Author: Christina Schwarz
Narrator: Blair Brown
Unabridged Fiction
Audio Length: 9 hours and 58 min.

Deftly written and emotionally powerful, Drowning Ruth is a stunning portrait of the ties that bind sisters together and the forces that tear them apart, of the dangers of keeping secrets and the explosive repercussions when they are exposed. A mesmerizing and achingly beautiful debut.

Winter, 1919. Amanda Starkey spends her days nursing soldiers wounded in the Great War. Finding herself suddenly overwhelmed, she flees Milwaukee and retreats to her family's farm on Nagawaukee Lake, seeking comfort with her younger sister, Mathilda, and three-year-old niece, Ruth. But very soon, Amanda comes to see that her old home is no refuge - she has carried her troubles with her. On one terrible night almost a year later, Amanda loses nearly everything that is dearest to her when her sister mysteriously disappears and is later found drowned beneath the ice that covers the lake. When Mathilda's husband comes home from the war, wounded and troubled himself, he finds that Amanda has taken charge of Ruth and the farm, assuming her responsibility with a frightening intensity. Wry and guarded, Amanda tells the story of her family in careful doses, as anxious to hide from herself as from us the secrets of her own past and of that night.

Ruth, haunted by her own memory of that fateful night, grows up under the watchful eye of her prickly and possessive aunt and gradually becomes aware of the odd events of her childhood. As she tells her own story with increasing clarity, she reveals the mounting toll that her aunt's secrets exact from her family and everyone around her, until the heartrending truth is uncovered.

Guiding us through the lives of the Starkey women, Christina Schwarz's first novel shows her compassion and a unique understanding of the American landscape and the people who live in it.

Author: The Editors of Penthouse Magazine
Narrator: Bill Morgan
Unabridged Fiction
Audio Length: 8 hours and 10 min.

Can one man sleep his way through the alphabet?

Here's the wager - it's as easy as A-B-C. Make love to 26 women across the alphabet, from "Abigail" to "Zelda." Our hero beds divas and debutantes, playgirls and politicos, evangelists and entrepreneurs, throughout the boudoirs, boardrooms, and bedrooms of a great American "sin" city. And win or lose, it will be a romp between the letters - and the sheets - that spells nothing but pleasure. From the pages of Penthouse magazine comes an erotic novel that gives an all-new meaning to the ABCs.

For Adults Only: Explicit language. Must be 18 years of age to purchase.

Executive Producer: Karen DiMattia
Producer: Paul Ruben
Cover Design: Tony Russo
©2001 General Media Communications, Inc.
(P) Random House, Inc.

Author: Nicholas Sparks
Narrator: L.J. Ganser
Unabridged Fiction
Audio Length: 10 hours

Miles Ryan's life seemed to end the day his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years ago. Missy had been his first love, and Miles fervently believes she will be his last. As a deputy sheriff in the North Carolina town of New Bern, Miles Ryan not only grieves for Missy, but longs to bring the unknown driver to justice.

Then Miles meets Sarah Andrews. The second grade teacher of his son Jonah, Sarah had left Baltimore after a difficult divorce to start over in the gentler surroundings of New Bern. Perhaps it is her own emotional wounds that make her sensitive to the hurt she first sees in Jonah's eyes, and then his father's. Tentatively, Sarah and Miles reach out to each other. Soon, they are both laughing for the first time in years...and falling in love.

Neither will be able to guess how closely linked they are to a shocking secret - one that will force them to question everything they ever believed in...and make a heartbreaking choice that will change their lives forever.

©2001 by Nicholas Sparks; (P)2001 by Time Warner AudioBooks

Author: Tom Clancy
Narrator: Frank Muller
Abridged Fiction
Audio Length: 6 hours and 3 min.

In The Bear and The Dragon, the future is very near at hand indeed.

Newly elected in his own right, Jack Ryan has found that being President hasn't gotten any easier: domestic pitfalls await him at every turn; the Asian economy is going down the tubes; and in Moscow, someone may have tried to take out the chairman of the SVR - the former KGB - with a rocket-propelled grenade. Things are unstable enough in Russia without high-level assassination, but even more disturbing may be the identities of the potential assassins. Were they political enemies, the Russian Mafia, disaffected former KGB? Or, Ryan wonders, is something far more dangerous at work here?

Ryan is right to wonder. For even while Russian investigators pursue the case, and some of his most trusted eyes and ears - including antiterrorism specialist John Clark - head to Moscow, forces in China are moving ahead with a plan of truly audacious proportions. Tired of what they view as the presumption of the West, eager to fulfill their destiny, they are taking matters into their own hands. If they succeed, the world as we know it will never look the same. If they fail...the consequences may be unspeakable.

Blending the exceptional realism and authenticity that are his hallmarks with intricate plotting, razor-sharp suspense, and a remarkable cast of characters, this is Clancy at his best - and there is none better.

©2000 Rubicon, Inc.; (P)2000 Random House Inc., Random House AudioBooks, a Division of Random House Inc.

Author: George Carlin
Narrator: George Carlin
Abridged Nonfiction
Audio Length: 2 hours 30 min.

