00;00;10;05 - 00;00;43;18 Speaker 1 The content of this program is intended for people who are blind and print impaired. Hello and welcome to our March 2023 edition of Heard Any Good Books Lately? A program from the North Carolina Reading Service. I'm George Douglas. This program is brought to you by the Friends of the State Library of North Carolina, Accessible Books and Library Services. An organization of citizens, volunteers and patrons all interested in supporting the library and the services it provides. 00;00;43;27 - 00;01;10;27 Speaker 1 The Friends group was founded in 1989 and now has more than 300 members across North Carolina. If you would like to join the Friends group yourself, we'll have information on how to do that later in this program. This program is all about books available from the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services. The library has more than 86,000 titles in its collection. 00;01;11;08 - 00;01;41;03 Speaker 1 Books and magazines are available in large print, braille and talking books as well. The library has more than 11,000 patrons across the state. And if you're not a patron, but are interested in becoming one, I'll have more information at the end of this program. This month, we'll take a look at some of the most popular books checked out in the month of February at the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services. 00;01;41;23 - 00;02;20;12 Speaker 1 Let's begin today's program with a look at a book entitled Single Black Female. And it was written by Tracey Brown. Tracey Brown's Single Black Female is a taut, edgy, deftly spun novel about four friends grappling with the dramatic twists and turns of life, love and what it means to make it in America. Here's the plot. Ivy Donovan is a successful stylist, entrepreneur, and single mom who has been loyal to her son's father, Michael, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence. 00;02;21;08 - 00;02;50;17 Speaker 1 But life has gotten lonely over the years, and Ivy wants more for herself. Michael, however, isn't about to lose his family. Coco Norris is well-off, single, childless and struggling with her allegiance to emotionally unavailable men. When she finds a man who seems like he can give her everything she's ever wanted, Coco soon discovers that she has taken on more than she can possibly handle. 00;02;51;26 - 00;03;20;04 Speaker 1 Deja Maddox is a real estate agent who is married to Bobby, a police sergeant with the NYPD. They have assimilated, looking down on anything that doesn't fit their buttoned up, polished life. But Deja isn't as satisfied as she would like everyone to believe. When Deja's past returns with a vengeance, she's forced to face herself as her perfect life begins to crumble. 00;03;22;02 - 00;03;54;20 Speaker 1 Nikki Diamond is a savvy self-made businesswoman and social media darling who lives large and with no regrets. She's also Deja's little sister and thinks her sister can have so much more than her ho-hum marriage. And Nikki is all too happy to lend a helping hand to make that happen. Things come to a head when Ivy's youngest son, Kingston, is caught up in a polarizing encounter with NYPD. 00;03;55;11 - 00;04;24;02 Speaker 1 Everyone must figure out where they stand, including Bobby, who suddenly has to decide if his blue life matters more to him than his black life and the black lives of those he loves. Single Black Female highlights the nuances of black love, the often tested bonds of black families, what it means to face the world as a black man, and the joy and pain of being a black woman. 00;04;24;12 - 00;04;57;26 Speaker 1 Once again, the name of that book is Single Black Female, and it was written by Tracy Brown. Next, let's take a look at a book called Christmas in Sugar Creek by Shelley Shepard Gray. Judith Graber has always been the obedient daughter when her older brother Josh struggled with his love life, she offered wise counsel. When her younger brother Caleb, flirted with the idea of leaving their order, 00;04;57;26 - 00;05;32;11 Speaker 1 she firmly told him he was wrong. Over the years, she's watched her younger siblings, helped around the house and worked in her family's store during her spare time. Judith feels overworked, overlooked and underappreciated this holiday season. But everything changes when her father hires Ben Knox. Ben Knox is the bad boy of Sugar Creek. Though he's never considered jumping the fence, he certainly never tried to be anything close to dutiful. 