Radio News
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Radio Talking Book Radio News December 2007 |
Current Edition: January 2008
Previous News Editions: January 2007, February 2007, March 2007, April 2007, May 2007, June 2007, July 2007, August 2007, September 2007, October 2007, November 2007, December 2007
January 2006, February 2006, March 2006, April 2006, May 2006, June 2006, July 2006, August 2006, September 2006, October 2006, November 2006, December 2006
Holiday Programming
Every year, the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network takes a break from our regular programming beginning after the evening’s reading of the New York Times on December 24, until the reading of the Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press on the morning of December 26. During that time, we have special holiday programming. Usually most of it is Christmas programming, but it may include other holidays - though Hanukkah is in early December this year and is over before December 24.
Users of the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are aware of the 24-hour Bookline, the dedicated telephone answering machine that has the listings of the books for the month. During the Christmas programming, that phone number has the listings of the Christmas stories that are being aired. The number is 651-649-5902.
Area Connections
The only author featured this month with strong Minnesota connections is Mary Janice Davidson who writes the Undead series (Undead and Uneasy begins the night of December 17 at 1 a.m.). Mary Janice Davidson lives and writes in Cannon Falls, MN.
Books Available Through Faribault
All books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault. 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 at the main website, http://education.state.mn.us and clicking on the link, or go to http://education.state.mn.us/mde/Learning_Support/MN_Braille_Talking_Book_Library/index .html. 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.
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Chautauqua
Tuesday - Saturday 4 a.m.
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The Wild Trees
Nonfiction by Richard Preston, 2007.
High above the floor of the redwood forests is a canopy that botanists and naturalists are just beginning to discover. Three hundred feet in the air, these researchers are finding plants and animals previously unknown to science. L -
Read by June Prange.
10 broadcasts. Begins December 3.
Chasing Kangaroos
Nonfiction by Tim Flannery, 2007.
While on a motorcycle trip around Australia in 1975, Flannery became obsessed with the kangaroo. He has come to see it as inseparable from the environment that created it, and the most remarkable animal that ever lived. L -
Read by Dan Sadoff.
9 broadcasts. Begins December 17.
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Past is Prologue
Monday - Friday 9 a.m.
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Rough Crossings
Nonfiction by Simon Schama, 2006.
When the last colonial governor of Virginia declared that any rebel-owned slave who escaped and served the King would be emancipated, tens of thousands of slaves responded. The movement lasted as long as the war, unleashing one of the great exoduses in American history. V,L -
Read by Dan Sadoff.
21 broadcasts. Began November 26.
Land of Lincoln
Nonfiction by Andrew Ferguson, 2007.
Ferguson searches for Abraham Lincoln in homes, museums, parks, and motels from coast to coast. He finds a man whose spirit, mythology, and philosophy continue to shape our national identity in serious and surprising ways.
Read by Donald Meisel.
13 broadcasts. Begins December 26.
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Bookworm
Monday - Friday 11 a.m.
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The Secret of Lost Things
Fiction by Sheridan Hay, 2007.
A young Australian woman comes to New York and gets a job in a huge used and rare bookstore. When the manager’s eyes begin to fail she becomes his reader, so she is first to read the letter about a lost manuscript by Herman Melville. L -
Read by Carol Lewis.
11 broadcasts. Began November 28.
Bad Dogs Have More Fun
Nonfiction by John Grogan, 2007.
John Grogan was a newspaper columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Over the years, he wrote of animals, families, life’s foibles, and people who are memorable and unusual in their own right.
Read by Dan Kuechenmeister.
7 broadcasts. Begins December 13.
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Fiction by Alexander McCall Smith, 2007.
Precious Ramotswe has staffing problems at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni asked to be put in charge of a case she thinks should be handled by a woman, and her assistant Mma Makutsi, has decided to leave the agency.
Read by Marylyn Burridge.
7 broadcasts. Begins December 24.
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Potpourri
Monday - Friday 2 p.m.
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Strange Piece of Paradise
Nonfiction by Terri Jentz, 2006.
In the summer of 1977, Jentz and her college roommate slept in a tent while on a cross-country trip. As they slept, a man ran over the tent with his truck then attacked them with an ax. Both women survived, but both were irreparably injured. V -
Read by Ann Reed.
27 broadcasts. Began November 22.
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Choice Reading
Monday - Friday 4 p.m.
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The Bastard of Istanbul
Fiction by Elif Shafak, 2007.
Asya lives with her mother and older sisters in Istanbul. Their brother lives in Tucson, and his step-daughter Armanoush is half Armenian. Feeling part of her identity is missing, Armanoush flies to Istanbul where she becomes friends with Asya. L,S -
Read by Bonita Sindelir.
14 broadcasts. Begins Dec. 4.
Truck: A Love Story
Nonfiction by Michael Perry, 2006.
