Today 9/12/05 on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

Writer, professor and Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan is one of those lucky people in life who has been able to combine her passion with her profession. She discusses her new memoir, Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading. What a great title. Funny! I can almost hear my wife saying these same words when I mistakenly ask her a question when she's holding a book.

Calling all Bonnie Raitt fans: Time to put a hold on her new CD, "Souls Alike," which is coming out this week. Soon it will be available at the library. Can't wait to hear songs including "I Will Not Be Broken," "God Was In the Water," and "The Bed I Made." I've been a Raitt fan since 1972, when her first album, "Give it Up" came out.

This Monday afternoon, while driving to work, I heard an interview on Terry Gross’ Show FRESH AIR with Sonny Rollins. Rollins, who turned 75 last week, lived a few blocks from the World Trade Center and was there when the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred. On the show he talks about his new album, Without a Song: The 9/11 Concert, the attacks and the death of his wife Lucille. The Play Ground is pleased to announce that the University Musical Society is featuring ”An Evening with Sonny Rollins” on Saturday October 1, 8pm at Hill Auditorium.

Publisher's Weekly calls Mike Tidwell's 2003 Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast a "lyrically intense travelogue". But it also sounds a clear warning: "...hundreds of Louisiana towns and cities, all just a few feet above sea level, lie increasingly prone to that deadly wrecking ball of hurricane force known as the storm surge. Coastal wetlands, it turns out, provide more than just a critical nursery for shrimp, crabs and fish. Every 2.7 miles of marsh grass absorbs a foot of a hurricane’s storm surge, that huge tide of water pushed inland by the storm’s winds.

All right, after seeing his frazzled hair, lined face and bow tie, many of you may think that I've officially cracked. But I stand by my declaration: No man in the entertainment industry even comes close to the animal magnetism projected by James Burke. If you clicked on that link you're probably giggling by now. "But Charity! He's just a goofy BBC Television host!", you say. And I say, "Bah!" The reality is that this man has a brain calculated to make ladies swoon for miles around.

Youth Service America's website offers a list of organizations that have mobilized to support the relief effort. Also available at this website are project planning tools and resources. Included is a downloadable project planning toolkit and easy to use tip sheets. These will help you and your friends think through the steps needed to plan and impl

The Rolling Stones just released yet another album this month titled A Bigger Bang. So far it’s gotten good reviews, showcasing this well-established group’s talent for rock n’ roll. If you take a listen, you’ll experience some decent guitar work and classic Mick Jagger vocals.

The CD is on order now, so put yourself on the hold list!

If you’re standing at a traffic light or driving around Ann Arbor, crank up the CD Between Here and Gone, by Mary Chapin Carpenter. The entire collection is good, but one of her best songs is “Goodnight America,” with the memorable traffic lyric: “The noise, the heat, the crush of cars just robs me of my nerve/Then someone yells and blasts their horn and pins me to the curb.” Is she singing about Ann Arbor? No, east LA, but this CD will keep you good company anywhere.

Four years after the 9-11 attacks, Hollywood appears ready to tackle the subject with several feature films in the works.

What many don't realize is that Spike Lee's film, 25th Hour, powerfully commented on the post 9-11 world just one year after the attacks. Based on the book by David Benioff, Lee's film follows Monty Brogan, played to perfection by Edward Norton, as he lives his last day as a free man before heading off to serve a seven-year jail term for drug dealing. Although the film's plot has little to do with the events of 9-11, the heart of the film really has everything to do with life after 9-11. This is especially evident in an important scene in which two main characters discuss Monty's fate as they sit in an apartment with a large window overlooking The Pile.

The library's collection also includes several documentaries that deal with 9-11 in some form or another, including Nine Innings from Ground Zero, WTC: the First 24 Hours, and 9/11.

Late Registration by Kanye West is this week's no. 1 hit on the Billboard 200 chart. His 2004 debut The College Dropout opened at the no. 2 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Kanye West has been in the news lately with his comments against the president, George W. Bush during the NBC Universal Hurricane Katrina telethon. Kanye West is also embroiled in a lawsuit with a Chicago D.J. over an alleged forged recording agreement.