Heard Any Good Books Lately? Here’s A Few You Can Plug Into

For your enjoyment, here are a few of the top-rated books on tape as recommended by AudioFile magazine:

“Four Decades With Studs Terkel” (Highbridge, six hours, $25). Includes excerpts from interviewer Terkel’s radio programs, 1955-1989.

“Living in the Labyrinth” (Thorndike Press, 3 hours, $39.95), by Diana Friel McGowan, read by Diana Friel McGowan. The thoughts and feelings of an Alzheimer’s patient as told in her own words.

“May Sarton: Excerpts From a Life” (Audio Bookshelf, 4 hours, $29.95) by May Sarton, read by Andrea Itkin. A selection of Sarton’s journals, memoirs and poetry.

“A Passage to India” (Sterling Audio, 12 hours, $84.95) by E.M. Forster, read by Sam Dastor. The classic Forster look at the BritishIndian clash.

“Spotted Horses and Other Stories” (Audio Literature, three hours, $16.95) by William Faulkner, read by Wendell Berry. Three Faulkner stories, including “The Old People” and “Shingles For the Lord.”

Death, in living color

According to Variety, Helen Prejean’s non-fiction study of capital punishment, “Dead Man Walking,” will be adapted for the movies. Actor Tim Robbins has written the screenplay, and Susan Sarandon is planning to play the character, based on Prejean, who works to save the lives of condemned inmates. In October 1993, Prejean lectured on the death penalty at Gonzaga University.

For the birds

If you’re interested in feeding the birds that refused to fly south, you might want to pick up a copy of Bob Waldon’s “Feeding Winter Birds in the Pacific Northwest” (The Mountaineers, 304 pages, $14.95 paperback). One of Waldon’s recipes: Mix peanut butter with cooking grease, add corn meal, oatmeal or flour to absorb the oil, and spread on open pine cones.