Reading With Libraries Podcast

Hello and welcome to the 4th season of Reading With Libraries! Thank you so much for being here! We’re so glad you’re able to join our podcast book group. This week we’re talking about books in the Own Voices category. Check out our , complete with links to the books we discussed, more background links, and links to the beverages we enjoyed here. #OwnVoices is a term credited to author Corinne Duyvis, who suggested the hashtag on Twitter in 2015 to "recommend kidlit about diverse characters written by authors from that same diverse group."

Hello and welcome to Reading With Libraries! Thank you so much for being here! We’re so glad you’re able to join our podcast book group. And we’re especially excited this week because we’re discussing a very popular and well-loved topic: Harry Potter! Maybe you listened to our teaser episode back on July 31st and are just as excited as we are to jump into things! Why are we doing this today? Easy! It's Hermione's Birthday!!! (The real hero of the series!) So the format of today’s episode is going to be a little different than usual, but our goal is the same: to chat about books and share information for our library community doing Reader’s Advisory work.  Check out our , for all the info and our drink recipes! Want to be a full book group member? ! We appreciate your support - and Official Office Dog Lady Grey really appreciates the treats your support can provide!!

Welcome to Happiness in Libraries! Each month we are looking at a few stories about happy things that happen in libraries, or happy things that libraries contribute to their communities. Libraries are great organizations, and can be so important to the communities they serve. Those communities can be an entire city or town that a public library serves, the teachers and students in schools, the patients, nurses, and doctors in hospitals, or whoever else the library community is serving.  In these little bonus podcasts, we want to highlight some of the interesting and positive things a few libraries are doing! If you have some great things to share, send them to us at .  Thanks so much for joining us this week. It’s so great to have this time to spend together to enjoy the work libraries are doing all over the place! We hope you are inspired to take a few moments today to enjoy your library, and the work going on around you.

We’re so glad you’re able to join our podcast book group. This week we’re talking about the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards! Check out our . We’re going to share some background information on the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards, known as MYRA. The purpose of MYRA is to “administer yearly "read and vote" awards programs, providing nominee titles that offer opportunities for Minnesota youth to see themselves and others in the pages, to make new connections, and to engage and enjoy the world of reading.” Become a full book group member on Patreon! to be part of the "inner circle" of this book group, and get access to behind-the-scenes info and photos. Support levels start at $1/month - and you get a postcard from Official Office Dog Lady Grey! More swag is available at higher levels of support; check it all out today. We love doing this, but podcasts aren't free to create; so thank you so much to our book group members who have joined us. We love having you as part of the team.

Welcome to Reading with Libraries!   Usually we share great book information with you. Today we want you to join us in the book group, and to become a full member!   What does this mean for you?   We have a way for you to help support the podcast. It’s by sponsoring us each month using Patron! Go to   And, what is Patreon? It's a place where people can chip in to help support interesting and creative projects. Each week we share a new genre We have a Guest Host We provide information about the genre We give you resources to find more books or info on the genre. And we have beverages! Themed beverages! (I mean, sure - the books are great, but you need a beverage go really make it feel like a book group.) When we are taking a break to produce our Linking Our Libraries skills training podcast, we keep putting up short Book Bites episodes here.  We provide these podcasts to you at no cost to you. But of course, there are expenses on our end! Each episode we create takes several hours of work. It's a lot more t

Welcome back! It’s Season Four of our podcast book group: Reading with Libraries! We hope you have enjoyed all of our short Book Bites, and now we are looking forward to settling in to read more books with you! You can find our ! (We keep all the genre info there, links to books we share, and links to the beverages we enjoyed during the episode.) We usually spend our sessions chatting with our Guest Hosts about genres they like - and it’s always fun. This season we are going to do that, and we are also going to have each of our three staff members pick a genre we like! So today, we are going to look at one of Mary's favorite genres: Cozy Mysteries Cozy mysteries are always fun to read. You know nothing too horrible is going to happen, you know the appropriate bad guy is going to get caught in the end, and if there is a romance element in the story, you know the two people will end up happy together. In short: these are nice stories when you want to enjoy yourself, and read things not too taxing. When life g

Book Bites are quick looks at a book from our Guest Host readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is by Leonard Richardson. "Ariel Blum is pushing thirty and has very little to show for it. He's using his computer science degree to write pony-themed video games for ten-year-olds. He hasn't met a nice Jewish girl because he's secretly in love with his best friend, Jenny Gallegos. Whenever he tries to make something of his life, he finds himself back on the couch, replaying the games of his youth. "   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Book Bites are quick looks at a book from our Guest Host readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Bill Bryson. "The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way–and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in)."   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Book Bites are quick looks at a book from our Guest Host readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Mary Kay Andrews. "Between an ambitious director and his entourage―including a spoiled “It Boy” lead actor―who parachute into town, a conniving local ex-socialite, and a cast of local fangirls and opportunists who catch the movie bug, nothing is going to be the same in Cypress Key. Now Greer is forced to make some hard choices: about the people and the town she’s come to care about, and about her own life. True love is only for the movies, right? Can Greer find a way to be the heroine in her own life story? Told with inimitable heart and humor, Mary Kay Andrews’ Beach Town is the perfect summer destination."   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Book Bites are quick looks at a book from our Guest Host readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Mary H. K. Choi. "When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other."   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Tune in for this quick mini episode all about Harry Potter!  This episode will get you excited for our full Harry Potter Reading With Libraries episode coming in September (on Hermione's birthday). We discuss Hogwarts Houses, how we first discovered Harry Potter and favorite side characters.  Join us!

Book Bites are quick looks at a book from our Guest Host readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Karen Thompson Walker. "One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster."   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Book Bites are quick looks at a book from our Guest Host readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is : A Memoir of Drugs, Deception, and Double Lives, by Tina Alexis Allen. "Actress and playwright Tina Alexis Allen’s audacious memoir unravels her privileged suburban Catholic upbringing that was shaped by her formidable father—a man whose strict religious devotion and dedication to his large family hid his true nature and a life defined by deep secrets and dangerous lies." our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Today’s book is , by Zora Neale Hurston. "Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is the luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern Black woman in the 1930s, whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to 70 years. This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in Black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates boldly and brilliantly African-American culture and heritage. And in a powerful, mesmerizing narrative, it pays quiet tribute to a Black woman who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard."   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Join us today for a special episode of Book Bites, where we look at a topic for a little longer than usual. This week, we look at books to celebrate the Tour de France. It will last from Jul 6 to Jul 28, 2019, covering 3,460 km (2,150 mi).   : Sixty Cyclists and Nineteen Days of Daring on the Road to Paris, by "Starting in the Parisian suburb of Montgeron, the route took the intrepid cyclists through Lyon, over the hills to Marseille, then on to Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Nantes, ending with great fanfare at the Parc des Princes in Paris. There was no indication that this ramshackle cycling pack would draw crowds to throng France's rutted roads and cheer the first Tour heroes. But they did; and all thanks to a marketing ruse, cycling would never be the same again."   : Cycling the Tour de France, by Tim Moore "French Revolutions gives us a hilariously unforgettable account of Moore's attempt to conquer the Tour de France. "Conquer" may not be quite the right word. He cheats when he can, pops the occasional hayf

Usually we have lots of book suggestions for you on this podcast. And this week we are giving you a bonus episode from our other podcast: Linking Our Libraries. We are going to talk about stress management at work. No matter where you work and what you do, there is stress to manage. While we can't fix it all for you, we have some sympathy to offer and suggestions for working to reduce your stress levels.   Check out our !   If you want to talk about other library skills (useful in all kinds of organizations!), subscribe to us at Linking Our Libraries. We will also have Book Bites there each week, with new book suggestions for you to enjoy!

This week we have another special longer episode, with three of us each chatting and sharing a book we are reading. Enjoy a quick look at some fun books!   : A heartwarming romantic comedy, by Ayisha Malik. "Sofia Khan is single once more, after her sort-of-boyfriend proves just a little too close to his parents. And she'd be happy that way too, if her boss hadn't asked her to write a book about the weird and wonderful world of Muslim dating. Of course, even though she definitely isn't looking for love, to write the book she does need to do a little research . . ." /, by Chaim Potok "Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid who keeps kosher, prays three times a day and believes in the Ribbono Shel Olom, the Master of the Universe. Asher Lev is an artist who is compulsively driven to render the world he sees and feels, even when it leads him to blasphemy. In this stirring and often visionary novel, Chaim Potok traces Asher’s passage between these two identities, the one consecrated to God, the other subject only to the im

Book Bites are quick, five minute looks at a book from readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Diana Gabaldon.   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Book Bites are quick, five minute looks at a book from readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Daniel Gumbiner.   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.

Book Bites are quick, five minute looks at a book from readers. Try a new book this week! Today’s book is , by Susan Orlean.   our newsletter, our social media, and our podcasts to stay up to date on all kinds of great stuff! We serve 300+ libraries of all types, and are always ready to talk about libraries and books.