New and Featured Audiobooks for 04/05/12:

Come and check out these and some of the other new audiobooks (or at least new to us) added to our library collection, which come in several different formats…

Audiobooks on CD…

FICTION:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and read by Hugh Fraser

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and read by Lisette Lecat

Mistress Of The Art Of Death by Ariana Franklin, and read by Rosalyn Landor

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and read by Lynne Thigpen

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and read by Joanne Whalley, Martin Jarvis, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jim Ward, Rosalyn Landor, and Robin Atkin Downes

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, and read by Treat Williams, Anne Heche, Sarah Zimmerman, Erin Cottrell, and John Rafter Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and read by Sissy Spacek

Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods, and read by Tony Roberts

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, and read by J. D. Jackson

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, and read by Paul Michael Garcia

World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks, and performed by a full cast featuring the author, Carl Reiner, Henry Rollins, Jurgen Prochnow, Alan Alda, Ron Reiner, John Turturro, Becky Ann Baker, and many others

Velocity by Dean Koontz, and read by Michael Hayden

NON-FICTION:

Sea Of Glory: America’s Voyage Of Discovery – The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838 – 1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick, and read by Dennis Boutsikaris

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and read by the author

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen, and read by the author

Confessions Of An Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search For Extraterristrial Intelligence  by Seth Shostak, and read by Patrick Lawler

Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and read by Richard Thomas

Not only is this a very interesting book, but it’s also the basis for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film about Lincoln, which stars Daniel Day Lewis as our 16th president. Check out a picture below of the actor’s look in the film:

Michelangelo And The Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King, and read by Alan Sklar

Black Boy by Richard Wright, and read by Peter Francis James

The Professor And The Madman: A Tale Of Murder, Insanity, And The Making Of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, and read by the author

City Of The Soul: A Walk In Rome by William Murray, and read by the author

The Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and read by David Chandler

The War That Made America: A Short History Of The French And Indian War by Fred Anderson, and read by Simon Vance

Game Change: Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and read by Dennis Boutsikaris

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And we also have Audiobooks in the Playaway format…

If you don’t know much about the Playaway format, then we’d suggest that you come and check them out.

A Playaway is basically a single book loaded onto an MP3 player. All you have to do is plug in some headphones and press play and you’re off to the races. The Playway is small enough to fit into your pocket, and it’s great for working out or running/jogging, or even just doing something like cleaning the house. But where the CD format is really nice for listening to an audiobook in the car, you’d have to have something to transfer the sound from the Playaway to your car stereo. Perhaps if you do something like that with an iPod or a similar MP3 device then maybe that could work as well.

FICTION:

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and read by Juliet Stevenson

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, and read by Kimberly Schraf

Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman, and read by Mia Barron

Double Cross by James Patterson, and ready by Peter J. Fernandez and Michael Stuhlbarg

The Enemy by Lee Child

The Hard Way by Lee Child

One Shot by Lee Child

All read by Dick Hill

To Die For by Linda Howard, and read by Franette Liebow

The Trial by Franz Kafka, and read by Rupert Degas

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, dramatized for audio by Yuri Rasovsky, and performed by Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrman, amongst others

A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and read by Barrett Whitener

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and read by Christopher Hurt

Atonement by Ian McEwan, and read by Josephine Baily

Deadlock by Iris Johansen, and read by Jennifer Van Dyck

NON-FICTION:

The Art Of War by Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary, and read by David Warrilow

You Had Me At Woof: How Dogs Taught Me The Secrets Of Happiness by Julie Klam, and read by Karen White

Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan, and performed by Neil Patrick Harris

When Janey Comes Marching Home by Laura Browder, with photographs by Sascha Pflaeging, and read by Claudia Aleck, Cassandra Campbell, Bernadette Dunne, Tavia Gilbert, Vanessa Hart, Carrington MacDuffie, Lisa Renee Pitts, Kirsten Potter, Robynn Rodriguez, Kimberly Scott, Bahni Turpin, and Pam Ward

Chinese For Dummies by Mengjun Liu and Mike Packevicz

Living Well In A Down Economy For Dummies by Tracy L. Barr, and read by Brett Barry

The War That Killed Achilles: The Story Of Homer’s Iliad And The Trojan War by Caroline Alexander, and read by Michael Page

Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac, And The Further Serial Murders Of Dr. George Hill Hodel by Steve Hodel and Ralph Pezzullo, and read by Malcolm Hillgartner

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

The History Of The Classical Music by Richard Fawkes, and read by Robert Powell

How To Stop Smoking And Stay Stopped For Good – Fully Revised And Updated by Gillian Riley, and read by Jerome Pride

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We’re looking to get into MP3 CDs, so stay tuned for that, but until then…

…can you believe that we still have audiobooks on tape/cassette available for checkout? Perfect for anyone whose car has a tape player in it.

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Please note that audiobooks mentioned here could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk OR send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured books for Adults:

04/04/12.

03/29/12.

03/01/12.

02/02/11.

01/27/12.

