If you live outside the Washington, DC metropolitan area and would like to know if there is a radio reading service in your area, go to http://iaais.org, International Association of Audio Information Services. for a complete listing.
Audio Version of the Current Talking Book Schedule
Text Version of the Current Talking Book Schedule – August 2024
RTB Radio News
The August 2024 book offerings from the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network:
Chautauqua
Monday – Friday 6:00 a.m.
The Cat’s Meow – Nonfiction by Jonathan B. Losos, 2023. The past, present, and future of the world’s most popular and beloved pet, from a leading evolutionary biologist and great cat lover. Read by Yelva Lynfield. 17 broadcasts; began Monday, July 15. Listen to The Cat’s Meow description.
All the Knowledge in the World – Nonfiction by Simon Garfield, 2023. The wild and fascinating story of the encyclopedia, from Ancient Greece to the present day. Read by Roger Sheldon. 16 broadcasts; begins Wednesday, August 7. Listen to All the Knowledge in the World description.
Henry at Work – Nonfiction by John Kaag & Jonathan Van Belle, 2023. What Thoreau can teach us about working – why we do it, what it does to us, and how we can make it more meaningful. Read by Phil Rosenbaum. 7 broadcasts; begins Thursday, August 29. – L. Listen to Henry at Work description.
Past is Prologue
Monday – Friday 11:00 a.m.
Empire, Incorporated – Nonfiction by Philip J. Stern, 2023. A history that places the corporation – more than the Crown – at the heart of British colonialism, arguing that companies built and governed global empire. Read by John Potts. 16 broadcasts; began Wednesday, July 17. Listen to Empire, Incorporated description.
Blood Memory – Nonfiction by Dayton Duncan & Ken Burns, 2023. The epic story of the buffalo in America, from prehistoric times to today—a moving and beautifully illustrated work of natural history inspired by the PBS series “American Buffalo”. Read by Greg Olson. 8 broadcasts; begins Thursday, August 8. Listen to Blood Memory description.
We Don’t Know Ourselves – Nonfiction by Fintan O’Toole, 2022. A magisterial, brilliantly insightful chronicle of the wrenching transformations that dragged Ireland into the modern world. Read by Glenn Miller. 27 broadcasts; begins Tuesday, August 20. Listen to We Don’t Know Ourselves description.
Bookworm
Monday – Friday 12:00 p.m.
Sentimental Education – Fiction by Gustave Flaubert, 2023. A new translation of the classic novel about the romantic life of a young man at the time of the French Revolution of 1848. Read by Silvester Vicic. 19 broadcasts; began Wednesday, July 31. Listen to Sentimental Education description.
The Last Russian Doll – Fiction by Kristen Loesch, 2023. A haunting, epic novel about betrayal, revenge, and redemption that follows three generations of Russian women, from the 1917 revolution to the last days of the Soviet Union, and the enduring love story at the center. Read by Stuart Holland. 13 broadcasts; begins Tuesday, August 27. Listen to The Last Russian Doll description.
The Writer’s Voice
Monday – Friday 1:00 p.m.
A Wild Path – Nonfiction by Douglas Wood, 2023. A soul-satisfying journey through the wilderness that uncovers hope, healing, and the abiding grace of wild things. Read by Anna Pliner. 9 broadcasts; began Monday, July 22. Listen to A Wild Parth description.
Unruly – Nonfiction by David Mitchell, 2023. A rollicking history of England’s kings and queens from Arthur to Elizabeth I, a tale of power, glory, and excessive beheadings by an award-winning British actor and comedian. Read by Yelva Lynfield. 20 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 5. Listen to Unruly description.
Choice Reading
Monday – Friday 2:00 p.m.
The Librarianist – Fiction by Patrick deWitt, 2023. The story of Bob Comet, a man who has lived his life through and for literature, unaware that his own experience is a poignant and affecting narrative in itself. Read by Philip Lowry. 10 broadcasts; began Tuesday, July 23 – L. Listen to The Librarianist description.
A History of Present Illness – Fiction by Anna DeForest, 2022. A boldly honest meditation on the body, the hope of healing in the face of total loss, and what it means to be alive. Read by Diane Dahm. 4 broadcasts; begins Tuesday, August 6. Listen to A History of Present Illness description.
How to Build a Boat – Fiction by Elaine Feeney, 2023. Two teachers and a teenage boy in western Ireland go through painful changes and, yes, learn to build a boat. Read by Brenda Powell. 10 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 12. – L, S. Listen to How to Build a Boat description.
Confidence – Fiction by Rafael Frumkin, 2023. Best friends (and occasional lovers) Ezra and Orson are teetering on top of the world after founding a company that promises instant enlightenment in this novel about scams, schemes, and the absurdity of the American Dream. Read by Dan Sadoff. 13 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 26. – L, S. Listen to Confidence description.
Afternoon Report
Monday – Friday 4:00 p.m.
The Call of the Tribe – Nonfiction by Mario Vargas Llosa, 2023. The intellectual autobiography of Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature. Read by Nancy Johnson. 11 broadcasts; began Monday, July 22. Listen to The Call of the Tribe description.
Where Have All the Democrats Gone? – Nonfiction by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira, 2023. A much-needed wake-up call for the Democrats, which reveals how the party has lost sight of its core principles and endangered its political future. Read by Jim Gregorich. 10 broadcasts; begins Tuesday, August 6. Listen to Where Have All the Democrats Gone? description.
The Canceling of the American Mind – Nonfiction by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott, 2023. A galvanizing deep dive into cancel culture and its dangers to all Americans. Read by John Potts. 11 broadcasts; begins Tuesday, August 20. Listen to The Canceling of the American Mind description.
Night Journey
Monday – Friday 7:00 p.m.
Where the Dead Sleep – Fiction by Joshua Moehling, 2023. A small town’s dark secrets turn deadly in northern Minnesota. Read by Julia Brown. 10 broadcasts; begins Thursday, August 1. – L. Listen to Where the Dead Sleep description.
Distant Sons – Fiction by Tim Johnston, 2023. The paths of two young men collide and spark unexpected violence in a Wisconsin town where three boys went missing in the 1970s in this intricate, haunting novel. Read by Mike Tierney. 14 broadcasts; begins Thursday, August 15. – L. Listen to Distant Sons description.
Off the Shelf
Monday – Friday 8:00 p.m.
The English Experience – Fiction by Julie Schumacher, 2023. Beleaguered Professor Jason Fitger chaperones Payne University’s annual “Experience: Abroad” to London and beyond, with eleven undergrads in tow. Read by Therese Murray. 7 broadcasts; began Monday, July 29 – L. Listen to The English Experience description.
Weyward – Fiction by Emilia Hart, 2023. An enthralling historical fiction that weaves together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries. Read by Carol McPherson. 13 broadcasts; begins Wednesday, August 7. Listen to Weyward description.
The Centre – Fiction by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, 2023. A London-based Pakistani translator furthers her stalled career by attending a mysterious language school that boasts near-instant fluency – but at a secret, sinister cost. Read by Pat Muir. 10 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 26. – L. Listen to The Centre description.
Potpourri
Monday – Friday 9:00 p.m.
Like, Literally, Dude – Nonfiction by Valerie Fridland, 2023. A lively linguistic exploration of the speech habits we love to hate—and why they actually make us better communicators. Read by Eileen Barratt. 10 broadcasts; begins Thursday, August 1. Listen to Like, Literally, Dude description.
100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet – Nonfiction by Pamela Paul, 2021. A nostalgic tour of the pre-Internet age, offering powerful insights into both the profound and the seemingly trivial things we’ve lost. Read by Jim Ahrens. 6 broadcasts; begins Thursday, August 15. Listen to 100 Things We’ve Lost to the Internet description.
On Community – Nonfiction by Casey Plett, 2023. A book-length personal essay that delves into the different ways we imagine our communities and the people who form them. Read by Dan Sadoff. 5 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 26. – L. Listen to Our Community description.
Good Night Owl
Monday – Friday 10:00 p.m.
The Only One Left – Fiction by Riley Sager, 2023. A Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier. Read by Julia Brown. 13 broadcasts; began Wednesday, July 17 – L. Listen to The Only One Left description.
A Haunting on the Hill – Fiction by Elizabeth Hand, 2023. This scary and beautifully written story of isolation and longing is the first-ever novel authorized to return to the world of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Read by Laura Young. 11 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 5. Listen to A Haunting on the Hill description.
Our Share of Night – Fiction by Mariana Enriquez, 2023. A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family. Read by Jan Anderson. 25 broadcasts; begins Tuesday, August 20. – L, S, V, G. Listen to Our Share of Night description.
RTB After Hours
Monday – Friday 11:00 p.m.
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death – Fiction by Maria Vale, 2023. A weird, adorable stunner of a romance where the Grim Reaper falls in love. Read by Lisa Bromer. 9 broadcasts; began Monday, July 22. – L, S. Listen to Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death description.
Time to Shine – Fiction by Rachel Reid, 2023. A merry and bright hockey romance about finding your place, finding your people, and finding your way back to the one you love the most. Read by Julia Brown. 12 broadcasts; begins Monday, August 5. – L, S. Listen to Time to Shine description.
An Island Princess Starts a Scandal– Fiction by Adriana Herrera, 2023. A lesbian artist wants to make the most of her summer in Paris in this belle epoque romance. Read by Mary Knatterud. 12 broadcasts; begins Wednesday, August 21. – L, S. Listen to An Island Princess Starts a Scandal description.
Weekend Books
Your Personal World (Saturdays at 1:00 p.m.) presents Life in Light by Mary Pipher, read by Bev Burchett; followed by The Good Enough Job by Simone Stolzoff, read by Yelva Lynfield.
For the Younger Set (Sundays at 11:00 a.m.) presents First-Year Orientation, edited by Lauren Gibaldi and Eric Smith, read by MaryBeth Redmond – L; followed by This Boy by Ilene Cooper, read by Eileen Barratt.
Poetic Reflections (Sundays at noon) presents Raised by Wolves: Fifty Poets on Fifty Poems, a Graywolf Anthology, read by Jim Ahrens; followed by Ice by David Keplinger, read by Jim Ahrens.
The Great North (Sundays at 4:00 p.m.) presents The Lincoln Dell Cookbook by Wendi Zelkin Rosenstein and Kit Naylor, read by Jill Wolf; followed by Closing Time by Bill Lindake and Andy Sturdevant, read by Rick Seime.
Abbreviations
V – Violent content
R – Racial epithets
L – Strong language
G – Gory descriptions
S – Sexual situations
All listings are US Central Standard Time (CST)