Electric Elephant

>When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of "rogue" wild elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival: they would be killed if he wouldn't take them. In order to save their lives, Anthony took them in. In the years that followed he became a part of their family. And as he battled to create a bond with the elephants, he came to realize that they had a great deal to teach him about life, loyalty, and freedom.

Why we think it’s a great listen: Some books are meant to be read; others are meant to be heard – Water for Elephants falls into the second group, and is one of the best examples we have of how a powerful performance enhances a great story. Nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. It's the Depression Era and Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

This is a story for children of all ages, and is suitable for grandparents or parents to listen to with their children. It is the story of a wondrous electric elephant and the people who encounter it. Big as a house, this wondrous electric elephant is able to move and do amazing things, depending on who is piloting it and whether or not some cats have sneaked into the inside of the electric elephant.

The choice of bringing a book out of the dustbin of history and making it more easily available to the general public should be an easy decision, right? Not in the case of The Wonderful Electric Elephant written by Frances Montgomery. Listeners can hear exactly what Frances Montgomery wrote and decide for themselves what they think of it. Parts of this novel are a vile stain on history and society. But, I must also add that she wrote some innovative ideas and had some imaginative concepts which were ahead of her time.

At the onset of World War II, Williams formed Elephant Company and was instrumental in defeating the Japanese in Burma and saving refugees, including on his own "Hannibal Trek." Billy Williams became a media sensation during the war, telling reporters that the elephants did more for him than he was ever able to do for them, but his story has since been forgotten.

Dominic Smith’s The Electric Hotel winds through the nascent days of cinema in Paris and Fort Lee, New Jersey - America’s first movie town - and on the battlefields of Belgium during World War I. A sweeping work of historical fiction, it shimmers between past and present as it tells the story of the rise and fall of a prodigious film studio and one man’s doomed obsession with all that passes in front of the viewfinder.

This classic tale of sword and sorcery chronicles the adventures of Robert E. Howard's most famous character Conan of Cimmeria.

Volume 10 of the Tom Swift series finds our hero building a new airship and taking it to Africa, where he hunts elephants with his new electric rifle and rescues two missionaries from a savage and crafty tribe of red pygmies. Please remember that this book was published in 1911, and attitudes and language acceptable at that time are not politically correct today.