Books with Minnesota Connections
There are two books on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book this month that have Minnesota connections. 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End, was written by Scott W. Berg who was born and raised in Minnesota. The other book is by Minnesota native and resident William Kent Krueger. Ordinary Grace is the tenth book of his that has been recorded by Radio Talking Book volunteers.
Weekend Program Books
Your Personal World (Saturday at 1 p.m.) is airing Weight Loss for People Who Feel Too Much, by Colette Baron-Reid; For the Younger Set (Sunday at 11 a.m.) is airing The Mostly True Story of Jack, by Kelly Barnhill, and Strike Three You’re Dead, by Josh Berk; Poetic Reflections (Sunday at noon) is airing Mother Desert, by Jo Sarzotti, Pitch, by Todd Boss, and Incarnadine, by Mary Szybist; The U.S. and Us (Sunday at 4 p.m.) is airing Thirty Rooms to Hide In, by Luke Longstreet Sullivan.
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.
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
Babel No More, Nonfiction by Michael Erard, 2012. 11 Br. Begins August 7. Linguist Michael Erard was fascinated by people who are polyglots, people fluent in multiple languages. He wanted to examine what language is, where it lives in the brain, and the cultural implications of polyglots’ pursuits. Read by Judy Woodward.
An Epidemic of Absence, Nonfiction by Moises Velasques-Manoff, 2012. 18 Br. Begins August 22. In the past 150 years, sanitation, water treatment, new vaccines and antibiotics have saved lives. But evidence suggests that what we’ve done has also eliminated organisms that kept our bodies in balance. Read by Lannois Neely.
Past is Prologue
Monday – Friday 9 a.m.
38 Nooses, Nonfiction by Scott W. Berg, 2012. 14 Br. Begins August 14. In 1862, at the end of the Dakota Wars, more than 300 Indians were found guilty of murder and 38 Dakota warriors were hanged, the largest government execution in U.S. history. L – Read by John Potts.
Bookworm
Monday – Friday 11 a.m.
The Unfinished Garden, Fiction by Barbara Claypole White, 2012. 13 Br. Begins August 14. After her husband’s death, gardening became Tilly’s livelihood and salvation – she is not ready for a relationship with James. But James’ plan is to build a beautiful garden and he believes Tilly can help him do that. Read by Lynda Kayser.
The Writer’s Voice
Monday – Friday 2 p.m.
Does This Church Make Me Look Fat?, Nonfiction by Rhoda Janzen, 2012. 7 Br. Began August 8. Raised as a Mennonite, Rhoda Janzen started hanging around with Pentecostals. Amid hand waving and hallelujahs, she found a faith richly practical for life. Read by June Prange.
Into the Abyss, Nonfiction by Carol Shaben, 2013. 10 Br. Begins August 19. On an icy night in October 1984, a commuter plane crashed in northern Alberta – six died, four survived. As the men fight to stay alive, the dividing lines of power, wealth, and status are erased. L – Read by Art Nyhus.
Choice Reading
Monday – Friday 4 p.m.
Hard Country, Fiction by Michael McGarrity, 2012. 17 broadcasts. Began August 1. After his wife’s death and the killing of his brother, John Kerney gives up his ranch, leaving his son behind, and strikes out in search of the murderous outlaws and a place to start over. Read by Dan Kuechenmeister.
The House of Velvet and Glass, Fiction by Katherine Howe, 2012. 15 Br. Begins August 16. Living a life of desperation with a taciturn father and a scandal-plagued brother, Bostonian Sibyl Allston turns to a medium for solace. When her brother is turned out of Harvard, Sibyl turns to professor Benton Derby, and a spark flares to life. Read by Anne Obst.
PM Report
Monday – Friday 8 p.m.
Banished, Nonfiction by Lauren Drain with Lisa Pulitzer, 2013. 10 Br. Began August 5. When Lauren’s father began to produce a documentary about the WBC, he became fascinated and moved his family to Kansas to join the church. But as Lauren matured, she challenged some church beliefs, was cast out from the church, and cut off from all the people she knew and loved. Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe.
