New Daisy Audio books
This issue contains DAISY audio books added to the collection since the last issue of Sound and Touch in September 2010.
Abbreviations:
BA - Blackstone Audio Inc
CD - DAISY audio CD ordering number
RNIB - Royal National Institute of Blind People
RNZFB - Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
VAILS - Vision Australia Information and Library Service\
Adult Non-Fiction
Bowel cancer = Matepukupuku puku hamuti: a guide for people with bowel cancer. Wellington: Cancer Society of New Zealand, 2009. Read by George Henare in 1:37 hours. RNZFB.
CD57036
Lung cancer = Matepukupuku pukahukahu: a guide for people with lung cancer. Wellington: Cancer Society of New Zealand, 2010. Read by George Henare in 1:48 hours. RNZFB.
CD57408
Melanoma = Tonapuku: a guide for people with melanoma. Wellington: Cancer Society of New Zealand, 2010. Read by George Henare in 1:20 hours. RNZFB.
CD57414
Adventure
Desperate hours: the epic rescue of the Andrea Doria by Richard Goldstein. New York: Wiley, 2001. This is a dramatic moment-by-moment account of the crash that caused the sinking of the 'Andrea Doria' and the remarkable rescue of all but forty-six of the ship's 1662 passengers and crew. It is considered the greatest sea rescue of all time. Read by Hayward Morse in 10:06 hours. RNIB.
CD48080
Biographies
Faint heart never kissed a pig by Ann Drysdale. Isis, 2000. The author, her three children and an assortment of animals live in a remote farmhouse on the North Yorkshire moors. This is an account of how she established the farm, without previous experience, and how the animals arrived, many of them waifs and strays from across the Dales. Read by Anne Dover in 6:10 hours. RNIB.
CD46566
Million dollar mermaid: an autobiography by Esther Williams and Digby Diehl. London: Simon & Schuster, 2000. This witty autobiography is about an eighteen-year-old girl who reluctantly joined MGM and launched herself into a career that lasted almost twenty years. She tells of the affairs, the tricks of the trade, the competition, the fights and the methods the studios used to keep their stars in line. Explicit descriptions of sex. Read by Lorelei King in 14:49 hours. RNIB.
CD46861
The naked island by Russell Braddon. Joseph, 1981. The author describes the brief but disastrous Malayan campaign of 1942 and the long, appalling captivity that followed. For almost four years his Japanese captors subjected their 40,000 prisoners to a pitiless regime of starvation and slavery. They, in return, drew on all their resources of hatred, humour and defiance in order to survive. Read by Robert Gladwell in 13:58 hours. RNIB.
CD47412
Crime and Law
Our story by Reg and Ron Kray with Fred Dinenage. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989. The Kray twins are Britain's most notorious criminals. Convicted of murder in 1969 they write their story by turns. Ron has accepted his imprisonment but Reg burns with a fury to be free. In this frank autobiography they seek to explode some of the myths that surround them and describe a career of violence in a sub-culture more potent than any myth. Read by Gene Foad and Peter Wickham in 6:28 hours. RNIB.
CD47040
Poisoned lives: English poisoners and their victims by Katherine Watson. London: Hambledon and London, 2004. The book is based on the stories of 540 English poisoners. Most were poor and illiterate and thus their stories had been lost. Using historical sources the author challenges old assumptions about women and doctors being the majority of poisoners. Violence. Read by Diana Bishop in 9:52 hours. RNIB.
CD48575
History and Travel
Defending the island: Caesar to the Armada by Norman Longmate. Hutchinson, 1989. Drawing on extensive historical data the author describes the battle to keep Britain as an island. He follows the Celtic tribes through to the Spanish Armada with an emphasis on military and naval history. The result is an enthralling and insightful book for the general reader and the specialist. Read by Noel Johnson in 25:50 hours. RNIB.
