It's almost Canada Day!

Before heading to the beach or the cottage for Canada Day, why not pick up some audiobooks to make your drive more pleasant?  You could try a light mystery (John Grisham, Michael Connelly) or chick lit (Danielle Steel, Nicholas Sparks) if you're in the mood for something easy, or you could celebrate Canadian literature!  Here are some great authors to get you started:

Lawrence Hill - The Book of Negroes

Aminata Diallo (“an amazing literary creation,” Literary Review of Canada) is the beguil­ing heroine of Lawrence Hill’s Book of Negroes. In it, Hill exquisitely imagines the tale of an eighteenth-century woman’s life, spanning six decades and three continents. The fascinating story that Hill tells is a work of the soul and the imagination. [read more]

Margaret Atwood - The Year of the Flood

The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power.  The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners--a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life--has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it.  [read more]

Yann Martel - Beatrice & Virgil

When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist. As he is pulled further into the world of this strange and calculating man, Henry becomes increasingly involved with the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey--named Beatrice and Virgil--and the epic journey they undertake together.  [read more]

Emma Donoghue - Room

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.  [read more]

Non Fiction New Releases

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler

The son of a classical pianist straight out of the Bronx of old Archie comics, Steven Tyler was born to be a rock star. Weaned on Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Mick, and his beloved Janis Joplin, Tyler began tearing up the streets and the stage as a teenager before finally meeting his "mutant twin" and legendary partner, Joe Perry. In this addictively listenable memoir, told in the playful, poetic voice that is uniquely his own, Tyler unabashedly recounts the meteoric rise, fall, and rise of Aerosmith over the last three decades and riffs on the music that gives it all meaning.  [read more]

From This Moment On by Shania Twain

In riveting and often heartbreaking prose, Shania takes the listener back to these pivotal moments, revealing the difficulties she and her family faced. Shania writes of being discovered, time spent performing in Nashville, and her sudden, dramatic rise to stardom. She also spares no details about her recent personal struggles and heartbreaks - struggles she's never discussed publicly.  [read more]

Seal Team Six by Howard E. Wasdin

In this dramatic, behind-the-scenes chronicle, Howard Wasdin takes listeners deep inside the world of Navy SEALs and Special Forces snipers, beginning with the grueling selection process of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL - the toughest and longest military training in the world.. .His explosive combat tales and inside details of becoming one of the world’s deadliest snipers combine to make this the most thrilling and important memoir by a navy SEAL since Lone Survivor.  [read more]

The Greater Journey by David McCullough

The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring - and until now, untold - story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.  [read more]

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind in Turbulent Times by T. Harv Eker

In his world-renowned live seminars, T. Harv Eker has shown hundreds of thousands of people how to install the "Millionaire Mind blueprint" into the deepest levels of their consciousness right there on the spot--with phenomenal results!  In "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind in Turbulent Times," T. Harv Eker will show you how to quickly and completely recondition your mind so that money and financial opportunity flow to you effortlessly. [read more]

The Millionaire Messenger by Brendon Burchard

In The Millionaire Messenger, Brendon Burchard pulls back the curtains on the once-secretive "expert industry" and shows how to become an influential and highly paid advice expert through websites, books, speeches, seminars, coaching, consulting, and online programs.  [read more]

In the Plex by Steven Levy

Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes readers inside Google headquarters—the Googleplex—to show how Google works.  [read more]

Instant Influence by Michael V. Pantalon

With six simple questions, motivational specialist Dr. Michael V. Pantalon teaches you how to plant the seeds for change, help others discover their own powerful reasons for change, identify effective "change talk", make an action plan, and create successful outcomes, even with people who are resistant to change.  [read more]

Unlimited by Jillian Michaels

Forget surviving; it’s your time to thrive. You do have the ability and potential to achieve unlimited health, wealth, and happiness. Getting there won’t all be easy - nothing worthwhile ever is - but take this journey and your life will change dramatically.  [read more]

The Best Advice I Ever Got by Katie Couric

What was the tipping point for Malcolm Gladwell? What unscripted event made Meryl Streep who she is? How did Mario Batali cook up his recipe for success? In this inspiration-packed book, Katie Couric reports from the front lines of the worlds of politics, entertainment, sports, philanthropy, the arts, and business—distilling the ingenious, hard-won insights of leaders and visionaries, who tell us all how to take chances, follow our passions, cope with criticism, and, perhaps most important, commit to something greater than ourselves. [read more]

20 Years Younger by Bob Greene

It's time to turn back the clock! In 20 Years Younger, Bob Greene offers readers a practical, science-based plan for looking and feeling their best as they age. The cutting-edge program details easy and effective steps we can all take to rebuild the foundation of youth and enjoy better health, improved energy, and a positive outlook on life. [read more]

Born to Win by Zig Ziglar

For more than 50 years, in a style that is unquestionably his own, Zig Ziglar has used his quick wit, down-home charm, and abundance of energy to inspire excellence in people throughout the world. In Born to Win, Zig's nonstop passion inspires and informs as Zig speaks to you as if you're sitting front-row center in his sold-out seminar.  [read more]

Fiction New Releases

10th Anniversary by James Patterson

Detective Lindsay Boxer's long-awaited wedding celebration becomes a distant memory when she is called to investigate a horrendous crime: a badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, and her newborn baby is nowhere to be found. Lindsay discovers that not only is there no trace of the criminals - but that the victim may be keeping secrets as well. [read more]

007: Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver

The face of war is changing. The other side doesn't play by the rules much anymore. There's thinking, in some circles, that we need to play by a different set of rules too....