00;05;33;04 - 00;06;03;02 Speaker 1 Two years ago, he left Sugar Creek under a cloud of shame. Rumors circulated that his rumspringa had been filled with more than the usual harmless explorations. Now he's back and working side by side with Judith. As the chaos of the holiday season threatens to sap all joy, sparks fly between Ben and Judith. But Judith steels herself to ignore her infatuation. 00;06;03;18 - 00;06;32;10 Speaker 1 The last thing she wants to be is just one more girl who falls under Ben's spell. Ben, on the other hand, wants Judith to realize there's more to him than his bad reputation. When he fled Sugar Creek, he was running from a disruptive home life. Now that he's back, he wants a fresh beginning. Could this Christmas season bring love and a new life for the unlikeliest pair in Sugar Creek? 00;06;32;25 - 00;07;09;11 Speaker 1 You'll have to read this one or listen to it to find out. It's called Christmas in Sugar Creek by Shelley Shepard Gray. Now let's take a look at a book called Riverbend Gap by Denise Hunter. She came in search of the family she'd always wanted and found the kind of love she'd never dared to imagine. When Katelyn Loveland's car veered off a winding Appalachian mountain road, she thought she was done for. 00;07;09;29 - 00;07;48;07 Speaker 1 That is, until Cooper Robinson, local sheriff's deputy, came to rescue her. And though Katie narrowly escaped her brush with death, she still fell hard. She wasn't the only one. But soon Cooper learns that the woman he is more attracted to than any he's ever met is his brother's new girlfriend. And therefore unquestionably off limits. Yet, despite his best efforts, Cooper and Katie can't seem to avoid running into each other. Or ignore the undeniable chemistry between them. As they grow closer, 00;07;48;08 - 00;08;14;22 Speaker 1 Katie shares the secret of her past and the real reason she moved to their small North Carolina town. She also wins over Cooper's welcoming and big hearted family. But they don't know that her feelings for Cooper keep growing all while she's dating his brother. Soon, the stakes of their emotional connection become higher than either of them could have imagined. 00;08;15;02 - 00;08;46;13 Speaker 1 Katie stands to lose the first family she's ever had, and a scandal could doom Cooper's campaign for sheriff's office. Well, suddenly they find themselves on the edge of another precipice, and they're forced to make a decision that could change their lives forever. Again, that's a book entitled Riverbend Gap, and it was written by Denise Hunter. Now let's turn to a book by Hannah Brown. 00;08;46;14 - 00;09;17;23 Speaker 1 It's called God Bless This Mess Learning to Live and Love Through Life. Here's a quote from the book. My life was a complete mess. And God bless all of it. Because it's in the messes where we learn the most. As long as we slow down enough to realize what God is trying to show us. Here's the plot. Suddenly in the spotlight, 24 year old Hannah Brown realized that she wasn't sure what she wanted. 00;09;18;12 - 00;09;51;27 Speaker 1 After years of competing in beauty pageants and then starring on The Bachelorette and Dancing with the Stars, she had become incredibly visible. There she was in her early thirties, with millions around the world examining and weighing in on her every decision. She found herself wondering what it would mean to live on her terms, what it would mean to stop seeking approval from others and decide for the first time what it was she wanted from her own life. 00;09;52;26 - 00;10;24;16 Speaker 1 An honest and earnest examination of her own mid-twenties. God Bless This Mess is a memoir. That doesn't claim to have all the answers. Hannah knows she doesn't have all the answers. What she does have is the insight of someone who has spent critical years of her youth under public scrutiny. Thus, what emerges is a quarter life memoir that speaks to the set of difficulties young women face and how to move through them with grace. 00;10;25;09 - 00;11;06;09 Speaker 1 By pushing against her engrained need to seek approval and learning how to think critically about her own goals and desires, Hannah inspires others to do the same and to embrace the messiness that comes hand-in-hand with self recovery, even if that sometimes means falling flat on your face. Using her time on The Bachelorette as a launching pad, Hannah doesn't shy away from the most painful experiences of her life, moments when her faith was tested, when she feared it was lost, and the moments when she reclaimed it on national television. 