State Services for the Blind

Radio News

Radio Talking Book Radio News June 2006

Current Edition: November 2006

Next Edition: December 2006

Previous News Editions: January 2006, February 2006, March 2006, April 2006, May 2006, June 2006, July 2006, August 2006, September 2006, October 2006

Accessible Voting
This fall will be unlike any previous one for Minnesota’s blind and visually impaired citizens. For the first time, accessible voting equipment will be available for all elections, and all people - regardless of disability - will be able to cast informed votes in private. Information about the voting machines will be made available in the next few months through the Secretary of State’s office, and through the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network and the State Services for the Blind. There will be training sessions around the state so that all people who are interested in the voting machines will have an opportunity to become comfortable with them. In addition to any information that may be mailed to you on this topic, the Radio Talking Book will have an interview program on this topic, Sunday, July 23, at 8 p.m. The interview will include SSB Director Chuk Hamilton and a variety of other people who are knowledgeable on the new voting equipment. Please be sure to join us on Sunday, July 23, at 8 p.m. for this important information.

Books Available Through Faribault
All books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Faribault. Their phone is 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 at www.klas.com/mnbph. 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.

Review old issues of Radio News on the Internet at www.mnssb.org/radionews/

Chautauqua
Tuesday - Saturday 4 a.m.

The Whole Equation
Nonfiction by David Thomson, 2004.
Called the greatest living film critic and historian, David Thomson gives us the history of Hollywood. L - Read by Sherri Afryl.
18 broadcasts. Begins July 3.

The Golden Spruce
Nonfiction by John Vaillant, 2005.
In British Columbia, homeland of the Haida, one tree took on mythical proportions by its uniqueness. Read by Alvin Apple.
9 broadcasts. Begins July 27.

Past is Prologue
Monday - Friday 9 a.m.

Bleeding Blue and Gray
Nonfiction by Ira M. Rutkow, 2005.
The primitive state of medicine made the hardships of the Civil War even worse. Nevertheless, conditions in the war forced major advances in surgery and medical treatment.
Read by Fred Lyon.
15 broadcasts. Began June 19.

An Empire of Wealth
Nonfiction by John Steele Gordon, 2004.
Unlike the great empires of the past, the United States has dominated the world as an empire built on wealth.
Read by Art Nyhus.
17 broadcasts. Begins July 10.

Bookworm
Monday - Friday 11 a.m.

The New Woman
Fiction by Jon Hassler, 2005.
Agatha thinks that moving into a senior living residence will make her start acting like an old person. Read by Eleanor Berg.
8 broadcasts. Begins July 3.

Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
Fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, 2005.
While Isabel Dalhousie is running her niece’s delicatessen, she meets a man with a heart transplant who is having memories of events that never happened to him. Isabel’s curiosity is piqued; could they be memories that belonged to the donor?
Read by Amy Morris.
9 broadcasts. Begins July 13.

At First Sight
Fiction by Nicholas Sparks, 2005.
Jeremy was sure he’d never leave New York, never get married again, and never be a parent. Now he’s living in Boone Creek, North Carolina, engaged, and looking forward to a family. But an e-mail arrives that changes the course of the marriage.
Read by Bill Moore.
12 broadcasts. Begins July 26.

Potpourri
Monday - Friday 2 p.m.

Augustine: a New Biography
Nonfiction by James J. O’Donnell, 2005.
Augustine, the theologian who served as bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430 C.E., is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the western world. After writing Confessions, he became prominent as a
churchman, politician, and writer.
Read by Bill McNiff.
18 broadcasts. Began June 22.

Talk to the Hand
Nonfiction by Lynne Truss, 2005.
In a recent U.S. survey, 79 percent of adults said lack of courtesy was a serious problem. But when did society stop valuing basic courtesy and respect? L -
Read by Carolyn Jensen.
4 broadcasts. Begins July 20.

Speedbumps
Nonfiction by Teri Garr, 2005.
Teri Garr is a natural performer. After years of entertaining in dance and movies, Teri has turned her work toward advocacy for MS, after her own diagnosis in 2002. L -
Read by Susan Niefeld.
8 broadcasts. Begins July 26.

Choice Reading
Monday - Friday 4 p.m.

The Dream Life of Sukhanov
Fiction by Olga Grushin, 2006.
Sukahnov used to be an artist, but gave up his dreams to live a life of prestige as an apparatchik. L - Read by Dan Sadoff.
15 broadcasts. Begins July 3.

The Brooklyn Follies
Fiction by Paul Auster, 2005.
Nathan’s plans to come to Brooklyn to die are complicated when he finds life can be interesting. L,S - Read by Ray Christensen.
10 broadcasts. Begins July 24.

