Come see us at the MN State Fair!
For the last five years, State Services for the Blind has had a booth at the Minnesota State Fair.
Why? We go to reach out to the public, both those who know about our services and those who don’t. For you, who know about us, we would love to see you come by so you might,
1. Speak with volunteers and staff whose voices you’ve heard,
2. Ask any questions you might have about services,
3. Introduce your friends and relatives to us.
We think that continuing to reach out to the public is important. As is the case with commercial advertising, people don’t notice information until they need it. Since vision changes happen over time, it is necessary for us to keep our message out there – that vision changes can be adapted to, life can still be interesting and fulfilling, and those with limited vision can still have access to information and literature and lead full, productive lives.
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.
Dogtown, Nonfiction by Elyssa East, 2009. Dogtown, near Gloucester, Mass., thrived until the Revolution. It was vacated in 1839 and is now a ghost town with a history of witches, pirates, and strange tales. Read by Lynda Kayser. 13 broadcasts. Begins Aug. 19.
Fresh: A Perishable History, Nonfiction by Susanne Freidberg, 2009. We take refrigeration of food as a given, but it was not always so. When it began, it was controversial. Now it is part of our demand for fresh food. Read by Leila Poullada. 11 broadcasts. Begins September 7.
The Philosophical Baby, Nonfiction by Alison Gopnik, 2009. There has been a revolution in understanding of minds of infants and young children. They learn, create, care, and experience more than we could imagine. Read by Audray Rees. 9 broadcasts. Begins September 22
Past is Prologue
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.
Abigail Adams, Nonfiction by Woody Holton, 2009. One of the finest writers of her age, Abigail Adams campaigned for women’s education, denounced discrimination, and matched wits with Jefferson, Washington, and her husband. L – Read by Marylyn Burridge. 21 broadcasts. Began August 30.
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, Nonfiction by Leanda de Lisle, 2009. The Grey sisters were great-granddaughters of Henry VII, legitimate successors to the throne and rivals to Henry VIII’s daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Read by Bonnie Smith-Yackel. 14 Br. Begins September 28.
Bookworm
Monday – Friday, 11 a.m.
La’s Orchestra Saves the World, Fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, 2009. When La organizes the orchestra, it is to relieve her boredom and restore the town’s morale. What she doesn’t expect is Feliks, the Polish refugee, who begins to stir her feelings. Read by Natasha DeVoe. Six broadcasts. Begins Aug. 30.
Daughter of Kura, Fiction by Debra Austin, 2009. Snap, daughter of a matrilineal homo erectus tribe, challenges her mother’s new mate and is cast out to survive or perish on her own. Read by Karen Wertz. 9 broadcasts. Begins September 7.
Victoire, My Mother’s Mother, Fiction by Maryse Condé, 2010. Maryse’s grandmother was a white-skinned mestiza who cooked for a white family. Yet her daughter was a black militant. Read by Sherri Afryl. 8 broadcasts. Begins Sept. 20.
Becoming Jane Eyre, Fiction by Sheila Kohler, 2009. The Brontë family seemed cursed with disaster. Yet the three sisters had remarkable literary talent. Read by Isla Hejny. 7 broadcasts. Begins September 30.
Writer’s Voice
Monday – Friday, 2 p.m.
Committed, Nonfiction by Elizabeth Gilbert, 2009. After they had both decided to never get married, Gilbert and her lover were told by the U.S. government that they had to marry or he would never be allowed to return to the U.S. That forced Gilbert to examine all aspects of marriage. L -Read by Natasha DeVoe. 9 broadcasts. Begins September 1.
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts, Nonfiction by Neil White, 2009. Neil White, journalist and publisher, wanted the best for family and friends. But his taste for fine things and his empty bank account led him to white collar crime. The prison he was sent to was the last colony in the continental U.S. for people with leprosy. Read by John Hagman. 9 broadcasts. Begins September 14.
Making Rounds with Oscar, Nonfiction by David Dosa, M.D., 2010. Oscar is an ordinary cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rhode island. Normal except that he pays special attention to those who are dying, knowing that time before anyone else. He never spends much time with the residents until they are in their last hours. Read by Charlie Boone. 6 broadcasts. Begins September 27.
Choice Reading
Monday – Friday, 4 p.m.
Wolf Hall, Fiction by Hilary Mantel, 2009. Henry VIII is in the midst of a years-long power struggle between the Church and the Crown. Thomas Cromwell steps into the impasse and becomes the country’s most powerful figure after Henry. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Read by Leandra Peak. 23 broadcasts. Begins Aug. 18.
