aired the week of May 15, 2017

Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell is a documentary novel in free verse poetry that follows the landmark civil rights case of 1967.  Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving are in love but unable to marry because of the laws of the state of Virginia.  Mildred is black and Richard is white.  This book tells the story of their life as they work to overcome racial prejudice during that tumultuous time.

aired the week of May 8, 2017

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is a slim biography that is a compilation of letters between New York City script writer Helene Hanff and London bookseller Frank Doel.  These letters were written between 1949 and 1969 and paint a vivid portrait of life at that time.

aired the week of May 1, 2017

The Second Life of Nick Mason by Steve Hamilton follows Nick 5 years into his federal prison sentence.  When Nick is offered a fresh start by another inmate, he jumps at the chance not realizing that he has just given himself another sentence.  Now he must carry a phone and do whatever he is told when that phone rings.  Another type of prison sentence.  Is this really a second life at all?

aired the week of April 24, 2017

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a collection of 22 stories about Alpha Company and the things they carried before the Vietnam War, during the war and back home after the conflict's end.  A powerful collection loosely based on O'Brien's own time in Vietnam.

aired the week of April 17, 2017

Stolen Beauty by Laurie Lico Albanese tells the story behind the Woman In Gold painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt.  The story alternates between Adele Bloch-Bauer the Woman In Gold and her niece Maria Altman.  Adele comes of age during the turn of the century and Maria during the rise of the Nazi party in Austria.  Both women are bright and strong but suffer under the constraints of the age they are living in.

aired the week of April 10, 2017

Desolation Flats by Andrew Hunt is a historical mystery that follows policeman Art Overson after his former partner is accused of murdering an Englishman visiting for the races at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The Englishman's brother whom Art has helped has gone missing after the altercation and Art is concerned no one is looking past the most likely suspect.