PM Report
Monday - Friday 8 p.m.

Kremlin Rising
Nonfiction by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, 2005. A decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is an effort to reconsolidate power in the Kremlin.
Read by Marylyn Burridge.
21 broadcasts. Began June 20.

Under the Bridge
Nonfiction by Rebecca Godfrey, 2005.
Reena Vik wanted to be a friend to a group of ordinary suburban teenagers. But this group of teens savagely beat and killed her, and then kept their secret from adults and authorities. V,L -
Read by Bonita Sindelir.
13 broadcasts. Begins July 19.

Night Journey
Monday - Friday 9 p.m.

Malpractice in Maggody
Fiction by Joan Hess, 2006.
The town of Maggody was quiet before the strangers arrived; now there’s been a murder in town. L - Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe.
10 broadcasts. Begins July 3.

Sympathy between Humans
Fiction by Jodi Compton, 2005.
Detective Sarah Pribek tries to protect her reputation and job, while under suspicion of murder. L - Read by Constance Crane.
13 broadcasts. Begins July 17.

Off the Shelf
Monday - Friday 10 p.m.

The Good Wife
Fiction by Stewart O’Nan, 2005.
For twenty-eight years, Patty raises her son alone and waits for the end of her husband’s incarceration. L -
Read by Ray Christensen.
10 broadcasts. Began June 20.

Indecision
Fiction by Benjamin Kunkel, 2005.
Dwight is having a mid-life crisis at age twenty-eight. He decides to take a roommate’s suggestion to self-medicate; that pills can help him make decisions - but they open up problems as well. L,S -
Read by Chris Kelly.
9 broadcasts. Begins July 14.

On Beauty
Fiction by Zadie Smith, 2005.
Howard and Kiki struggle to rekindle their love while their three teen children seek guidance for their own lives. L -
Read by Andrea Bell.
18 broadcasts. Begins July 17.

Evening Odyssey
Monday - Friday 11 p.m.

Legends
Fiction by Robert Littell, 2005.
Martin Odum is a one-time CIA operative who has changed identities so often he is having difficulty determining what his true memories are. But is this the result of brainwashing, exhaustion, or a true multiple personality disorder? L,S -
Read by Steve Waldhauser.
14 broadcasts. Began June 15.

Flashman on the March
Fiction by George MacDonald Fraser, 2005. It is 1868; Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., volunteers for a secret intelligence-gathering mission to help free a group of Britons being held captive by an Abyssinian king. The adventure tests his limits for knavery, intrigue, and survival. V,L,S -
Read by Charles Torrey.
14 broadcasts. Begins July 5.

The Scorpion’s Gate
Fiction by Richard A. Clarke, 2005.
A coup has toppled the sheiks of Saudi Arabia and put a shaky Islamic government in their place. Opportunists are ready to realign the map of the Middle East; their plans are not all the same, though. L -
Read by Eric Thornton.
9 broadcasts. Begins July 25.

Good Night Owl
Monday - Friday midnight

End of the Beginning
Fiction by Harry Turtledove, 2005.
In an alternative telling of history, the Japanese conquered and occupied Hawaii, leaving POWs enslaved and civilians struggling to survive. But the strain takes its toll on the Japanese. V,L,S -
Read by John Mandeville.
21 broadcasts. Began June 13.

Queen of the Underworld
Fiction by Gail Godwin, 2006.
In 1959, as the first wave of Cuban exiles flees to the States, Emma Gant begins her reporting career in Miami. She balances her time and energies with Cuban friends, her married lover, her job, and planning the fiction she hopes to write. L -
Read by Laura Rohlik.
14 broadcasts. Begins July 12.

After Midnight
Tuesday - Saturday 1 a.m.

Od Magic
Fiction by Patricia A. McKillip, 2005.
Brenden Vetch has a gift with plants which brings him to the school run by the wizard Od. The rulers of the Numis believe they have control over this school, but Brenden’s power is outside of their ken.
Read by Katja Amyx.
9 broadcasts. Began June 28.

Son of a Witch
Fiction by Gregory Maguire, 2005.
When his mother Elphaba, the witch of the West, died, Liir was shattered in spirit and body. But he is tended back to health at the Cloister of Saint Glinda and he begins to look for his half-sister Nor, and fulfillment in his life. L -
Read by Richard Klein.
13 broadcasts. Begins July 11.

Derik’s Bane
Fiction by Mary Janice Davidson, 2005.
Werewolf Derik Gardner knows he should save the world by killing the reincarnation of Morgan Le Fay. But Sara Gunn has no idea that’s who she is, and Derik is quite taken with her. L,S -
Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe.
5 broadcasts. Begins July 31.

Abbreviation Code: V - violence, L - rough language, S - sexual situations