Princeton Library Lounge

The next few weeks will be a busy travel time and many of us will be taking to the roads, rails and air to make it “home for the holidays”. Before heading out on your journey, be sure to stop by the library to check out some audiobooks to help you pass the time while you drive or fly. If you need ideas, Audiofile Magazine has just published it’s list of the Best Audiobooks of 2007 and Princeton Public Library owns many of those selected. Below are some of the recommendations from the list. Enjoy!

Top Fiction:
THE ECHO MAKER Richard Powers
Read by Bernadatte Dunne (BBC Audiobooks America)

FRAGILE THINGS Neil Gaiman
Read by Neil Gaiman (Harper Audio/BBC Audiobooks America

THE ROAD Cormac McCarthy
Read by Tom Stechschulte (Recorded Books)

Top Non-Fiction:
THE ASSAULT ON REASON Al Gore
Read by Will Patton (Penguin Audio/Books on Tape)

THE LOOMING TOWER Lawrence Wright
Read by Alan Sklar (Tantor Media)

THIS I BELIEVE Jay Allison, Dan Gediman [Eds.]
Read by Various Readers (Macmillan Audio/BBC Audiobooks America)

Top Family Listening:
BEHOLD THE BOLD UMBRELLAPHANT Jack Prelutsky
Read by Jack Prelutsky (Harper Audio)

THE ONE AND ONLY SHREK! William Steig
Read by Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci (Macmillan Audio)

Submitted by J. Hermann, Program Coordinator.

No cassettes, no CDs or downloads – simply plug in headphones and play! The library is pleased to announce our new collection of Playaways. A Playaway is a small, easy-to-use device that comes preloaded with one digital audiobook. Running times range from 6 to 20 hours depending on the title. We have a broad range of titles, the classics ( including Victor Hugo, Shakespeare, Chaucer), children/young adult (C.S. Lewis, Eoin Colfer), contemporary fiction (Yann Martel,Jhumpa Lahiri), non-fiction (Steven Hawking, David Sedaris, Michael Pollan), and self-help. View a complete list of titles.

Submitted by R. Gutierrez.

Are you as big a public radio and public television junkie as me? If so, you'll want to check out the numerous NPR and PBS related materials in the library collection. Whether you enjoy the hilarious musings of Click n' Clack on Car Talk, or the revelatory segments of This American Life, you can enjoy these shows and more at your convenience on audio CD.

Among the library's PBS DVD offerings are the elaborate and sophisticated productions of Masterpiece Theatre as well as the hard-hitting, thought provoking stories presented on Frontline and The American Experience. Listen to Terry Gross's Fresh Air to hear interviewing at it's very best. For the gourmand, there are some mouthwatering recordings on Hidden Kitchens. There's something of interest for every fan of publicly supported broadcasting.

Submitted by J. Ju.