2008 Staff Recommended Nonfiction on Audio
Here if You Need Me
by Kate Braestrump (Marci - Duraleigh)
Ten years ago, Kate Braestrup, mother of four, suddenly lost her husband, Drew. Stunned and grieving, Kate decided to pursue what had been her husband's dream and became a minister. And soon she found a most unusual calling: serving as chaplain for search-and-rescue missions in the Maine woods, giving comfort to people whose loved ones are missing - and to the wardens who sometimes have to deal with dreadful outcomes.
Thinking for a Living by Thomas Davenport (Kathe - West Regional)
Thomas Davenport argues that knowledge workers are vastly different from other types of workers in their motivations, attitudes and need for autonomy -- and so they require different management techniques to improve their performance and productivity.
The Case for Peace by Alen Dershwitz (Celia - East Regional)
Dershowitz identifies twelve geopolitical barriers to peace between Israel and Palestine–and explains how to move around them and push the process forward. From the division of Jerusalem and Israeli counterterrorism measures to the security fence and the Iranian nuclear threat, his analyses are clear-headed, well-argued, and sure to be controversial. According to Dershowitz, achieving a lasting peace will require more than tough-minded negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. In academia, Europe, the UN, and the Arab world, Israel-bashing and anti-Semitism have reached new heights, despite the recent Israeli-Palestinian movement toward peace. Surveying this outpouring of vilification, Dershowitz deconstructs the smear tactics used by Israel-haters and shows how this kind of anti-Israel McCarthyism is aimed at scuttling any real chance of peace.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller (Lynn - Eva Perry)
Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller's endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller's debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.
Two Plays for Voices by Neil Gaiman (Dan - West Regional)
These two original plays from the critically-acclaimed author were originally produced by the Sci-Fi Channel. "Snow Glass Apples, " featuring Bebe Neuwirth, is a very different take on the classic Snow White tale, a fanciful and dark tale written from the perspective of the Evil Queen. "Murder Mysteries, " featuring Brian Dennehy, is a mystery noir set in heaven's City of Angels before the fall.
The Symphony (Great Courses) taught by Robert Greenberg (Sue S. - Cameron Village)
In a series of lectures, Greenburg explains the theory and history of the symphony (3 parts).
Marley and Me by John Grogan (Liz - Cary)
John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same. Marley grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, and stole women's undergarments. Obedience school did no good - Marley was expelled. But just as Marley joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley remained a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.
The Great Fire of London by Neil Hanson (Beth - Cameron Village)
In 1666, London is still recovering from its latest bout with bubonic plague, and memories of the Black Death are still fresh. When a small fire breaks out in a downtown bakery, it spreads with alarming speed through the crowded city streets from one dessicated wooden structure to the next.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (Cheryl - Library Administration)
When Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment.
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Kristen - West Regional, Beth - Cameron Village)
Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (Beth - Cameron Village)
Larson writes a portrait of Edwardian era that recounts two parallel stories -- the case of Dr. Hawley Crippen, who murdered his wife and fled to America, and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventer of wireless communication -- as the new technology is used to capture the killer.
Stranger than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk (Megan - West Regional)
Chuck Palahniuk's world has always been, well, different from yours and mine. In his first collection of nonfiction, Chuck Palahniuk brings us into this world, and gives us a glimpse of what inspires his fiction. At the Rock Creek Lodge Testicle Festival in Missoula, Montana, average people perform public sex acts on an outdoor stage. In a mansion once occupied by The Rolling Stones, Marilyn Manson reads his own Tarot cards and talks sweetly to his beautiful actress girlfriend. Across the country, men build their own full-size castles and rocketships that will send them into space. Palahniuk himself experiments with steroids, works on an assembly line by day and as a hospice volunteer by night, and experiences the brutal murder of his father by a white supremacist.
The Hot Zone by Robert Preston (Michele - West Regional)
A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic " hot" virus. "The Hot Zone" tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of theappearance of rare and lethal viruses and their " crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, "The Hot Zone" proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Ann - West Regional)
Sedaris returns to his deliriously twisted domain: hilarious childhood dramas infused with melancholy; the gulf of misunderstanding that exists between people of different nations or members of the same family; and the poignant divide between one's best hopes and most common deeds.
Manhunt: The Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson (Sue W. - Cameron Village)
Dramatically portraying John Wilkes Booth's brutal crime and pulse-pounding escape, Swanson takes listeners on the unrelenting chase for the killer. Trying to soothe the stunned nation, federal and local authorities launch a manhunt through Maryland and Virginia. But on day 12 of this bizaare hunt, what really happens?
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (Teddy - Eva Perry Regional)
Jeannette Walls tells the story about her childhood. She talks about living like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Retreating to the dismal West Virginia mining town--and the family-- her father, Rex Walls, had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.