Reflections (Sunday at noon) is airing That Said, by Jane Shore; The U.S. and Us (Sunday at 4 p.m.) is airing The Assassination of Hole-in-the-Day, by Anton Treuer.
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, http://education.state.mn.us, and then clicking on the link. 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.
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
Da Vinci’s Ghost, Nonfiction by Toby Lester, 2012. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, the man within a circle and a square, had its roots in an idea of the Roman architect Vitruvius: that a human body could be made to fit both within a square and a circle. Read by Esmé Evans. 7 broadcasts. Began October 3.
The Hour between Dog and Wolf, Nonfiction by John Coates, 2012. Risk taking and stress transform our body chemistry, driving us to dangerous extremes of overconfidence or timidity. Success raises testosterone levels; failure leads to a rise in cortisol, the stress hormone. Read by June Prange. 10 broadcasts. Begins October 12.
Revelations, Nonfiction by Elaine Pagels, 2012. Why was the Book of Revelation included in the New Testament when other books of revelation were discarded? Read by Esmé Evans. 6 broadcasts. Begins October 26.
Past is Prologue
Monday – Friday 9 a.m.
1493, Nonfiction by Charles C. Mann, 2011. When Columbus landed in the Americas, he set off an ecological convulsion as European vessels carried thousands of species across the oceans. Read by Malcolm McLean. 19 broadcasts. Began September 25
The Tigress of Forli, Nonfiction by Elizabeth Lev, 2011. Strategist, warrior, wife, and mother, Caterina Riario Sforza de Medici was a true Renaissance celebrity, beloved and vilified in equal measure. Read by Bonita Sindelir. 13 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
Bookworm
Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
Head over Heels, Fiction by Rain Mitchell, 2012. Lee teaches yoga in L.A. and makes ends meet in a culture teeming with celebrity teachers with agents and publicists. Offered a high-profile teaching job at a yoga festival, she needs to choose between principles and the lure of becoming a star. L – Read by Mary Hall. 9 broadcasts. Begins October 9.
On Canaan’s Side, Fiction by Sebastian Barry, 2011. Lilly Bere fled Ireland at the end of the First World War. In America, she found both hope and danger, tasting the sweetness of love and the bitterness of betrayal. She tells her story of seven decades. Read by Judy Woodward. 8 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
The Writer’s Voice
Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
King Peggy, Nonfiction by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman, 2012. With one late-night phone call, Peggielene Bartels was transformed from a Washington, D.C. secretary to king of an African village. Her uncle, the king of Otuam, had died and sacred rituals revealed Peggy to be the next king. Read by Jan Anderson. 14 broadcasts. Began October 2.
A Good Man, Nonfiction by Mark K. Shriver, 2012. When Sargent Shriver died after a long fight with Alzheimer’s, Mark knew it was time to search for the source of his father’s joy, devotion, and sense of purpose. Read by Jim Gregorich. 8 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
Choice Reading
Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
The Boiling Season, Fiction by Christopher Hebert, 2012. Alexandre was from the slums of a politically volatile Caribbean island. To escape, he becomes caretaker of an estate owned by a wealthy foreigner. When the outside world starts to crumble, this sanctuary is invaded by a gang of slum dwellers fighting a savage regime. Read by Don Lee. 15 broadcasts. Began October 9.
Turn of Mind, Fiction by Alice LaPlante, 2011. Dr. Jennifer White, recently widowed, a newly retired orthopedic surgeon, and in the early stages of dementia, is the prime suspect in the murder of her neighbor and life-long friend, Amanda. Dr. White doesn’t know herself whether or not she did it. L – Read by Mary Hall. 9 broadcasts. Begins October 30.
PM Report
Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
Don’t Shoot, Nonfiction by David M. Kennedy, 2011. Gang and drug related inner-city violence is the defining crime problem in our country. But self-taught criminologist David Kennedy engineered the “Boston Miracle” in the 1990s and pointed toward a solution. Read by Hugh Jones. 15 broadcasts. Began September 25.
The Last Great Senate, Nonfiction by Ira Shapiro, 2012. Our Senate allows a minority to use filibuster and rules to place a stranglehold on action, but it has not always been so. Read by Art Nyhus. 19 broadcasts. Begins October 16.
Night Journey
Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
The Lost Women of Lost Lake, Fiction by Ellen Hart, 2011. Jane’s friend Tess is being harangued by a man claiming to be a journalist who keeps asking questions about events decades ago. Tess’s friends are being very protective. Jane decides that the best way to protect her friends from secrets is to uncover the truth before anyone else can. Read by Constance Crane. 10 broadcasts. Began September 24.
The Mozart Conspiracy, Fiction by Scott Mariani, 2011. Enlisted by opera star Leigh Llewellyn to investigate her brother’s mysterious death, former British Special Air Service officer Ben Hope finds himself caught up in a puzzle dating back to the 1700s. V,L – Read by Esmé Evans. 11 broadcasts. Begins October 22.
The Retribution, Fiction by Val McDermid, 2011. After ten years in prison, Jacko has broken out and he has sworn revenge on the two that put him away. They don’t know when or where he’ll strike. V,L,S – Read by Diane Ladenson. 12 broadcasts. Begins October 23.
Off the Shelf
Monday – Friday 10 p.m.
Until the Next Time, Fiction by Kevin Fox, 2012. On his 21st birthday, American Sean Corrigan is given a journal that belonged to his father’s brother Michael. Michael fled New York for Ireland when accused of a murder he did not commit. Sean heads to Ireland to hunt for the truth about his uncle. L – Read by John Beal. 17 broadcasts. Begins October 1.
The Newlyweds, Fiction by Nell Freudenberger, 2012. Amina Mazid, age twenty-four and from Bangladesh, meets George Stillman online and they arrange their marriage in Rochester, NY. But each of them is hiding something from the past. It is not until she returns home to Bangladesh that they find out if their secrets will tear them apart, or if they can build a future together. Read by Holly Sylvester. 13 broadcasts. Begins October 24.
Potpourri
Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
The Shadow World, Nonfiction by Andrew Feinstein, 2011. The global arms trade includes both formal government agreements as well as the world of illicit weapons dealing. And there are shockingly frequent links between the two. Too often, there is deadly collusion among senior politicians, weapons manufacturers, felonious arms dealers, and the military, a situation that compromises our security and undermines our democracy. Read by John Demma. 27 broadcasts. Began October 1.
Good Night Owl
Monday – Friday midnight
Red Plenty, Fiction by Francis Spufford, 2012. The USSR was founded on twentieth-century magic called “the planned economy” which was going to have an abundance of good things that capitalism could never match. For a little while, in the 1950s, the magic seemed to be working. Read by Bob Malos. 15 broadcasts. Began September 25.
Delirious, Fiction by Daniel Palmer, 2011. Charlie Giles is an electronics superstar. Then one day, everything goes wrong. His job and inventions are wrenched away. His family is targeted and former employees are being murdered. And all evidence points to him as the killer. L – Read by Dave Schliep. 14 broadcasts. Begins October 16.
After Midnight
Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.
The Marriage Plot, Fiction by Jeffrey Eugenides, 2012. Madeleine cannot understand why other students think reading literature about love is so passé. And then she becomes involved in a love triangle the effects of which carry on beyond graduation. S – Read by Arlan Dohrenburg. 21 broadcasts. Began Sept. 18.
Bloodlines, Fiction by Richelle Mead, 2011. Sydney’s blood is special because she is an alchemist, one of a group of humans who serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. But the last encounter she had with vampires got her in deep trouble with other alchemists. V,L,S – Read by Laura Rohlik. 14 broadcasts. Begins October 17.
Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations
