Good morning, intrepid RA folks! I'm delighted to be serving as the Reader's Advisory Roundtable moderator again for the coming year and we've got an exciting line up for you! We are taking RART on the road in 2015, kicking off the year on topic with a discussion of travel writing and hosted by the fine folks out at
Five Points West Library! Look in the sidebar on this blog for a complete listing of meeting locations and topics.
To get you in the habit of traveling, our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at 9am and will be held in
Southern History at the Birmingham Public Library downtown. The topic is one of our favorites, Potluck Food & Books, so plan to bring a small snack to share and ANY library material that you'd like to discuss with the group!
Today our topic of discussion was audiobooks, one that frequently gets the blood of the audio-fanatics among us pumping! It should not be surprising how much a narrator has to do with enjoyment of an audiobook, but it still surprises each time, especially if the impact is negative. Also, the impact a narrator has on a listener varies just as widely from person to person. All of these elements make audiobooks such a fun discussion topic!
On to the list!
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, read by the author
Don't let the title mislead you, this is not a story of marriage at all really. What this book really is, is a collection of essays Ann Patchett has published over the years in a variety of magazines, journals, and newsletters. I had no idea that she got her start in freelance article writing, in everything from Atlantic Monthly to bridal magazines, but I ended up REALLY enjoying something I thought I would hate. As a dedicated single, I thought I was going to have to slog through tale after tale about wedded bliss but instead I got writing advice, small business start up tips, learned about a truly wonderful dog named Rose, the joys of RVing, how hard dating is, what the true meaning of friendship should be, what happens when someone tries to get your book banned, and much, MUCH more. Ms. Patchett reads her own work here and does a masterful job. Highly recommended!
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes, read by Terence Aselford
The author has written for
The Wall Street Journal and
The Financial Times, and she understands the economic theory behind the
Great Depression. What sets this work apart is her concentration on both well-known and unknown individuals, how they were affected by the Depression and how they survived (or not). The reading is professional and well-modulated. In short, if you are interested in what it was really like to be alive in America in the 1930’s, this is a good book with which to start your research. Ms. Shlaes includes some economic theory, but the personal narratives keep it from bogging down and becoming unreadable.
Kelly, Springville Road
Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander by Phil Robertson, read by Al Robertson
Okay, love him or loathe him,
Phil Robertson is entertaining. His book is exactly what you’d expect: a little prosy, a little preachy, and filled with humorous anecdotes about his life, his clan, his spirituality, and his philosophy. My advice is to read the book. His choice of his nephew (or cousin) as narrator is a great example of why nepotism is so rarely a good idea. (English majors get extra points if they can diagram THAT sentence!) Reading aloud is not this fellow’s strong point, and it’s as painful to listen to him as it was in grade school when a poor reader was forced to read to the class. Incredibly, it detracts from the content. That said, this is not the best or worst in the Duck Dynasty published works. The first book was better and Uncle Si’s was much, much worse. None of them are Great Books material, but if you’re looking for affirmation that the Good Ol’ Boy lifestyle is still a viable option, any will suffice. The Robertsons are nothing if not upfront and honest about their product lines and there are no surprises here. If you like the show, you’ll like the book, but I really recommend going with the print copy.
Kelly, Springville Road
Live at Carnegie Hall by David Sedaris, live performance by the author
Okay, so it’s not exactly a book; it’s the author reading his written works live in front of an audience. That still makes it an audio, so it qualifies for this category in MY book. And, oh, what a delight it is!
Sedaris has a gift for writing hilarious material and an even greater gift for reading it aloud. He is surgical in his dissection of the differences between language and cultures and this book includes his absolute best work. If “Six to Eight Black Men” doesn’t make you laugh until you cry, you have no sense of humor and are not, technically, alive. Sedaris feeds off his audience to bring each essay (originally published in Esquire) to life. If you’re not a fan now, you should be after listening to this audio.
Kelly, Springville Road
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, read by David Pittu
(Powells.com) Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love--and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.
Mondretta, Leeds
Maura, Trussville
The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore, read by Euan Morton
(Powells.com) Venice, a long time ago. Three prominent Venetians await their most loathsome and foul dinner guest, the erstwhile envoy from the Queen of Britain: the rascal-Fool Pocket.
This trio of cunning plotters — the merchant, Antonio; the senator, Montressor Brabantio; and the naval officer, Iago — have lured Pocket to a dark dungeon, promising an evening of sprits and debauchery with a rare Amontillado sherry and Brabantio's beautiful daughter, Portia.
But their invitation is, of course, bogus. The wine is drugged. The girl isn't even in the city limits. Desperate to rid themselves once and for all of the man who has consistently foiled their grand quest for power and wealth, they have lured him to his death. (How can such a small man, be such a huge obstacle?). But this Fool is no fool... and he's got more than a few tricks (and hand gestures) up his sleeve.
Greed, revenge, deception, lust, and a giant (but lovable) sea monster combine to create another hilarious and bawdy tale from modern comic genius, Christopher Moore.
Maura, Trussville
I Don't Know What You Know Me From: Confessions of a Co-Star by Judy Greer, read by the author
(Powells.com) In her first book of essays,
I Don’t Know What You Know Me From, Greer writes about everything you would hope to hear from your best friend: how a midnight shopping trip to CVS can cure all; what it’s like to wake up one day with stepchildren; and how she really feels about fans telling her that she’s prettier in person. Yes, it’s all here—from the hilarious moments to the intimate confessions.
But Judy Greer isn’t just a regular friend—she’s a celebrity friend. Want to know which celebs she’s peed next to? Or what the Academy Awards are actually like? Or which hot actor gave her father a Harley-Davidson? Don’t worry; Greer reveals all of that, too. You’ll love her because, besides being laugh-out-loud funny, she makes us genuinely feel like she’s one of us. Because even though she sometimes has a stylist and a makeup artist, she still wears (and hates!) Spanx. Because even after almost twenty years in Hollywood, she still hasn’t figured everything out—except that you should always wash your face before bed. Always.
Maura, Trussville
Eminent Hipsters by Donald Fagen, read by the author
(Powells.com) Musician and songwriter Donald Fagen presents a group of vivid set pieces in his entertaining debut as an author, from portraits of the cultural figures and currents that shaped him as a youth to an account of his college days and of life on the road.
Fagen begins by introducing the “eminent hipsters” that spoke to him as he was growing up in a bland New Jersey suburb in the early 1960s, among them Jean Shepherd, whose manic nightly broadcasts out of WOR-Radio “enthralled a generation of alienated young people”; Henry Mancini, whose swank, noirish soundtracks left their mark on him; and Mort Fega, the laid-back, knowledgeable all-night jazz man at WEVD who was like “the cool uncle you always wished you had.” He writes of how, coming of age during the paranoid Cold War era, one of his primary doors of escape became reading science fiction, and of his invigorating trips into New York City to hear jazz. “Class of 69” recounts Fagens colorful, mind-expanding years at Bard College, the progressive school north of New York City, where he first met his future musical partner Walter Becker. “With the Dukes of September” offers a cranky, hilarious account of the ups and downs of a recent cross-country tour Fagen made with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald, performing a program of old R&B and soul tunes as well as some of their own hits.
Acclaimed for the elaborate arrangements and jazz harmonies of his songs, Fagen proves himself a sophisticated writer with a very distinctive voice in this engaging book.
Maura, Trussville
The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, read by Derek Jacobi
(Powells.com) Josephine Tey re-creates one of history's most famous — and vicious — crimes in her classic bestselling novel, a must read for connoisseurs of fiction, now with a new introduction by Robert Barnard
Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains — a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the usurpers of England's throne? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard Plantagenet really was and who killed the Little Princes in the Tower.
The Daughter of Time is an ingeniously plotted, beautifully written, and suspenseful tale, a supreme achievement from one of mystery writing's most gifted masters.
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
The Magicians by Lev Grossman, read by Mark Bramhall
(Powells.com) Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn't real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college-friendship, love, sex, and booze- and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn't bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin's yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they'd imagined. Psychologically piercing and dazzlingly inventive,
The Magicians is an enthralling coming-of-age tale about magic practiced in the real world-where good and evil aren't black and white, and power comes at a terrible price. (Mondretta listened to a recording read by Jim Dale, but I could not find that one in the Jeff Co library system)
Mondretta, Leeds
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, read by Simon Vance
(Powells.com) A murder mystery, family saga, love story, and a tale of financial intrigue wrapped into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.
Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pieced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
Samuel, Five Points West
Born in Fire by Nora Roberts, read by Fiacre Douglas
(Powells.com) Margaret Mary, the eldest Concannon sister, is a glass artist with an independent streak as fierce as her volatile temper. Hand-blowing glass is a difficult and exacting art, and while she may produce the delicate and the fragile, Maggie is a strong and opinionated woman, a Clare woman, with all the turbulence of that fascinating west country.
One man, Dublin gallery owner Rogan Sweeney, has seen the soul in Maggies art, and vows to help her build a career. When he comes to Maggies studio, her heart is inflamed by their fierce attraction—and her scarred past is slowly healed by love…
Samuel, Five Points West
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, read by the author
(Powells.com) In this ingenious and captivating reimagining of Rudyard Kipling's classic adventure The Jungle Book, Neil Gaiman tells the unforgettable story of Nobody Owens, a living, breathing boy whose home is a graveyard, raised by a guardian who belongs neither to the mortal world nor the realm of the dead. Among the mausoleums and headstones of his home, Bod experiences things most mortals can barely imagine. But real, flesh-and-blood danger waits just outside the cemetery walls: the man who murdered the infant Bod's family will not rest until he finds Nobody Owens and finishes the job he began many years ago.
A #1
New York Times bestseller and winner of many international awards, including the
Hugo Award for best novel and the
Locus Award,
The Graveyard Book is a glorious meditation on love, loss, survival, and sacrifice . . . and what it means to truly be alive.
Samuel, Five Points West
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale
(Powells.com) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter’s training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). He wants to find out about the mysterious event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn’t happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he’s not normal — even by wizarding standards. And in this case, different can be deadly.
Samuel, Five Points West
Freakling by Lana Krumwiede, read by Nick Podehl
(Powells.com) In twelve-year-old Taemon's city, everyone has a power called psi; the ability to move and manipulate objects with their minds. When Taemon loses his psi in a traumatic accident, he must hide his lack of power by any means possible. But a humiliating incident at a sports tournament exposes his disability, and Taemon is exiled to the powerless colony. The "dud farm" is not what Taemon expected, though: people are kind and open, and they actually seem to enjoy using their hands to work and play and even comfort their children. Taemon adjusts to his new life quickly, making friends and finding unconditional acceptance. But gradually he discovers that for all its openness, there are mysteries at the colony, too; dangerous secrets that would give unchecked power to psi wielders if discovered. When Taemon unwittingly leaks one of these secrets, will he have the courage to repair the damage, even if it means returning to the city and facing the very people who exiled him?
Samuel, Five Points West
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, read by the author
(Powells.com) Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie, magical, comforting, wise beyond her years, promised to protect him, no matter what.
A groundbreaking work from a master,
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
Mondretta, Leeds
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer, read by Nathaniel Parker
(Powells.com) Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl is back... and so is his brilliant and dangerous enemy, Opal Koboi. At the start of the
4th adventure in the series, Artemis has no memory of the fairy people and has returned to his unlawful ways. He is preparing to steal a famous painting from a German bank, having no idea that his old rival, Opal, has escaped from prison and is exacting her revenge on all those who put here there, including Artemis.
Meanwhile in the Lower Elements, Opal has planted a trap for Captain Holly Short and Commander Root of the LEPrecon fairy police. Although Holly is framed for a heinous crime she did not commit, her only concern is Artemis's safety. Can Holly prove the accusations false? Has Artemis finally been outsmarted, faced with a world he does not believe in?
Leigh, North Birmingham
Zero Hour by Clive Cussler, read by Scott Brick
(Powells.com) It is called zero point energy, and it really exists—a state of energy contained in all matter everywhere, and thus all but unlimited. Nobody has ever found a way to tap into it, however—until one scientist discovers a way.
Or at least he thinks he has. The problem is, his machines also cause great earthquakes, even fissures in tectonic plates. One machine is buried deep underground; the other is submerged in a vast ocean trench. If Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala and the rest of the NUMA team aren't able to find and destroy them, and soon, the world will be on the threshold of a new era of earth tremors and unchecked volcanism. Now, that can’t be good.
Leigh, North Birmingham
Paris in Love by Eloisa James, read by the author
(Powells.com) In 2009,
New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris.
Paris in Love chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).
Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by
la ville de l’amour.
Krysten, Hoover
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, read by Davina Porter
(Powells.com) Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon — when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach — an "outlander" — in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Krysten, Hoover
Recommendations from the Staff at Avondale:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, read by Paul Boehmer, Susan Duerden, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee, and Juliet Mills
(Powells.com) January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb...
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends — and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society — born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island — boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
The Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross
(Powells.com) Miss Julia, a recently bereaved and newly wealthy widow, is only slightly bemused when one Hazel Marie Puckett appears at her door with a youngster in tow and unceremoniously announces that the child is the bastard son of Miss Julia's late husband. Suddenly, this longtime church member and pillar of her small Southern community finds herself in the center of an unseemly scandal-and the guardian of a wan nine-year-old whose mere presence turns her life upside down.
With razor-sharp wit and perfect "Steel Magnolia" poise, Miss Julia speaks her mind indeed-about a robbery, a kidnapping, and the other disgraceful events precipitated by her husband's death. Fast-paced and charming, with a sure sense of comic drama, a cast of crazy characters, and a strong Southern cadence,
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind will delight readers from first page to last.
1. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind (1999)
2. Miss Julia Takes Over (2001)
3. Miss Julia Throws a Wedding (2002)
4. Miss Julia Hits the Road (2003)
5. Miss Julia Meets Her Match (2004)
6. Miss Julia's School of Beauty (2005)
7. Miss Julia Stands Her Ground (2006)
8. Miss Julia Strikes Back (2007)
9. Miss Julia Paints the Town (2008)
10. Miss Julia Delivers the Goods (2009)
11. Miss Julia Renews Her Vows (2010)
12. Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle (2011)
13. Miss Julia to the Rescue (2012)
14. Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble (2013)
15. Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover (2014)
16. Etta Mae's Worst Bad-Luck Day (2014)
17. Miss Julia Lays Down the Law (2015)
The Southern Sisters series by Anne George
(Powells.com) Country Western is red hot these days, so overimpulsive Mary Alice thinks it makes perfect sense to buy the Skoot 'n' Boot bar — since that's where the many-times-divorced "Sister" and her boyfriend du jour like to hang out anyway. Sensible retired schoolteacher Patricia Anne is inclined to disagree — especially when they find a strangled and stabbed dead body dangling in the pub's wishing well. The sheriff has some questions for Mouse and her sister Sister, who were the last people, besides the murderer, of course, to see the ill-fated victim alive. And they had better come up with some answers soon — because a killer with unfinished business has begun sending them some mighty threatening messages...
1. Murder on A Girls' Night Out (1997)
2. Murder on A Bad Hair Day (1996)
3. Murder Runs in the Family (1997)
4. Murder Makes Waves (1997)
5. Murder Gets A Life (1998)
6. Murder Shoots the Bull (1999)
7. Murder Carries A Torch (2000)
8. Murder Boogies with Elvis (2001)
Tipperary by Frank Delaney, read by the author
(Powells.com) “My wooing began in passion, was defined by violence and circumscribed by land; all these elements molded my soul.” So writes Charles OBrien, the unforgettable hero of bestselling author Frank Delaney's extraordinary new novel–a sweeping epic of obsession, profound devotion, and compelling history involving a turbulent era that would shape modern Ireland.
Born into a respected Irish-Anglo family in 1860, Charles loves his native land and its long-suffering but irrepressible people. As a healer, he travels the countryside dispensing traditional cures while soaking up stories and legends of bygone times–and witnessing the painful, often violent birth of land-reform measures destined to lead to Irish independence.
At the age of forty, summoned to Paris to treat his dying countryman–the infamous Oscar Wilde–Charles experiences the fateful moment of his life. In a chance encounter with a beautiful and determined young Englishwoman, eighteen-year-old April Burke, he is instantly and passionately smitten–but callously rejected. Vowing to improve himself, Charles returns to Ireland, where he undertakes the preservation of the great and abandoned estate of Tipperary, in whose shadow he has lived his whole life–and which, he discovers, may belong to April and her father.
As Charles pursues his obsession, he writes the “History” of his own life and country. While doing so, he meets the great figures of the day, including Charles Parnell, William Butler Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. And he also falls victim to less well-known characters–who prove far more dangerous. Tipperary also features a second “historian:” a present-day commentator, a retired and obscure history teacher who suddenly discovers that he has much at stake in the telling of Charless story.
In this gloriously absorbing and utterly satisfying novel, a mans passion for the woman he loves is twinned with his country's emergence as a nation. With storytelling as sweeping and dramatic as the land itself, myth, fact, and fiction are all woven together with the power of the great nineteenth-century novelists. Tipperary once again proves Frank Delaney's unrivaled mastery at bringing Irish history to life.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, unabridged read by William Hope and Laurel Lefkow
(Powells.com) Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut,
The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals — steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, unabridged read by Martin Freeman
(Powells.com) Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, read by Sissy Spacek
(Powells.com) The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it,
To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving,
To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior-to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 15 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, read by Cassandra Campbell with Bahni Turpin
(Powells.com) Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells — taken without her knowledge — became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons — as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo — to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live, and struggle with the legacy of her cells.
Henrietta's family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family — past and present — is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family — especially Henrietta's daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother's cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn't her children afford health insurance?
King Richard III by William Shakespeare, read by Kenneth Branagh
(Sparknotes.com) After a long civil war between the royal family of York and the royal family of Lancaster, England enjoys a period of peace under King Edward IV and the victorious Yorks. But Edward’s younger brother, Richard, resents Edward’s power and the happiness of those around him. Malicious, power-hungry, and bitter about his physical deformity, Richard begins to aspire secretly to the throne—and decides to kill anyone he has to in order to become king.
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
Authors with LOTS of great audiobooks:
Alexander McCall Smith
Diane Mott Davidson
Adriana Trigiani
John Grisham
Anne Perry
Spencer Quinn
Fannie Flagg
Debbie Macomber
What good books have YOU listened to lately?