CD46508
Elizabeth and Mary: cousins, rivals, queens by Jane Dunn. London: HarperCollins, 2003. In this dual biography the author explores the intertwined lives of Elizabeth I and her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. She reveals a story of sex, power and darkly complex and dangerous times. Read by Louise Fryer in 19:25 hours. RNIB.
CD48172
Ghost riders: travels with American nomads by Richard Grant. London: Abacus, 2003. The author is a restless Englishman and something of a wanderer. He goes in search of the legion of drifters, grifters, hoboes and tramps of America. He traces their historical antecedents and ponders what drives a man to spend his life in motion. Strong language. Read by Jonathan Oliver in 13:34 hours. RNIB.
CD48254
Van Diemen's land by James Boyce. Melbourne: Black Inc., 2008. In this new history of the settlement of Tasmania the author shares new facts and ideas about a dramatic episode in the history of British colonisation. He combines environmental insights with an unrivalled grasp of frontier politics; it will change the way scholars and the general public alike view Australian colonial history. Read by Bill Conn in 14:47 hours. VAILS.
CD53078
Adult Fiction
Classics and Essays
The Father Christmas letters by J R R Tolkien; edited by Baillie Tolkien. London: Allen and Unwin, 1976. A collection of annual letters from Father Christmas telling wonderful tales of life at the North Pole. The letters were written each year by the author to his children. Read by Andrew Timothy in 48 minutes. RNIB.
CD45714
The Family
Family matters by Kitty Burns Florey. Joseph, 1981. This is the story of three women; daughter, mother and grandmother, and their relationship to each other and to the other members of the family. Read by William Abney in 10:55 hours. RNIB.
CD45653
Salt rain by Sarah Armstrong. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2004. After Allie's mother disappears in Sydney Harbour she must live with her aunt on the dairy farm where her mother grew up. While her aunt is busy replanting the farm in native trees Allie waits for her mother to reappear. She begins to discover the truth about her mother's childhood and her own mythical father. Explicit descriptions of sex. Read by Jenny Seedsman in 6:37 hours. VAILS.
CD46165
General Fiction
Christmas lights by Christine Pisera Naman. A humorous yet poignant look at Christmas as seven women celebrate the most significant aspects of the holiday. They each face their separate challenges and discover why the darkest season can also be the brightest. The threads of their lives come together in a moving conclusion that perfectly captures the holiday spirit. Read by Pam Ward in 3:21 hours. BA.
CD58323
The pleasure of my company by Steve Martin. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2003. Daniel is 30, 38 or 27, depending on how he feels that day. His life is rich and full, provided he never leaves his Santa Monica apartment. Outside are eight inch curbs, a neighbour's murder and three women, whom he wants to know much better. The murder TV reconstruction may jeopardise his chances of winning the Most Average American Competition, which he's already entered twice. Will this neurotic ever break free? Explicit descriptions of sex, strong language and violence. Read by Francis Greenslade in 5:14 hours. VAILS.
CD45815
Historical Novels
Ambitions by Audrey Howard. London: Arrow, 1996. Lacy and Rose could not have had more different origins. Lacy's was full of privilege, as the daughter of Liverpool's richest shipping magnate, while Rose's was as difficult as only the life of a poor Irish immigrant could be. Their friendship was as powerful as it was unlikely. Together they built an empire. Explicit descriptions of sex. Read by Fo Cullen in 28:14 hours. RNIB.
CD47838
Essie by Flora Pearce. Futura, 1988. Between her father's drinking and their poverty, young Essie is forced to go into service. Her situation does improve and she finds love and security with Joss, a Birmingham shop-owner. She wonders if such happiness is only temporary. Read by Diana Bishop in 9:21 hours. RNIB.
CD46556
Humour
Backwards by Rob Grant. London: Viking, 1996. Dave has finally found his way back to planet Earth and his crewmates have rescued him, but unfortunately time is now running backwards. If they can't fix the problem Dave will carry on growing younger until he becomes a baby, then an embryo and finally he'll meet a very sticky end. Read by David Thorpe in 9:26 hours. RNIB.