00;11;06;27 - 00;11;35;22 Speaker 1 And Jesus still loves me, she says. Fans will be inspired by the never before told stories, the ones about facing depression and anxiety during her pageant years. The ways in which therapy and journaling have proven to be a saving grace and the previously private moments, both at home and on television that have shaped the star's outlook. Honest and emotionally urgent, 00;11;36;06 - 00;12;03;04 Speaker 1 God Bless This Mess is a reminder that true growth doesn't come without strife, and it's through those dark, messy moments that self-acceptance and love can bloom. It is a memoir. A memoir. A memoir by Hannah Brown who was on Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelorette, and it sounds like it might be a good one. 00;12;08;10 - 00;12;43;08 Speaker 1 And you're listening to Heard Any Good Books Lately? An exclusive production of the North Carolina Reading Service. I'm George Douglas. Thanks for joining me on the program today. Let's turn to a book by Elizabeth Camden. This one is called Beyond All Dreams. Anna O'Brien leads a predictable and quiet life as a map librarian at the illustrious Library of Congress until she stumbles across a baffling mystery of a ship disappeared at sea. 00;12;43;20 - 00;13;15;15 Speaker 1 Now she is thwarted in her attempts to uncover information, but her determination outweighs her shyness, and she turns to a dashing congressman for help. Luke Callahan was one of the nation's most powerful congressman until his promising career became shadowed in scandal. Eager to share in a new cause and intrigued by the winsome librarian, he joins forces with Anna to solve the mystery of the lost ship. 00;13;16;15 - 00;13;47;13 Speaker 1 Opposites in every way. Anna and Luke are unexpectedly drawn to each other despite the strict rules forbidding Anna from any romantic entanglement with a member of Congress. From the gilded halls of the Capitol, where powerful men shape the future of the nation, to the scholarly archives of the nation's finest library, Anna and Luke are soon embroiled in secrets much bigger and more perilous than they have ever imagined. 00;13;47;27 - 00;14;16;08 Speaker 1 Is bringing the truth to light worth risking all they've ever dreamed of for themselves. The book is called Beyond All Dreams, and it was written by Elizabeth Camden. Now, on the program, let's take a look at another book that is not a novel. it is nonfiction and it's entitled My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church by Amy Kenny. 00;14;17;12 - 00;14;53;15 Speaker 1 Much of the church has forgotten that we worship a disabled God whose wounds survived resurrection, says Amy Kenny. It is time for the church to start treating disabled people as full members of the body of Christ who have much more to offer than a miraculous cure narrative and to learn from their embodied experiences. Written by a disabled Christian, this book shows that the church is missing out on the prophetic witness and blessing of disability. 00;14;54;16 - 00;15;31;06 Speaker 1 Kenny reflects on her experiences inside the church to expose unintentional ableism and cast a new vision for Christian communities to engage disability justice. She shows that until we cultivate church spaces where people with disabilities can fully belong, flourish and lead, we are not valuing the diverse members of the body of Christ. Offering a unique blend of personal storytelling, fresh and compelling writing, biblical exegesis, and practical application, 00;15;31;14 - 00;16;05;23 Speaker 1 this book invites listeners to participate in disability justice and create a more inclusive community in church and parachurch spaces. Engaging content such as reflection questions and top ten lists are included. Once again, that's a book of nonfiction, a very personal book by Amy Kenny. It is entitled My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church by Amy Kenny. 00;16;07;16 - 00;16;39;20 Speaker 1 Now let's take a look at a review of a very interesting book called The Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn. Now, this is a New York Times review by Alexandra Jacobs, a book critic and the author of Still Here: The Madcap Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch. Joanna Quinn's The Whalebone Theater breathlessly follows a trio of British youngsters from frolics on the beach to service and spycraft. 