Clean, Nonfiction by David Sheff, 2013. 15 Br. Begins August 19. Though Twelve-step programs have helped many, they have failed to help many more. Addiction is a preventable, treatable disease, and the approaches most likely to work are based on science, not faith, tradition, contrition, or wishful thinking. Read by Dan Sadoff.
Night Journey
Monday – Friday 9 p.m.
Ordinary Grace, Fiction by William Kent Krueger, 2013. 12 Br. Began August 5. One summer, when Frank was thirteen, tragedy seemed to visit his family a lot in the form of accident, nature, suicide, and murder. He found himself thrust into an adult world of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, and suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years. L – Read by Tom Speich.
Vanishing Point, Fiction by Val McDermid, 2012. 14 Br. Begins August 21. In an expected screening at an airport, Stephanie is separated from the young boy she is adopting and a man in a TSA uniform abducts him. The more she protests, the more the agents think she is the dangerous one. L – Read by Nancy Felknor.
Off the Shelf
Monday – Friday 10 p.m.
May the Road Rise Up to Meet You, Fiction by Peter Troy, 2012. 16 Br.. Begins August 5. The lives of four people, Irish immigrant, Spanish society girl, and a couple of slaves intersect in a story of survival, love, faith, and family. It is war that brings them together changing the course of each of their lives. Read by John Marsicano.
Trapeze, Fiction by Simon Mawer, 2012. 14 Br. Begins August 27. World War II has turned Marian Sutro’s life upside down. Because she is bilingual, she is recruited by the Inter-Services Research Bureau and enrolled in espionage training to aid the resistance. What she learns is that her superiors have a riskier role for her in occupied Paris. L,S –Read by Charles Torrey.
Potpourri
Monday – Friday 11 p.m.
One Day I Will Write about This Place, Nonfiction by Binyavanga Wainaina, 2012. 13 Br. Began August 1. Binyavanga Wainaina’s path to becoming a writer is wrapped up in his quest to realize his identity, to belong to his family yet create a life uniquely his own. He tumbles through his middle-class Kenyan childhood out of kilter with the world around him. L,S Read by Scott Brush.
Passwords Primeval, Nonfiction interviews by Tony Leuzzi, 2012. 15 Br. Begins August 20. Associate Professor of Literature and Composition at a community college in New York State, Tony Leuzzi interviewed 25 American poets over a five-year span. He was interested in providing insight into the poets without compromising their art. L – Read by Marylyn Burridge.
Good Night Owl
Monday – Friday midnight
Evel Knievel Days, Fiction by Pauls Toutonghi, 2012. 9 Br. Begins August 13. Khosi has always felt out of place in Butte, Montana. Half-Egyptian and raised by a single mother, he has never managed to fit in. When a stranger arrives in town, it is a catalyst for Khosi to take his first daredevil-like risk. L – Read by Don Lee.
The Andalucian Friend, Fiction by Alexander Sőderberg, 2013. 18 Br. Begins August 26. When Sophie meets Hector, her life is uneventful and she likes him. But she soon realizes he is actually head of an international crime ring at war with a rival organization, and her life starts to come undone. She is at the center of a global turf war. V,L – Read by Dan Sadoff.
After Midnight
Tuesday – Saturday 1 a.m.
The Ghost Bride, Fiction by Yangsze Choo, 2013. 12 Br. Began August 7. Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, receives
an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family’s only son, who recently died. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price. Read by Leila Poullada.
Break My Heart 1,000 Times, Fiction by Daniel Waters, 2012. 8 Br. Begins August 23. After the Event, Veronica sees ghosts regularly. She and her friend Kirk find that it all stems from a plot. One of the teachers is grief stricken about his dead daughter and trying to find the right body for her to return in. He thinks it should be Veronica’s. V,L – Read by Steve Hebert.
Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations
