New titles for easy listening at the library

Think you don’t have time to read? When you’re driving up the

coast, cleaning the garage or weeding the garden, pop a new title

from the Newport Beach Public Library’s audio collection in the tape

or CD player to make commuting or chores much more enjoyable.

In less time than it takes to drive from Orange County to San

Francisco, you can learn “ten secrets to breakthrough thinking from

history’s most revolutionary minds” with “Discover Your Genius.” In

this combination guided journal-historical biography, Michael Gelb

draws on the collected wisdom of Plato, Brunelleschi, Columbus,

Copernicus, Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Jefferson, Darwin, Gandhi and

Einstein to provide inspired coaching for personal growth.

More contemporary politicians, media personalities and

entertainers are targets for television pundit Bill O’Reilly on “The

No Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in

America.” With his trademark no-holds-barred rancor, the Emmy-winning

journalist takes on everything from the death penalty to working

mothers and taxes with such high-profile figures as Dr. Laura

Schlessinger, President Bush, Susan Sarandon and Hillary Clinton.

If lighter diversion appeals, check out “Three Weeks in Paris,”

Barbara Taylor Bradford’s newest romantic romp. In her 18th yarn, the

grande dame of popular women’s fiction reunites a quartet of arts

school graduates seven years after their bitter feud. Coming together

for the 85th birthday of a beloved teacher, the four sort out their

love lives and confront their stormy pasts.

A murky past also serves as an emotional backdrop for Michael

Connelly’s “City of Bones.” In his eighth thriller starring dour LAPD

homicide detective Harry Bosch, the crime fiction master uses the

discovery of a young boy’s bones in the Hollywood Hills to launch an

investigation that leads to a shocking conclusion.

There’s no easy conclusion for Don DeLillo’s “The Body Artist,” a

haunting novella that begins with a film director’s suicide.

Returning to their isolated bayfront rental home, his widow finds a

strange stowaway in a spare room and an uneasy relationship develops.

When the mysterious stranger begins speaking in her late husband’s

voice, only the reader can decide whether reincarnation or some other

eerie connection is at work.

For more sustained listening, Gao Xingjian’s “Soul Mountain”

offers 19 hours of lyrical storytelling inspired by the Nobel

Prize-winning author’s journey through southern China. Whether the

trip is real or a metaphorical search for meaning is less important

than the realities of Taoist priests, Buddhist nuns and mythical Wild

Men the traveling narrator meets along the way.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach

Public Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams. All titles

may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the

catalog at www.newportbeachlibrary.org.