The Postmistress, Fiction by Sarah Blake, 2010. Three women’s lives come together in wartime: Frankie, who broadcasts reports from London in 1940; Iris, the postmistress on Cape Cod; and Emma Fitch, whose new husband heads to London to offer his help. Read by Bernadette Flynn. 15 broadcasts. Begins September 20.
PM Report
Monday – Friday, 8 p.m.
The Dead Hand, Nonfiction by David E. Hoffman, 2009. The Cold War was an epoch of massive overkill. The two superpowers had perfected the science of mass destruction and possessed nuclear weapons with the combined power of a million Hiroshimas. Read by Art Nyhus. 23 broadcasts. Begins Aug. 11.
Last Journey, Nonfiction by Darrel Griffin Sr., and Darrel Griffin, Jr., 2009. When Skip Griffin was killed in Iraq, he’d been working on a book about what he’d seen there. His father vowed to finish the book for him. L – Read by Bob Malos. 10 broadcasts. Begins September 13.
Renegade, Nonfiction by Richard Wolffe, 2009. How did political newcomer Obama, with no money and an alien name, become the world’s most powerful leader? He learned skills in his youth and early career. L – Read by Kristi Sullivan. 17 Br. Begins Sept. 27.
Night Journey
Monday – Friday, 9 p.m.
Jelly’s Gold, Fiction by David Housewright, 2009. Rushmore McKenzie is helping grad students looking for gold hidden in St. Paul in 1933. But a student is killed and it becomes more than a treasure hunt. L—Read by John Gunter. Nine broadcasts. Begins Aug. 31.
Hollywood Moon, Fiction by Joseph Wambaugh, 2009. While in pursuit of a prowler who has been attacking women, “Hollywood Nate” Weiss and Dana Vaughn, of the LAPD, stumble on the crime web run by Dewey Gleason and his wife. L – Read by Judy McGuigan. 15 broadcasts. Begins September 13.
Off the Shelf
Monday – Friday, 10 p.m.
The Girl Who Played with Fire, Fiction by Stieg Larsson, 2009. Magazine publisher Mikael Blomkvist is going to run an exposé of sex trafficking. Then his reporters are killed and evidence points to a woman he trusts. L—Read by Bert Gardner. 21 broadcasts. Begins Aug. 9
Ordinary Thunderstorms, Fiction by William Boyd, 2010. Adam, in London for a job interview, strikes up a conversation. Then his life unravels and he loses everything. V,L – Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe. 14 Br. Begins Sept. 7.
Shadow Tag, Fiction by Louise Erdrich, 2010. Irene discovers her husband Gil is reading her diaries and begins writing a fake one for him to find. L – Read by Jenny O’Brien. 6 broadcasts. Begins September 27.
Potpourri
Monday – Friday, 11 p.m.
The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday, Nonfiction by Neil MacFarquhar, 2009. Many in the Middle East have interesting lives obscured by a curtain of violence. Read by Leila Poullada. 15 Br. Began August 23.
Nothing to Envy, Nonfiction by Barbara Demick, 2009. Demick tells the story of six North Koreans over fifteen years. Read by Jim Gregorich. 11 broadcasts. Begins September 13.
The Snakehead, Nonfiction by Patrick Radden Keefe, 2009. Sister Ping ran a full-service bank for illegal Chinese immigrants, but her real business was smuggling people. V,L – Read by Colleen Matz. 14 Br. Begins September 28.
Good Night Owl
Monday – Friday, Midnight
The Disappeared, Fiction by Kim Echlin, 2009. Anne is sixteen when she meets Serey, a Cambodian student forced to leave his country during the Khmer Rouge regime. Then borders are reopened and Serey risks his life to search for his family. Read by Jenny O’Brien. Five broadcasts. Begins Aug. 30.
So Much for That, Fiction by Lionel Shriver, 2010. Shep has saved a long time for his retreat to the Third World where his nest egg will last forever. Then his wife tells him she needs his health insurance and he cannot go. L,S – Read by Dan Sadoff. 20 Br. Begins Sept. 6.
After Midnight
Tuesday– Saturday, 1 a.m.
Apple Turnover Murder, Fiction by Joanne Fluke, 2010. Hannah finds Professor Ramsey, who had a relationship with her, dead with one of her turnovers in his hand. But there were many who didn’t like him. Read by Diane Ladenson. 8 Br. Began August 26.
The Sisterhood of the Rose, Fiction by Jim Marrs, 2009. Giselle Tchaikovsky, a young American woman, forms a Sisterhood to stop Hitler. Read by Judith Johannessen. 17 broadcasts. Begins September 7.
The Anthologist, Fiction by Nicholson Baker, 2009. Poet Paul Chowder is writing an introduction to a poetry anthology but he’s having a hard time starting. L – Read by Arlan Dohrenburg. 8 broadcasts. Begins September 30.
