Perennial

Performed by Kara Young

A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.

More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder.

But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celine’s wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends, and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day.

But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainments include horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them, which includes most of the wedding guests. 

As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history together, and to save themselves from what is to come.

WHEN THE RECKONING COMES by LaTanya McQueen

Welcome back to The Anatomy of Desire Podcast - A seven-episode series of highlights from the immersive full cast audio recording of L. R. Dorn’s crime novel THE ANATOMY OF DESIRE. We have reached the final episode, Girl Lost. In this installment, Cleo Ray learns that the jury has reached a verdict and that her fate is about to be decided. The jury files into a packed courtroom as spectators inside and the social media world outside holds its breath awaiting the moment of truth.

'The Anatomy of Desire' audiobook by L. R. Dorn is available now. Purchase it here: bit.ly/3vkBhJY

Episode Seven: Girl Lost

Answers to the most common questions and misconceptions about the Bible

Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible is a short and accessible introduction to the Bible - its origins, interpretation, truthfulness, and authority.

Bible scholar, prolific author, and Anglican minister Michael Bird helps Christians understand seven important "things" about this unique book:

How the Bible was put together;
What "inspiration" means;
How the Bible is true;
Why the Bible needs to be rooted in history;
Why literal interpretation is not always the best interpretation;
How the Bible gives us knowledge, faith, love, and hope; 
How Jesus Christ is the center of the Bible.
Seven Things presents clear and understandable evangelical account of the Bible's inspiration, canonization, significance, and relevance in a way that is irenic and compelling. It is a must for any serious Bible reader who desires an informed and mature view of the Bible that will enrich their faith.

Buy Audiobook

SEVEN THINGS I WISH CHRISTIANS KNEW ABOUT THE BIBLE by Michael F. Bird | Chapter 1

Three-time Olympian Lolo Jones delivers a tough yet inspiring look into the strategies she has used to overcome immense obstacles on her way to becoming the number one women's hurdler in the world.

Lolo Jones' path to becoming a world champion and an Olympian began in childhood with a single mother who worked multiple jobs to support a family of six and a father who was serving time in prison. These early years instilled in Lolo an overcomer's mindset that gave her the strength she needed to rise above an unstable and impoverished background, to earn an economics degree at LSU, and then to establish herself as the best women's hurdler in the world.

In Over It, Lolo delivers a high-octane dose of no-BS encouragement, storytelling, humor, and practicality and exposes the obstacles that too often hold us back. With the same pluck and boldness that defines her life and career, Lolo teaches people how to face their challenges head-on and keep working to overcome them with strength. 

Even when the obstacles are large and we feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and ready to quit, we’ve got to keep fighting - full force, full speed. We've got to get over it.

OVER IT by Lolo Jones | Chapter 1

After hearing the words no one wants to hear--"you have cancer"--Jim Burns set out to articulate the most important principles for a life well lived and now shares them with you as a collection of essential truths for a healthy, balanced, and successful life. 

What's truly important for leading a life well lived? After being diagnosed with cancer and facing his mortality, prolific author and family-life expert Jim Burns learned what it really means to live a meaningful life from the perspective and practical wisdom only gained from facing death. Now cancer free, those same life-changing lessons continue to guide and enrich Jim's faith, work, and relationships in immeasurable ways. With his conversational style and heartwarming and entertaining stories, Jim brilliantly distills that hard-earned wisdom into 13 simple yet powerful life principles you can put into practice today. 

Jim will help you learn how to:

- Break the cycle of being overcommitted and underconnected once and for all
- Make family the priority you want it to be with an action plan that will nurture your closest relationships
- Embrace the discomfort of discipline and avoid the pain of regret
- Incorporate the vital element of fun in your life for connection and relief in even the toughest times
- Train your mind in reflexive gratitude to rise above negative circumstances. 

Don't wait any longer. Let these principles guide you into deeper joy, more purpose, and better connection--and start truly living today.

HAVE SERIOUS FUN by Jim Burns | Lesson One

Dr. Jeremy DeSilva joined us for an interview on SoS 128. This week, in addition to a replay of his original interview, we hear audio excerpted from First Steps: How upright walking made us human by Jeremy DeSilva, read by Kaleo Griffith. Copyright 2021 by Jeremy DeSilva. Production Copyright 2021, HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. You can find First Steps here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/first-steps-jeremy-desilva
You can find out more about Dr. DeSilva, his lab, and his work here: anthropology.dartmouth.edu/people/jeremy-desilva and on Twitter @desilva_jerry

Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation
Website:humbio.org/, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc

Cara Ocobock, Website: sites.nd.edu/cara-ocobock/, Email:cocobock@nd.edu, Twitter:@CaraOcobock

Chris Lynn, HBA Public Relations Committee Chair, Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, Email: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly

Delaney Glass, Website: dglass.netlify.app/, Email: dglass1@uw.edu, Twitter: @GlassDelaney

Alexandra Niclou, Email: aniclou@nd.edu, Twitter: @fiat_Luxandra

SoS 135- How Upright Walking Made Us Human with Dr. Jeremy DeSilva

On this episode, Andrew Kaberline, Senior Audio Marketing Associate, returns to the pod to tell the library team about some exciting new audiobooks that are perfect for any library collection. You'll hear newly discovered audio of Jim Morrison reading poetry, Jennifer Jason Leigh inhabit the characters of Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Pacino from ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, and much more!