New and Featured Books for 04/04/2012:

Come and check out these and some of the other new books and materials (or at least new to us) added to our library collection…

FICTION:

Calico Joe by John Grisham

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

Dorchester Terrace by Anne Perry

Stories For Nighttime And Some For The Day by Ben Loory

Death Of A Kingfisher by M. C. Beaton

The Lady Of The Rivers by Philippa Gregory

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Richard Wright

The Invincible Iron Man: Extremis by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Adi Granov

Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition, Book 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Tony Harris

Guilty Wives by James Patterson and David Ellis

Another thriller from best selling author James Patterson (and one of his co-writers), this time about a group of women on the vacation of a lifetime that’s gone horribly wrong. You can find an interview with the author at CNN, and a rather large excerpt from the book from the author’s own website.

The Fat Years by Guanzonghong Chan

NON-FICTION:

Career Success Without A Real Job: The Career Book For People Too Smart To Work In Corporations by Ernie J. Zelinski

Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow

A fascinating book about how the way we go to war has changed by the author of the popular political talk show. Maddow’s book is not really about the politics, but about ideas and facts (something that politics should treat as a little more holy), and the book features a cover blurb from FOX News’ chief, Roger Ailes, which reads as: “People who like Rachel will love the book. People who don’t will get angry, but aggressive debate is good for America. Drift is a book worth reading.” You can find an interview with the author at The Chicago Sun-Times and reviews at the Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and at The New York Times.

Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson

A very nice collection of essays, articles, and speeches from the past three decades from Gibson, the writer of science fiction and thrillers, and who has been long proclaimed as a cyber visionary. You can find some very interesting reviews of the book at Tech Crunch, Boing Boing, and on The Verge.

400 Years Of The Telescope: A Journey Of Science, Technology And Thought by Donald Goldsmith

Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, From Kennedy-Nixon To Obama-McCain by Jim Lehrer

Elizabeth The Queen: The Life Of A Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith

The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit Of Women by James Ellroy

The Next Decade: Where We’ve Been… And Where We’re Going by George Friedman

Looking Within: How X-Ray, CT, Ultrasound, And Other Medical Images Are Created – And How They Help Physicians Save Lives by Anthony Brinton Wolbarst

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Please note that books could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk OR send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

* * *

Previous New/Featured books for Adults:

03/29/12.

03/01/12.

02/02/11.

01/27/12.

12/27/11.

And for Young Adults:

04/03/12.

03/20/12.

03/06/12.

02/21/12.

And for Kids/Juvenile Readers:

03/27/12.

03/13/12.

02/28/12.

02/23/12.

Author quotes: Discrimination, discovery, and freedom.

As I said last week, when you’ve set out to share great quotes from wonderful authors with the world, then it’s nice to be doing so from a library, where there is never a shortage of such unique and talented voices, with such wisdom to share. And today I didn’t want to limit myself to just one voice, so today we are going to hear from three of American literature’s finest…

First we have a nice perspective from one of the writers at the center of the Harlem Renaissance:

“Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It is beyond me.”

-Zora Neale Hurston, from “How It Feels To Be Colored Me,” an essay which appeared in The World Tomorrow in May, 1928.

Next we have a quote from a novel that not only changed what people could expect from an African American protagonist, but also from an African American novelist:

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”

-Ralph Ellison, from his famous 1952 novel, Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953.

Our last quote for today comes from a writer who only wrote one novel in her lifetime, but it was an amazing novel:

“I think there’s just one kind of folks: folks.”

-Harper Lee, from her famous novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, 1960. Lee is, of course, pictured above, with her friend, Truman Capote, her childhood schoolmate, neighbor, and best friend.

Elsewhere on the internet:

It’s important to note that both Invisible Man and To Kill A Mockingbird are on The Modern Library’s list of 100 Best Novels, a nice list of the best novels written in the English language in the twentieth century.

It’s also important to note that Invisible Man, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Their Eyes Were Watching God are all on Time magazine’s list of the 100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

The New York Times’ review of Invisible Man.

Saul Bellow’s review of Invisible Man.

A podcast about Ralph Ellison, and how his works are still being taught today, from Voices Of America.

An interview with Ralph Ellison in The Paris Review.

To Kill A Mockingbird: A historical perspective.

Harper Lee was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.

To Kill A Mockingbird was named the UK’s most beloved book last year.

The mystery of Harper Lee.

Harper Lee made a rare written appearance in 2006, writing an open letter to Oprah Winfrey in O magazine.

The official website of Zora Neale Hurston.

Study guides for Their Eyes Were Watching God at both Grade Saver and Shmoop.

An interview with Zora Neale Hurston about her research into actual zombies in Haiti.

An in depth biography of Zora Neale Hurston from Gale.

At the library we have quite a few books both by Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Harper Lee, and about them. To Kill A Mockingbird and Their Eyes Were Watching God are always popular, partially because students get assignments involving them every year, so I’m glad that we have those books, as well as quite a few volumes of literary criticism about their authors, but I wish more people would come in asking about Ralph Ellison. Either way, there’s a reason that all three of these authors and their works are considered classics and I hope you’ll come and check them out.