Celebrity Biographies
Are you interested in those in the public eye? Give these celebrity biographies a try.
DB 55276 “Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir” by Mary Higgins Clark (author)
DB 66539 “Home: a Memoir of the Early Years” by Julie Andrews (actress, singer)
DB 70492 “Moon River and Me: A Memoir” by Andy Williams (singer)
DB 72221 “Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny” by Marlo Thomas (actress)
DB 73334 “If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won’t) by Betty White (actress)
DB 73428 “Jeannie out of the Bottle” by Barbara Eden (actress)
DB 73697 “Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography” by Rob Lowe (actor)
DB 73764 “Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing” (a biography of the musician by Ann Angel)
DB 73836 “Ice: a Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption – from South Central to Hollywood (a biography of the actor and Grammy award-winning rapper by Ice-T and Douglas Century)
DB 73983 “A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life” by Deval Patrick (First African American Massachusetts governor)
DB 74349 “My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business: A Memoir” by Dick Van Dyke (actor)
DB 74622 “A Natural Woman by Carole King (musician)
DB 74827 “My Cross to Bear” by Gregg Allman (musican)
DB 75560 “Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story” by Arnold Schwarzenegger (actor, politician)
Special Women
“As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in midsummer.” William Shakespeare.
This quote by Shakespeare reminds me of some very special women in my life, namely, my three daughters. They are, indeed, full of spirit and truly outshine the summer sun with their inner beauty. Since May is a month that we take time to remember the special woman or women in our lives I have listed a few books we have available that are written by women and tell us about themselves or other women who contributed to society in a variety of ways.
DB 70402 YOU WERE ALWAYS MOM’S FAVORITE! SISTERS IN CONVERSATION THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES
The author uses anecdotes to explain the ways female siblings can be both positive and negative influences in each others lives.
DB 71261 A FEW GOOD WOMEN: AMERICA’S MILITARY WOMEN FROM WORLD WAR I TO THE WARS IN IRAQ
The authors use archives and personal interviews to compile a history of American military women.
DB72057 CONFEDERATE HEROINES: 120 SOUTHERN WOMEN CONVICTED BY UNION MILITARY JUSTICE
The author uses federal court documents from military trials to profile women sympathizers of the Confederate cause. The defendants ranged from wealthy plantation owners to city prostitutes who served as spies, bushwhackers and smugglers.
DB72111 WHY MY THIRD HUSBAND WILL BE A DOG: THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF AN ORDINARY WOMAN
Essays by author Lisa Scottoline discussing family, friends, her dislike of Spanx undergarments and shopping for jeans.
DB 73235 A LINEAGE OF GRACE: FIVE STORIES OF UNLIKELY WOMEN WHO CHANGED ETERNITY
Five previously published novellas about women from Christian history. Stories are about Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary, mother of Jesus.
DB 73665 THE DRESSMAKER OF KHAIR KHAMA: FIVE SISTERS, ONE REMARKABLE FAMILY AND THE WOMEN WHO RISKED EVERYTHING TO KEEP THEM SAFE.
Journalist recounts her trip to Afghanistan in 2005 to study the role of women entrepreneurs in war zones.
DB 73985 THE MAGIC ROOM: A STORY ABOUT THE LOVE WE WISH FOR OUR DAUGHTERS
This book profiles a small-town Michigan bridal shop, its multi-generational female owners and many of the brides who purchased gowns there.
DB 74817 LOTS OF CANDLES, PLENTY OF CAKE
Best-selling novelist, Anna Quindlen, reminisces about her life and the process of aging.
DB 73279 THE PIONEER WOMAN: BLACK HEELS TO TRACTOR WHEELS: A LOVE STORY
The author relates returning to Oklahoma after attending college in Los Angeles and encountering the cowboy she calls the “Marlboro Man”.
DB 71077 I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE: THE SECRET LIFE OF GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD
The playwright of “The Vagina Monologues” creates fictional monologues that are interspersed with facts about girls and aimed at empowering young women to give voice to their emotions.
Adventure — Disasters
In this past week as well as the last year, there have been many man-made and natural disasters. Read these disaster-related titles:
DB66988 - (2008) Furnace of Creation, Cradle of Destruction: A Journey to the Birthplace of Earthquakes. Oceanographer explains the development of the field of geology and highlights natural disasters throughout history.
DB62650 – (2006) The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise. History of the Everglades ecosystem from its natural beginnings to later environmental destruction and eventual restoration projects.