Find a list of the titles presented and show notes here: bit.ly/LLFaudiobooks

For more information, go to librarylovefest.com.
You can find us on Facebook (@librarylovefest), Twitter (@librarylovefest), and Instagram (@harperlibrary). We also have a voicemail! Give us a call at 212-207-7773.

Show Notes

Audiobook Update! (Featuring Andrew Kaberline, Senior Audio Marketing Associate)

On this episode, we feature an interview with Lisa Harding, author of BRIGHT BURNING THINGS—on sale December 7, 2021—from a previous Door to Door Facebook Live.

Watch the full interview here: https://www.facebook.com/librarylovefest/videos/285190386412089

For more information, go to librarylovefest.com.
You can find us on Facebook (@librarylovefest), Twitter (@librarylovefest), and Instagram (@harperlibrary). We also have a voicemail! Give us a call at 212-207-7773.

Full interview!

An Interview with Lisa Harding, Author of BRIGHT BURNING THINGS

These favorite Brother and Sister Bear stories are wrapped up in this six-in-one Berenstain Bears audiobook collection!

These stories will remind young listeners of important biblical values and offers essential life lessons. From being kind to others to gossip to having a bad day, and forgiveness to helping others to doing your best, Brother and Sister Bear’s relatable adventures and everyday opportunities to learn will inspire listeners young and old.

This collection includes:

The Berenstain Bears and the Forgiving Tree: When Cousin Fred accidentally damages Brother’s brand-new bike, Brother Bear is angry. Can Sister Bear help him see that forgiving his friend is the right thing to do?

The Berenstain Bears Get Involved: A storm hits Bear Country, and it might flood! It’s up to the Bear family and the rest of the rescue team from the Chapel in the Woods to come together and save their community.

The Berenstain Bears and a Job Well Done: Brother, Sister, and Honey Bear need to clean their playhouse, but they’d rather play outside.

The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule: Should Sister Bear ignore the new girl at school just because her friends do? Choosing to be kind may not always be the easy choice, but it is always the right one.

The Berenstain Bears' Gossip Gang: Talking about others makes Sister feel like she is special, even if what is said might not be true. But when rumors are spread about her, Sister begins to understand just how hurtful gossip can be.

The Berenstain Bears Why Do Good Bears Have Bad Days?: Sister and Brother Bear go on a bike ride and fishing trip in the countryside, and things go very wrong. Brother falls into the pond, Sister’s fishing rod breaks, and they get caught in the rain on the way home. Why did this bad stuff happen to them?

The Berenstain Bears Brother and Sister Bear Favorites:

Includes all the Berenstain Bears family and friends who have been beloved by parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren for decades
Features kid-friendly, easy-to-remember Scripture verses
Teaches valuable life lessons
Is a fun, new collection in the popular Zonderkidz Living Lights: A Faith Story series, which has sold over eight million copies since 2008

Read by Elizabeth Acevedo, Sixta Morel, Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 from: Today.com * Time * Electric Literature * Seattle Times * Telemundo * Washington Post * HipLatina * Harper's Bazaar * Elle * AARP * Shondaland * New York Times * The Millions * LitHub

From the bestselling, National Book Award–winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives.

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.

But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters are hiding things, too. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo’s inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces—one family’s journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.

An Excerpt From FAMILY LORE By Elizabeth Acevedo

Performed by Janet Song

A dazzling work of historical fiction, based on true events, about two women who seem the most unlikely to ever meet: Alice, a Korean war survivor and translator for the American forces in Seoul and Marilyn Monroe, who is visiting Korea on a four-day USO tour.

February 1954. Although the Korean War armistice was signed a year ago, most citizens of Seoul still battle to return to some semblance of normalcy. Conditions are dismal. Children beg for food, and orphanages are teeming. Alice J. Kim, a Korean translator and typist for the American forces still sanctioned in the city, yearns for the life she used to live before her country was torn apart.

Then Alice’s boss makes an announcement—the American movie star Marilyn Monroe will be visiting Korea on a four-day USO tour, and Alice has been chosen as her translator. Though intrigued, Alice has few expectations of the job—what could she and a beautiful actress at the peak of her fame possibly have to talk about? Yet the Marilyn she meets, while just as dazzling and sensual as Alice expected, is also surprisingly approachable.

As Marilyn’s visit unfolds, Alice is forced into a reckoning with her own painful past. Moving and mesmerizing, The Starlet and the Spy is a beautiful portrayal of unexpected kinship between two very different women, and of the surprising connections that can change, or even save, a life.

Buy Here!

THE STARLET AND THE SPY by Ji-Min Lee

Performed by N. Scott Momaday

“The poems in this book reflect my deep respect for and appreciation of words. . . . I believe that poetry is the highest form of verbal expression. Although I have written in other forms, I find that poems are what I want and need most to read and write. They give life to my mind.”