During one event-filled year, Michael Perry’s aims were merely to grow his own food, live peaceably with his neighbors, and sort out his love life. But the year involved many detours on the way, before finally returning to northern Wisconsin.
Read by Al Apple.
12 broadcasts. Begins December 24.
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PM Report
Monday - Friday 8 p.m.
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The Devil Came on Horseback
Nonfiction by Brian Steidle, 2007.
In 2004, Steidle was hired by the African Union to document the situation in Darfur, to watch as government troops attacked rebel groups and black civilians. Frustrated by the international community’s unwillingness to intervene, he resigned. V -
Read by Judith Johannessen.
10 broadcasts. Begins December 3.
There Goes My Everything
Nonfiction by Jason Sokol, 2007.
Major events of the civil rights movement brought out prejudice in some southern whites, but made radicals of others. There was a wide array of reactions: resistance, embrace, questioning. L -
Read by John Marsicano.
18 broadcasts. Begins December 17.
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Night Journey
Monday - Friday 9 p.m.
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Suffer the Little Children
Fiction by Donna Leon, 2007.
Commissario Guido Brunetti is challenged by a strange case: three men attacked a sleeping physician, beat him, and stole his young child. The victim is now mute. Who would dare to take a doctor’s child? Read by Nancy Felknor.
9 broadcasts. Begins December 4.
Christine Falls
Fiction by Benjamin Black, 2007.
Raised as brothers, Quirke and Malachy end up also as brothers-in-law and rivals. When Quirke discovers Malachy altering a morgue file, he suspects he was tampering with a corpse which leads him to look at the history of the family and his own past. L,S -
Read by Neil Bright.
13 broadcasts. Begins December 17.
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Off the Shelf
Monday - Friday 10 p.m.
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The Last Empress
Fiction by Anchee Min, 2007.
The end of the nineteenth century was a violent time in China’s history. The one constant was the woman known as Empress Orchid, who realized only she could hold the nation’s rival factions together. L -
Read by Licia Swanson.
13 broadcasts. Began November 28.
Breakpoint
Fiction by Richard A. Clarke, 2007.
A network of technology binds together the world’s economies, governments, and communications in a global village. Now, a sophisticated band of unconventional terrorists seeks to disconnect the globe, destroying cable centers, computer grids, and communications satellites. L -
Read by Ray Christensen.
9 broadcasts. Begins December 17.
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Evening Odyssey
Monday - Friday 11 p.m.
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Forgetfulness
Fiction by Ward Just, 2006.
Thomas Railles is an American expat and former odd-jobber for the CIA, living with his wife in France. When his wife is killed, he is devastated, and struggles to make sense of a world defined by violence and pain. L -
Read by Judy McGuigan.
12 broadcasts Begins December 4.
The Overlook
Fiction by Michael Connelly, 2007.
When LAPD detective Harry Bosch is assigned a case of an execution-style death, it looks simple. But the victim had no ties to organized crime, and lots of ties to radioactive substances from hospitals all over LA. L -
Read by John Gunter.
6 broadcasts. Begins December 20.
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Good Night Owl
Monday - Friday midnight
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What Came Before He Shot Her
Fiction by Elizabeth George, 2006.
Inspector Thomas Lynley’s wife’s death has left Scotland Yard shocked. The trigger was pulled by a twelve-year-old boy, whose story begins in the rough neighborhood of North Kensington. V,L,S -
Read by Diane Ladenson.
21 broadcasts. Began November 14.
Dedication
Fiction by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, 2007.
Kate’s ex-boyfriend made it big as a music recording star. Unfortunately for her, every song is about her. Now he’s making a visit to his old home town and she has a chance to confront him and reclaim her past. L,S -
Read by Laura Rohlik.
11 broadcasts. Begins December 13.
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After Midnight
Tuesday - Saturday 1 a.m.
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Soon I Will Be Invincible
Fiction by Austin Grossman, 2007.
Doctor Impossible, evil genius, wannabe world dominator, is now in a federal prison. Over the years, he’s tried to take over the world many times but he has always failed. The next time will be different. L -
Read by Del Adamson.
10 broadcasts. Begins December 3.
Undead and Uneasy
Fiction by Mary Janice Davidson, 2007.
Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor is about to marry Vampire King Eric Sinclair, when he disappears along with most of her friends and loved ones. Betsy cannot trust anyone as she tries to find them and whoever is behind all the disappearances. L,S -
Read by Leandra Peak.
5 broadcasts. Begins December 17.
Michael Tolliver Lives
Fiction by Armistead Maupin, 2007.
Twenty years ago, Maupin wrote about Michael in Tales of the City. Now Michael is 55, has survived the plague that took so many friends and lovers, has a younger lover, and needs to attend to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida. L -
Read by John Schmidt.
7 broadcasts. Begins December 26.
Abbreviations:
V - violence,
L - offensive language,
S - sexual situations