DB67409 – (2008) The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes. Time magazine writer investigates the psychology of survival during disasters such as airline crashes, fires, hostage situations and tsunamis.
DB68440 – (2009) Ten Degrees of Reckoning: The True Story of a Family’s Love and Will to Survive. Describes the 1993 ordeal of the Sleavin family’s around the world voyage violently ending when a ship rammed their boat.
DB73380 – (2011) Thirty-Three Men. Describes the miraculous survival and dramatic rescue of the trapped men from the copper mine explosion in Northern Chile.
DB74908 – (2012) Monument 14. Fourteen students from Kindergarten to High School Seniors who rode out a deadly and bizarre hail storm in a supermarket in Monument Colorado.
DB71805 – (2009) A Wall of White. The true story of heroism and survival in the face of a deadly avalanche that struck the Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in March 1982 that killed 7 people.
DB71644 – (2010) Grades 6-9 and older: Disasters: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes Through the Centuries. Discusses smallpox epidemic in the New World, the Chicago fire, Johnstown flood, San Francisco earthquake, the 30′s dust bowl and other catastrophes.
If you are interested in listening to any of these and would like to inquire about more books on these topics, call 800-426-0709 . We will be glad to assist you.
Major Changes Afoot: Magazines on Cartridge
Magazines on cartridge are being shipped to your mailbox this month. The gaily colored red mailing container and the pale blue magazine cartridge should be easily identified.
Besides the cartridges, there are other differences in this new service as compared to magazines that came in the cassette format.
OLD FORMAT: Magazines on Cassette were sent with one magazine loaded per cassettes. Patrons kept the cassettes or threw them away.
NEW FORMAT: Magazines on Cartridge are sent with one or more magazines loaded on them. Cartridges MUST BE RETURNED. If you do not return the cartridges, your magazine service will be put on hold until you do.
Red magazine container and light blue cartridge.
Please read the magazines promptly and return the cartridges in the same cases that they were sent in. This is very important if you want to continue to get new issues. Otherwise your magazine service will be stopped until the cartridges are returned. The cartridges must be returned so they can be reused for new editions of magazines.
Our reader advisors will be notified when you are in danger of losing your service,but please do not wait for your reader advisor to contact you. Returning these magazine cartridges in a timely manner is your responsibility; waiting to mail them makes it more likely that they will be misplaced. Just as with your digital book cartridges, it is very important that you keep the book or magazine with the container it came in at all times. Cartridges returned in the wrong containers may be out of circulation for months as we search for the original container to find out who returned the item so it can be checked in.
We appreciate your help in returning the cartridges promptly.
National Poetry Month
Check out one of these titles in honor of April’s designation as National Poetry Month!
DB 60761 “Langston Hughes: Voice of the Poet”
DB 67466 “Collected Prose of Robert Frost”
DB 67603 “Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem” by Jack Prelutsky (for grades 3-6)
DB 69751 “The Raven and Other Poems” by Edgar Addan Poe
DB 71927 “The Poets Laureate Anthology”
DB 72103 “The Best Laid Schemes: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Robert Burns”
DB 73778 “The Best American Poetry 2011″
DB 74243 “The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth- Century American Poetry”
Closed March 27 for Staff In-Service
Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center and the Voices of Vision Talking Book Center will be closed Wednesday, March 27 for a shared staff in-service.
Neither of us will be answering our phones that day. You can either dial your reader advisor extension separately or leave a message on the main voice mail and we will get back to you as soon as we return on Thursday.
We look forward to talking to you all when we get back to our desks.
National Library Service Survey
Please Take the NLS Survey
The Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) is conducting a survey to understand how to better serve the needs of readers of talking books and braille. Take the survey now to let your opinions be heard and help us better serve you! To take the survey online or to learn more about it, go to www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/library/TBBS/home.html
Or, you can call 1-866-545-1618 to schedule a time to take the survey over the phone. You do not have to be a current NLS reader to take the survey. The 25 minute survey is designed to learn more about your experiences with talking books and braille, what types of talking book and braille materials and services you are looking for, and what NLS can do to get you interested in the free Library of Congress talking book and braille program. If you aren’t currently using NLS, let us know what services you want and how we can add you to our list of NLS readers. If you are a current NLS reader, let us know what we are doing well, where we can improve, and what new services you would like NLS to offer. Your answers to the survey questions will be kept confidential. Take the survey now to help Library of Congress NLS better serve all readers who use talking books and braille.