One of the most important and unique voices in American letters, distinguished poet, novelist, artist, teacher, and storyteller N. Scott Momaday was born into the Kiowa tribe and grew up on Indian reservations in the Southwest. The customs and traditions that influenced his upbringing—most notably the Native American oral tradition—are the centerpiece of his work.

This luminous collection demonstrates Momaday’s mastery and love of language and the matters closest to his heart. To Momaday, words are sacred; language is power. Spanning nearly fifty years, the poems gathered here illuminate the human condition, Momaday’s connection to his Kiowa roots, and his spiritual relationship to the American landscape.

The title poem, “The Death of Sitting Bear” is a celebration of heritage and a memorial to the great Kiowa warrior and chief. “I feel his presence close by in my blood and imagination,” Momaday writes, “and I sing him an honor song.” Here, too, are meditations on mortality, love, and loss, as well as reflections on the incomparable and holy landscape of the Southwest.

The Death of Sitting Bear evokes the essence of human experience and speaks to us all.

THE DEATH OF SITTING BEAR  by N. Scott Momaday

Performed by N. Scott Momaday and Darrell Dennis

A young Native American, Abel has come home from war to find himself caught between two worlds. The first is the world of his grandfather’s, wedding him to the rhythm of the seasons, the harsh beauty of the land, and the ancient rites and traditions of his people. But the other world—modern, industrial America—pulls at Abel, demanding his loyalty, claiming his soul, and goading him into a destructive, compulsive cycle of depravity and disgust. 

Beautifully rendered and deeply affecting, House Made of Dawn has moved and inspired readers and writers for the last fifty years. It remains, in the words of The Paris Review, “both a masterpiece about the universal human condition and a masterpiece of Native American literature.”

HOUSE MADE OF DAWN by N. Scott Momaday

Performed by Mara Wilson

In the town of Night Vale, there’s a faceless old woman who secretly lives in everyone’s home, but no one knows how she got there or where she came from...until now. Told in a series of eerie flashbacks, the story of The Faceless Old Woman goes back centuries to reveal an initially blissful and then tragic childhood on a Mediterranean Estate in the early nineteenth century, her rise in the criminal underworld of Europe, a nautical adventure with a mysterious organization of smugglers, her plot for revenge on the ones who betrayed her, and ultimately her death and its aftermath, as her spirit travels the world for decades until settling in modern-day Night Vale.

Interspersed throughout is a present-day story in Night Vale, as The Faceless Old Woman guides, haunts, and sabotages a man named Craig. In the end, her current day dealings with Craig and her swashbuckling history in nineteenth century Europe will come together in the most unexpected and horrifying way.

Part The Haunting of Hill House, part The Count of Monte Cristo, and 100% about a faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home.

THE FACELESS OLD WOMAN WHO SECRETLY LIVES IN YOUR HOME by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Read by Kevin Gallagher

Ordinary Men is the true story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that most of the men of  RPB 101 were not fanatical Nazis but, rather, ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities out of a mixture of motives, including the group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms to justify their actions. Very quickly three groups emerged within the battalion: a core of eager killers, a plurality who carried out their duties reliably but without initiative, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts of killing without diminishing the murderous efficiency of the battalion whatsoever.

While this book discusses a specific Reserve Unit during WWII, the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition.  

Ordinary Men is a powerful, chilling, and important work with themes and arguments that continue to resonate today.  

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

ORDINARY MEN by Christopher R. Browning

Performed by Vinette Robinson

In this sharply observed novel set in and around London, three college friends, now in their thirties, must come to terms with the gap between the lives they imagined for themselves and reality in the face of marriage, fertility struggles, and loss.

In her first year of motherhood after an unplanned pregnancy, Cate is constantly exhausted, spiraling into self-doubt and postpartum anxiety. Her husband Sam seems oblivious, but maybe she’d prefer he remain in the dark. How can she admit the unthinkable—that she misses her freedom?

In contrast, Hannah continues to endure round after round of unsuccessful IVF treatments. The process is taking its toll on her physically and emotionally—and, she worries, creating distance between her and her husband Nathan. She is godmother to Cate’s son, but every time they get together, it’s a trigger.

Beautiful and unattached, Lissa is re-evaluating what it means to be an actress in her thirties. While she fiercely resists convention, she’s also lonely. A chance encounter in the British Library with Nathan has her wondering if she missed her best chance at love when she introduced him to Hannah.

As each woman longs for what the others seemingly possess, will their bonds of friendship sustain them in this liminal phase of their lives—or will their envy and desire tear them apart?

EXPECTATION by Anna Hope

Harper Audio proudly traces its roots back to 1952, when Dylan Thomas first recorded for our Caedmon label. For more than five decades, HarperAudio/Caedmon has been synonymous not only with distinguished poets reading their works, but also with equally distinguished authors and readers performing classic and contemporary texts.

THE STARLET AND THE SPY by Ji-Min Lee

HarperAudio US

Related tracks