00;16;40;22 - 00;17;09;26 Speaker 1 Whales loom large, not just in the ocean, but in landlocked imaginations: these mysterious mammals, gentle but fearsome, threatened and threatening, almost unfathomably enormous. So like us with their warm blood and communication skills, and yet so not. You might never have cracked Herman Melville's Moby Dick and still use the phrase great white whale to mean an obsessive but elusive goal. 00;17;10;21 - 00;17;45;23 Speaker 1 The massive model of a blue whale in the American Museum of Natural History was immortalized further by Noah Baumbach in The Squid and the Whale. But don't forget Carville's Fudgie the Seventies sheet cake that won't quit. And one of the most appealing characters, and Lidia Yuknavitch's recent novel Thrust, was the wearily maternal whale who helped out the human protagonist. The 60-foot long, seven foot tall creature that appears in Joanna Quinn's first novel, 00;17;45;24 - 00;18;25;08 Speaker 1 The Whalebone Theater is, alas, D.O.A., found beached on the coast of Dorset, England, by a 12 year old named Cristabel, with the all too apt surname Seagrave. She quickly pierces her discovery with a homemade flagpole fluttering with the family coat of arms and shouts a mighty leviathan, I have claimed it to amused fishermen in the vicinity. Taking up toy weapons and disdainful of marriage plots, Cristabel is outlined in the endearing, if slightly stock shape of unconventional heroine. 00;18;25;08 - 00;19;06;16 Speaker 1 Having wondered why aren't there interesting girls in the stories? While being read The Iliad by Maudie, the kitchen maid who for a time shares her attic bedroom, she is determined perhaps a little over overdetermined to write her own. She and her young half sibling, Flossie, nicknamed the Veg for an indelicate countenance, and cousin Digby, whom she treasures as a brother, circumvent the laws about fishes royal belonging to the king and will make of the whale skeleton a giant play space to stage actual plays, 00;19;07;00 - 00;19;49;18 Speaker 1 the greatest hits of Shakespeare's catalog, with help from the Bohemian adults visiting Chilcombe, the estate where they live. Quinn has said in interviews she got the idea of the skeleton set from a Kate Bush concert. She is being eagerly interviewed because The Whalebone Theater, a generous slab of historical fiction, cut from the same crumbling stone as Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Elizabeth Jane Howard's The Cazalet Chronicles is a big hit in England. Centered on imperiled aristocracy during the well-trod period of 1919 to 1945, 00;19;50;01 - 00;20;35;15 Speaker 1 it's also been compared and now, inevitably and to Quinn's dismay, to Downton Abbey, Chilcombe being almost a character in its own right. I was reminded further, at least during its delightful first third of Dodie Smith's cult classic, I Captured the Castle and of a lesser known work by the prolific children's book author Noel Streatfeild, The Growing Summer, in which four siblings are sent to live with their eccentric aunt in Ireland. Shimmeringly if sometimes a little preciously, Quinn depicts the strange, resourceful magic that can be conjured up by a cluster of children when they're neglected by selfish adults. 00;20;36;07 - 00;21;03;22 Speaker 1 Overseen by a vague French governess, they educate themselves with books stolen from the study by eavesdropping from cloakrooms on drunken dinner parties and by running around with young savages they encounter scuttling naked around the shore, the progeny of Taras, a daring Russian artist. We first meet Christabel when she is just three, finding the taste of snow disappointingly 00;21;03;22 - 00;21;34;10 Speaker 1 nothingy. Her mother died in childbirth and her new stepmother, Rosalind, is vain, beautiful and cold, like the snow, though not evil. Her stolid father, Jasper, still mourning his late wife, who haunts the ancestral pile like a more benign Rebecca de Winter, will soon be dead as well, tumbled from a horse (of course), his dashing younger brother, Willoughby, stepping easily into his shoes. 00;21;34;10 - 00;22;01;28 Speaker 1 The new couple will entertain a parade of international visitors, of which Taras is the most vivid and voluble, enjoying boozy picnics by the sea and shopping expeditions, at least until it's time to fight the Nazis. We don't have a choice, Willoughby tells Rosalind, cracking his newspaper, when the note doted-upon Digby enlists. Surely they had a choice. 00;22;01;28 - 00;22;38;10 Speaker 1 They always had a choice, she thinks, suspended in the recent past. They chose extravagantly and at length. Fabrics, perfumes, tables and restaurants. On atmospherics, The Whalebone Theater is absolute aces, to borrow the patois of the Americans who drop in for cultural contrast, new moneyed and loud. Reading it is like plunging into a tub of clotted cream while or whilst enrobed in silk eau-de-Nil beach pajamas. 