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  Alibis - Essays on Elsewhere

  Andre Aciman

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  This program is read by Earphones Award–winning narrator Edoardo Ballerini."Edoardo Ballerini reads my books exceptionally well. He gets my pacing, the inflections of muted irony, the anxiety of loss, the search for meaning that my prose on paper isn’t always able to convey—he gets it all. He gets me. A writer couldn't be luckier." —Andre AcimanA Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of 2011. Celebrated as one of the most poignant stylists of his generation, André Aciman has written a luminous series of linked essays about time, place, identity, and art that show him at his very finest. From beautiful and moving pieces about the memory evoked by the scent of lavender; to meditations on cities like Barcelona, Rome, Paris, and New York; to his sheer ability to unearth life secrets from an ordinary street corner, Alibis reminds the reader that Aciman is a master of the personal essay.A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

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  Saturday Nights with Daddy at...

  Libby Leverett-Crew

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  The daughter of the Grand Ole Opry’s official photographer reminisces about witnessing country music history alongside her father in this memoir. 
   
  Like many little girls, Libby Leverett-Crew’s father, Les Leverett, often had to work nights and weekends. But unlike many girls, Libby’s father took her along to his job—where he was the official photographer for the Grand Ole Opry for more than thirty years. 
   
  First at the historic Ryman Auditorium, and later at the Grand Ole Opry House, Libby Leverett-Crew was a witness to country music history. And now some forty years later, she pays tribute to the wonderful people who touched the lives of her entire family while at the same time hearing witness to the powerful impact a loving father can have on his child’s life. 
   
  In Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry, Libby Leverett-Crew shares not only her remarkable memories of those Saturday nights with Dolly Parton, Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and countless others, including assorted Muppets, astronauts, ballet dancers, actors, Andy Warhol, and k.d. lang, but also a beautiful father-daughter relationship. The book also includes more than 100 photographs from her father. 
   
  Praise for Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry 
   
  “Les Leverett has added so much class and talent to our world; I’m not surprised that his daughter, Libby, has done this book. Yeah, Libby good for you. I’m proud to have baby-sat you from time to time backstage. You were always a joy.” —Dolly Parton 
   
  “There’s an old song, “I Was There When It Happened So I Guess I Oughta Know.” That’s [Libby’s] story inside the world of country music. I knew her first as Les Leverett’s kid. It must be in the water at their house because she’s come into her own as a masterful photographer. She also wields a pen that has a detailed memory for great storytelling.” —Marty Stuart

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  Home Before Dark - A...

  Susan Cheever

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  In Home Before Dark, Susan Cheever, daughter of the famously talented writer John Cheever, uses previously unpublished letters, journals, and her own precious memories to create a candid and insightful tribute to her father. While producing some of the most beloved and celebrated American literature of this century, John Cheever wrestled with personal demons that deeply affected his family life as well as his career. In this poignant memoir of a man driven by boundless genius and ambition, Susan Cheever writes with heartwrenching honesty of family life with the father, the writer, and the remarkable man she loved.

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  Sunshine and Laughter - The...

  Louis Barfe

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  The unique story of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise – British television's most iconic double act.British television has hosted some celebrated double acts over the years – from the Two Ronnies to Reeves and Mortimer, from French and Saunders to Fry and Laurie and from Mitchell and Webb to Matt Lucas and David Walliams. But none of these acclaimed duos come within a million miles of challenging the cherished place in television's golden age occupied by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, whose partnership lasted from 1941 to Morecambe's death in 1984. Icons of British television in the 1970s, Eric and Ernie were, in the words of one commentator 'the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced'.Louis Barfe has a gift for narrating celebrity lives in a manner that is informative and affectionate but never hagiographic. Funny, human and incisive, Sunshine and Laughter gets to heart of what made TV's most enduringly popular double act tick.

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  No Better Place to Die -...

  Robert M. Murphy

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  This “outstanding memoir” of a WWII soldier’s experience at Normandy gives “a fuller picture of what the 82nd [Airborne] accomplished on D-Day” (WWII History).   In the dark early hours of D-Day, nearly every airborne unit missed its drop zone, creating a kaleidoscope of small-unit combat. Fortunately for the Allies, the 505th Regimental Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division hit near its drop zone. Its task was to seize the vital crossroads of Sainte Mère Eglise and to hold the bridge over the Merderet River at nearby La Fière. The paratroopers reached the bridge only to be met by waves of German tanks and infantry. Reinforced by glider troops, the 505th not only held the vital bridge for three days but launched a counterattack to secure their objective once and for all, albeit at gruesome cost.   In No Better Place to Die, WWII veteran Robert M. Murphy provides a personal chronicle of countless acts of heroism by the men of the 505th. No World War II veteran is better known in 82nd Airborne circles than Robert M. “Bob” Murphy. A Pathfinder and member of A Company, 505th PIR, Bob was wounded three times in action, and made all four combat jumps with his regiment, fighting in Sicily, Italy, Normandy, and Holland. He was decorated for valor for his role at La Fière and is a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. After the war, he was instrumental in establishing the 505th RCT Association.  A selection of the Military Book Club.

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  Simon Mannering - Warrior

  Angus Gillies

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  Simon Mannering is one of elite sport's great enigmas. Since 2005 he has been a regular fixture in the Warriors and Kiwis rugby league teams and has captained both sides. He has the passion and drive of Brad Thorn and the consistency of Richie McCaw. He regularly leads tackle counts, always has the respect of both team mates and opponents and confounds team doctors by playing through pain and illness. He is, in short, the ultimate warrior, who will always put the good of the team before his own wishes and ambitions. He has played close to 300 games in the NRL, one of the most taxing and physically demanding competitions in world sport, but very few people know anything about him. He shuns the celebrity lifestyle, is never implicated in controversy and hardly ever does interviews. But his career is a blueprint for how young people with only average natural abilities (his words) can force their way to the top. Mannering was not a sporting prodigy. He often, perhaps too modestly, describes his early athletic talents as mediocre. But he had an unflagging work ethic towards training and when he came across good mentors he clung to them for dear life. In his autobiography, he talks about his transition from skinny white rugby-playing AC/DC fan from Nelson College to life at the Warriors rugby league club in the hip hop heart of Auckland. He shares personal stories about the people he met along the way who helped and inspired him and the lessons he took from them. Always a realist, he recounts his early efforts in a sport he didn't know or understand with unflinching, hilarious and sometimes awkward honesty. Those who know him best also give their insight into a New Zealand sportsperson who, when he eventually hangs up his boots, will be remembered as one of the greats.

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