The thinking person's comic who uses words as weapons, George Carlin shares all-new, cutting-edge opinion and observational humor in this best seller. Carlin demolishes everyday values and leaves you laughing out loud. Learn what he thinks of sports fans, how he would improve the TV networks, his suggestions for "Legal Murder Once a Month," and his plan for "World Peace Through Dancing." Performed by Carlin himself, and filled with thoughts, musings, questions, lists, beliefs, curiosities, monologues, assertions, assumptions, and other verbal ordeals, Brain Droppings is infectiously funny.

©1997 Comedy Concepts, Inc.; (P) and ©2000 HighBridge Company

Author: Richard A. Clarke
Narrator: Richard A. Clarke
Abridged Nonfiction
Audio Length: 6 hours and 17 min.

The real war on terror has happened largely behind closed doors, run by the White House, drawing on secret intelligence and operations around the world. There is no man who knows more about it than Richard Clarke, the former Counterterrorism Czar for both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the man who has led our efforts against al Qaeda and all other terrorist enemies for years, serving under seven presidents and in the White House for George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, until he resigned in March 2003. He has had a front-row seat at every major battle in this war, from the first World Trade Center bombing, to 9/11, to Afghanistan, to Iraq.

Clarke knows the secret stories of Bill Clinton's great victories (shutting down anti-U.S. terrorism sponsored by Iran and Iraq) and his great frustrations (failing to kill Osama Bin Laden despite many attempts). When President Bush took office, Clarke was ready to present him with a master plan to roll back and destroy al Qaeda, yet the president did not grant a briefing for months. His aides had little interest in Osama Bin Laden, preferring to talk about Saddam Hussein at every turn. Clarke knows why we failed to shut down terrorist financing within our borders prior to 2001.

After ignoring existing plans to attack al Qaeda when he first took office, George Bush made disastrous decisions when he finally did pay attention. Thanks to the determined, even conspiratorial views of Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and Bush, we went after the wrong enemy.

The charges Clarke levels against the current administration must be taken seriously by every American, Democrat or Republican. Our security depends upon it.

©2004 RAC Enterprises, Inc.; (P)2004 Simon & Schuster, Inc. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Author: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D.
Narrator: Howard C. Cutler, M.D. with Ernest Abuba
Abridged Nonfiction
Audio Length: 3 hours

The Dalai Lama is probably one of the only people who, if you ask him if he's happy, even though he's suffered the loss of his country, will give you an unconditional "yes." What's more, he'll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and the "the very motion of our life is toward happiness." How to get there has always been the question. He's tried to answer it before, but he's never had the help of a psychiatrist to get the message across in a context we can easily understand.

Through meditation, stories, and the meeting of Buddhism and psychology, the Dalai Lama shows us how to defeat day-to-day depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, or just an ordinary bad mood. He discusses relationships, health, family, work, and spirituality to show us how to ride through life's obstacles on a deep, abiding source of inner peace. Based on 2,500 years of Buddhist meditations and with a healthy dose of common sense, The Art of Happiness is a program that crosses the boundaries of all traditions to help listeners with the difficulties common to all human beings.

©1998 His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., All Rights Reserved; (P)1998 Simon & Schuster, Inc.; SOUND IDEAS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Author: Steve Martin
Narrator: Steve Martin
Unabridged Fiction
Audio Length: 4 hours

One of the country's most acclaimed and beloved entertainers, Steve Martin has written a novella that is unexpectedly perceptive about relationships and life. Martin is profoundly wise when it comes to the inner workings of the human heart.

Mirabelle is the "shopgirl" of the title, a young woman, beautiful in a wallflowerish kind of way, who works behind the glove counter at Neiman Marcus "Selling things that nobody buys anymore..."

Slightly lost but not off-kilter, very shy, Mirabelle charms because of all that she is not: not glamorous, not aggressive, not self-aggrandizing. Still there is something about her that is irresistible.

Mirabelle captures the attention of Ray Porter, a wealthy businessman almost twice her age. As they tentatively embark on a relationship, they both struggle to decipher the language of love - with consequences that are both comic and heartbreaking. Filled with the kind of witty, discerning observations that have brought Martin critical success, Shopgirl is a work of disarming tenderness.

©2000 Steve Martin, All Rights Reserved; (P)2000 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Speaker: Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney, Zell Miller, and more
Audio Length: 1 hour and 12 min.

On September 1, the third night of the 2004 Republican National Convention, the following speakers addressed the crowd at New York's Madison Square Garden:

• Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
• Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
• Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
• Senator Zell Miller (D-GA)
• Lynne Cheney
• Vice President Dick Cheney

(P)2004 C-SPAN

Author: Douglas Adams
Narrator: Douglas Adams
Unabridged Fiction
Audio Length: 6 hours

Welcome to the world's first ghost/horror/detective/time travel/romantic comedy epic, created by Douglas Adams, author of the famed 5-part Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy." The "hero" is Dirk Gently, a man who will probably never make his way into the great tradition of hard-boiled, sophisticated detectives. Missing cats and messy divorces are his specialty, but his goal for now is to clear a college friend of suspicion of murder. On the way, he discovers a ghost, a time traveler - and the devastating secret of humankind! Filled with inspired, bizarre humor, this story is yet another groundbreaking, genre-busting novel from a one-of-a-kind author.

Copyright ©1987 Serious Productions, Ltd.; Copyright (P)1997 by Dove Audio, Inc.