00;22;39;03 - 00;23;13;09 Speaker 1 You'll immediately want to change your font to Garamond and start saying things like Toodle-pip darlings! The weather, whether misty or stormy, dappling sunshine or moonlight falling through the window like an invitation, is consistently impressive. Quinn is an energetic narrative seamstress. Into her giant tapestry she stitches in letters, lists, scrapbook entries, dramatic dialog, Maudie's sexually adventuresome diary entries, and the occasional piece of concrete poetry. 00;23;13;17 - 00;23;39;01 Speaker 1 All of this is lovely and unforced. The novel begins to veer off the rails, however, when a grown Cristabel, sick of pushing Tiddledywinks about, has a member of the as a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, becomes a secret agent, wrestling down an SS officer with the sudden physical dexterity of Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. 00;23;39;21 - 00;24;09;19 Speaker 1 The theater of childhood has become, yes, the theater of war. Flossie joins the Women's Land Army, remaining at Chilcombe, where the finances have become predictably shaky, skinny-dipping with a German prisoner of war as vegetables fill their one time proscenium. Maudie writes of sleeping with a black soldier who plays her Billie Holiday. He calls me a tall drink of water, but he is a river and I will lay myself along him. 00;24;10;01 - 00;24;38;21 Speaker 1 Like many characters, even in the older principals, even the poor whale, he is just passing through. Gorgeous and a little breathless, with luscious food scenes from beginning to end. Enough cake and pudding for a thousand carnivals. The Whalebone Theater could have been tighter corseted. But Quinn's imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold, boding more commanding work to come. 00;24;39;06 - 00;25;10;03 Speaker 1 And that's a review of The Whalebone Theater. It was written by Joanna Quinn. Now let's talk about a book called The Lamplighters: a novel, by Emma Stonex. Inspired by a haunting true story, a gorgeous and atmospheric novel about the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a remote tower miles from the Cornish coast, and about the wives who were left behind. 00;25;11;02 - 00;25;45;16 Speaker 1 What strange fate befell these doomed men? The heavy sea whispers their names. Black rocks roll beneath the surface, drowning ghosts. And out of the swell like a finger of light, the salt-scratched tower stands lonely and magnificent. It's New Year's Eve, 1972, when a boat pulls up to the Maiden Rock lighthouse with relief for the keepers. But no one greets them. When the entrance, door locked from the inside, is battered down, rescuers find an empty tower. 00;25;46;02 - 00;26;11;13 Speaker 1 A table is laid for a meal not eaten. The Principal Keeper's weather log describes a storm raging around the tower, but the skies have been clear all week. And the clocks have all stopped at 8:45. Two decades later, the wives who are left behind are visited by a writer who is determined to find the truth about the men's disappearance. 00;26;12;03 - 00;26;43;26 Speaker 1 Moving between the women's stories and the men's last weeks together in the lighthouse, long-held secrets surface and truths twist into lies as we piece together what happened, why, and who to believe. In her riveting and suspenseful novel, Emma Stonex writes a story of isolation and obsession, of reality and illusion, and of what it takes to keep the light burning when all else is swallowed by dark. 00;26;44;23 - 00;27;21;28 Speaker 1 Again, the book is called The Lamplighters, and it's a novel by Emma Stonex. That, by the way, is spelled S T O N E X, Emma Stonex. And that is just about all the time we have for this month's edition of Heard Any Good Books Lately? I'm George Douglas. I hope you enjoyed the program today. If you'd like more information about how to become a patron of the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services. 00;27;22;12 - 00;28;00;24 Speaker 1 Simply Google or search for Accessible Books North Carolina Library. Or you can call toll free to this number 888-388-2460. Once again, that's 888-388-2460. You can also use that same phone number and website to join the Friends of the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services. It is that wonderful organization that sponsors this monthly feature on books. 00;28;02;09 - 00;29;40;20 Speaker 1 This program is intended for people who are blind or print impaired. Heard Any Good Books Lately? will be available right after the broadcast at our website. NC Reading Service.org. Once again, the website NC Reading Service dot Org. Thanks for joining me today and so long until next month's program.