CD47870
One foot in the grave by David Renwick. London: BBC Books, 1992. Victor's life is far too complicated, with a python in his luggage, a body search at the airport, a dead tomcat in the freezer, the charred remains of a neighbour on the kitchen table and then there are the 200 garden gnomes. An average year for a man with one foot in the grave is far from 'average'. Read by Richard Wilson in 8:15 hours. RNIB.
CD47026
Mystery and Detective Stories
Die for love by Elizabeth Peters. Nebraska librarian Jacqueline Kirby eagerly attends the Historical Romance Writers of the World convention in New York but is shocked by what happens. The death of a scandal columnist and a writer fearing for her life send Jacqueline into action. There's a sinister scenario being perpetrated at this purple prose congregation. Read by Grace Conlin in 9:12 hours. BA.
CD58327
Soul by Tobsha Learner. Sydney: HarperCollins, 2006. Two women, across two eras, struggle with obsessive love and revenge. In 1860, young Lavinia moves from her Irish village to a new life in Mayfair, London, as the wife of an elderly gentleman. Soon she is standing trial for his murder. In modern-day Los Angeles, Professor Julia Huntington has received a prestigious commission from the US Defense Department to research a genetic killer agent. Strong language and violence. Read by Lise Rodgers in 16:50 hours. VAILS.
CD50686
Romance Novels
After the roses by Kay Gregory. Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, 1991. Damaris was far from overjoyed when she won first prize in a raffle, for her trophy was Joel Agar. Her evening out with Joel wasn't a great success, though she did admit to a spine-tingling electricity she had never known before. What should she do after the roses arrived, and kept on coming? Read by Liza Ross in 5:04 hours. RNIB.
CD47828
Snap happy by Fiona Walker. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998. Juno is voluptuous, hedonistic, funny and terminally untidy. The last thing she needs is an up-tight, teetotal flatmate but that's what she gets. Her brother has sent his American pal to use their London flat and this recipe for disaster turns into an unlikely romance. Explicit descriptions of sex. Read by Frances Jeater in 20:34 hours. RNIB.
CD45694
Short Stories
Dark roots by Cate Kennedy. Melbourne: Scribe, 2006. A collection of prize-winning stories that travels to the deepest depths of the human psyche. The stories are populated by people on the cusp of momentous events, each with a choice to make and none is without consequence. Read by Rachel Scott in 4:42 hours. VAILS.
CD52954
Thrillers
The Buddha of Brewer Street by Michael Dobbs. London: HarperCollins, 1998. Tom is caught up in an international power game played all the way from Tibet to the back streets of Soho. In the search for the new Dalai Lama the fate of a nation and a great religion is at stake. With the Chinese in hot pursuit he finds someone very close is betraying him. Read by Gordon Reid in 11:34 hours. RNIB.
CD47229
The company of strangers by Robert Wilson. Oxford: Isis. Lisbon in 1944 is a dangerous place for lovers Andrea Aspinall, mathematician and spy, and Karl Voss, military attache to the German Legation. After a night of terrible violence, Andrea is left with a secret which precipitates life-long addiction to the clandestine world. Strong language. Read by Sean Barrett in 16:17 hours. RNIB.
CD48944
Dark crusader by Alistair MacLean. HarperCollins. Eight scientists have gone to work in Australia and vanished without a trace. The trail leads to a remote Polynesian island where Bentall and the woman posing as his wife find themselves in mortal danger. Behind the community of archaeologists and their Chinese henchmen a desperate crime is being prepared. Read by Jon Cartwright in 8:43 hours. RNIB.
CD48038
War Stories
Churchill's gold by James Follett. Severn House, 1991. In 1940 Britain is on the verge of bankruptcy, and her last hope is forty-two million pounds in gold held in a Pretoria bank. Robert Garrard must bring the gold home in his ship. Awaiting him is his pre-war colleague in Germany's newest submarine. The duel to the death will be fought in the lonely wastes of the Atlantic. Read by Jon Cartwright in 7:06 hours. RNIB.
CD47975