Fresh from Afghanistan, James Bond has been recruited to a new agency.  [read more]

Those in Peril by Wilbur Smith

Hazel Bannock is heir to the Bannock Oil Corporation, one of the major global oil producers. While cruising the Indian Ocean, her yacht is hijacked by Somalian pirates and her 19-year-old daughter, Cayla, kidnapped. The pirates demand a crippling 20-billion-dollar ransom for her release, and complicated political and diplomatic sensitivities render the major powers incapable of intervening.  [read more]

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure. The narrator of Caleb's Crossing is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. [read more]

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

Reeling from newly uncovered family secrets, and anger at her mother and aunt for keeping them from her, Joy runs away to Shanghai in early 1957 to find her birth father—the artist Z.G. Li, with whom both May and Pearl were once in love. Dazzled by him, and blinded by idealism and defiance, Joy throws herself into the New Society of Red China, heedless of the dangers in the communist regime.  [read more]

The Final Storm by Jeff Shaara


In the spring of 1945, Japan’s empire has been pressed slowly back toward its home islands, and the Americans mount a furious assault on the last great stepping-stone to Japan itself - the heavily fortified island of Okinawa. The three-month battle will feature some of the most vicious combat of the entire war, as American troops confront an enemy that would rather be slaughtered than experience the shame of surrender.  [read more]

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett, author of the phenomenally popular Bel Canto, is back with a new audiobook, and it's a hit already.  Fans of audiobooks that take them to far away places should be interested in State of Wonder's Amazon rainforest setting, and those who like a little politics in their fiction will be interested in the plot about pharmaceutical company research.  And, as always, Patchett fills her story with characters you won't soon forget.  From the Independent's review:

"Patchett's sympathetic instinct, the magical trick she performs which ensures that every novel she writes is a work to be embraced, is always to pull the reader in, not to alienate her."

Click here for the rest of the review or click here for the audiobook.

Happy Bloomsday!

Looking for a way to celebrate Bloomsday?  The LA Times offers 8!  Our favorite is:

"And for a little taste of the real thing, there's this rare recording of James Joyce reading from his own writing, pointed out by Boing Boing in 2009. The James Joyce Centre says that he was recorded reading from his work in 1924 and 1929 at the urging of Sylvia Beach, a woman who knew "Ulysses" was special -- she was its publisher."

Click here for the other 7.

We'd like to add #9 - Listen to the audiobook!

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

For the robot fans out there, here's an interview with the author of the brand new audiobook Robopocalypse.  There are, of course, important moral questions to be answered for when the robots unite and take over the world, and the article provides a perfect primer:

“I think that the question typically boils down to, ‘Should machines demand moral treatment?’ and I think the answer is yes,” he says. “What happens if there’s a robot that looks like a person and you punch it in the face? What happens if your kid has a toy robot dog that looks perfectly lifelike and it puts it in the microwave? These are things that clearly have some ethical axis.”

Click here for the rest of the article.


On the other hand, the description of Robopocalypse says the robots are out to get you, in which case presumably you'd be justified in punching back.

Click here for the audiobook.

Born to Run follow-up

One of this year's hottest audiobooks has been Born to Run by Christopher McDougall--even non-runners can be inspired by his masterful combination of science and wacky personal stories.  The New York Times has followed up with an interesting column about whether or not barefoot running (which McDougall advocates) is a good idea.  The (fairly predictable) answer is maybe, but the article is well worth checking out if you were intrigued by the idea in Born to Run.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/are-we-built-to-run-barefoot/

Showbiz memoirs

From the classic days of television comes memoirs from two of the best: Jeannie Out of the Bottle by Barbara Eden and My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke.  As it turns out, both are just as likeable as you would expect from their screen personae.  If you're worried that they aren't relevent, consider this point from the New York Times review:

"As much as television has changed in 50 years, you can trace '30 Rock' directly back through 'Mary Tyler Moore' to 'The Dick Van Dyke Show': beneath its oh-so-nuanced emotional firewall and the sophisticated embrace-rejection tango with cynicism, there’s at least as much insulation from the harsher facts of show business and personal misery as when Van Dyke was trading writers’-room one-­liners with Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam."

Click here for the rest of the review, or click here for Jeannie Out of the Bottle, or here for My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business.

June is Audiobook Month!

With gardening, walks outdoors, and trips to the cottage here at last, June is the perfect time for Audiobook Month.  Check out the Audio Publishers Association page for some cool author and narrator interviews:

http://www.audiopub.org/events-jiabm.asp

The Nelson DeMille/Scott Brick discussion is especially good if you're interested in how audiobooks get made.