Book Bites Recommends

Another fascinating selection of recommended reads from yesterday's meeting of the Book Bites crew, and holiday books are started making their way into the pile! See anything interesting?

Q&A with Ms. Liz!

When Ms. Haley left the Library for another adventure, we began searching for our next Children's Programming Guru - and are quite excited to welcome Ms. Liz to our Library family! 

Our furry ambassadors have once more volunteered to ask the tough questions and get the answers we're all curious about ... but first: 

Storytime is resuming SOON. We're waiting for a few final details to make our official announcement, so stay tuned and get ready for fun.

The Furry Ambassadors: Who is your favorite storybook character?

Ms. Liz: Winnie the Pooh

Who is your favorite author?

Mary Pope Osborne

Which is better: the book or the movie?

The book

Who is your favorite Disney Princess?

Mulan

What is your favorite pizza topping?

Buffalo chicken with banana peppers

What is your favorite salty and/or sweet snack?

Cheddar cheese Pringles (salty) and ice cream (sweet)

If you could travel back in time, where/when would you go?

The 70's/80's, for the music

You can have one superpower - what do you pick?

Teleportation

What's your favorite color?

Burnt orange

If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would you pick?

A cat

What is your favorite way to spend a weekend (or day off work)?

Getting coffee with friends and reading

I think we can all rest better, knowing these answers -- and many thanks to our furry ambassadors for asking the tough questions.

Welcome to the Archdale Library family, Ms Liz!

Bookish Delights

Brace yourself: today's post may take full advantage of the "catch-all" nature of this header... I've got a little sample of many things I want to share.

Other Birds (Sarah Addison Allen)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book was ... enchanting. It's not always the happiest of stories, but it is hopeful - and that is everything. So many threads come together in this one, weaving together individual stories until they've lost (and found) themselves in the broader story being told. It's a story of connections, of love, of survival, of hope. It's beautiful. 

Daisy Darker (Alice Feeney)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Very much an homage to And Then There Were None, with a sneaky twist that makes things so much wilder. I love the trend of weaving flashbacks into the narrative to bring you up to real time, and it works so very well with Daisy's story. There's no way to say a lot about this one without spoiling some of the experience, and even though I figured out a few of the quirks/twists earlier than revealed, it was still a fun reading experience. (Is it socially acceptable to call a family being picked off-one-by-one story as a fun reading experience?)

Cover Love!

This one is too beautiful to keep under wraps until January. 
I've only read one other book by Hawkins (Reckless Girls), but it was an enjoyably twisty read, so I'll definitely be picking this one up for reasons beyond the pretty cover. 

Here's a link to the book page on Goodreads, in case you want to read the blurb / add it to your TBR list.

Sidenote: You'd never guess from the cover that's a thriller, would you? I definitely get the Italian vibes, but not the thriller.

Earlier this month I got an email about Marie Benedict's new novel, and after a moment of excited fangirling (and immediately adding to my TBR on Goodreads), I had to sit back and look at this cover. It's definitely eye-catching, and there's a sense of drama and movement.

I confess to knowing next to nothing about the Mitford sisters (oops?), so I'm doubly-intrigued by the premise and promise of this novel. 

How long again until January? (I tease, but there really are some fabulous books scheduled to publish that month).

 

Finally here's one that is slated to publish the end of November, and I am a fan of the dreamy romantic vibes. Knowing how Kiera Cass writes, it will probably be more "complicated" and less "fairytale," but how's this for the teaser they're blurbing (perhaps a first line?):

Love has a sound. It sounds like a thousand heartbeats happening at the same time.

Now that's something that'll catch your attention! Here's the Goodreads link if you want to read the full description.

Book Bites Recommends

From scientific research (and Humboldt squids!) to the current opioid crisis to classic children's literature to magical retellings ... the October Books Bites recommendations have something for everyone!

Fall reading is the new summer reading 🍁📚🍂 

Friday Ramble

Oh what a whirlwind things have been lately! Summer was such a fun and busy time, and then we entered a new season of change here in the Library when Ms. Haley left for a new adventure (we miss her, but wish her all the best) - which meant Storytime was paused and we got to find a new children's programmer. Stay tuned for more updates on our new hire and when programs will resume. In the interval, we had staff from the Children's Room in Asheboro come for a few special programs, which was awesome! And now, somehow, it's the end of September and there's just 3 months left in 2022. How did that happen?! 

The Gilded Age

For a couple years now, I've been dabbling in Gilded Age fiction - primarily biographical novels of Alva Vanderbilt and Jennie Jerome. Their personal stories, even when portrayed fictionally, are deliciously entertaining, and I love imagining what it would have been like to be in that world - in that circle. Recently, my Gilded Age journey has expanded a little. We watched season 1 of the HBO Max show, and it was glorious. Predictable at times, but that's what I wanted. And the costuming, set-building, and music were ^chef's kiss^ perfection. It got me wanting to read more, maybe even pick up some of the nonfiction I've had on my shelves, to get a broader sense of the era. 

Then I listened to the audiobook of The Lost Summers of Newport; one of the three interwoven storylines featured "a dollar princess" of the Gilded Age - from a less glamorous family than the Astors or Vanderbilts. It was fascinating, and further stoked the fire. 

Now, of course, I must start finding Gilded stories ... stay tuned, I'm sure I'll share my findings.

Weird Reading Experience(s)

What do you do when you get a book that is so ... odd ... reading it feels like watching a trainwreck? 

I recently found myself in that situation - and while I'm not afraid to DNF a book (I have marked 2 titles "Did Not Finish" so far this year), this particular book was compulsively readable. I could not put it down. I finished reading it approximately 26 hours after I started it - and that includes an overnight sleep in the mix. It was so very readable, but also so very strange. I'm still not sure exactly what I read.

To Holiday or Not to Holiday?

With fall officially here and October marching toward the door, it's the time of year for seasonal books to shine. In a weird quirk of the publishing world, October is when most new Christmas books are published. Which means I always consider October 1st to be the start of Christmas Reading Season - a date that most of my reading friends disagree with.

Their argument is that October is for fall and spooky reads, and you can start Christmas reading after Halloween at the earliest, but it's better if you wait for post-Thanksgiving.

As someone who has never been a big fan of "spooky" and hasn't ever made Halloween a big deal, I have never felt that need - but can see their point. To a point. And yes, "fall" books are a good thing - but very hard to come by! - and I will work those into the mix as I'm able. But there are so many Christmas books, and with more added every October, that if I waited to read them until after Thanksgiving, I'd never make progress!

When do you think is the appropriate time to start reading Christmas books?

Hurricane Ian

At the time of writing (true confession: I'm writing this ahead of time for Friday posting!), it looks like a hurricane will be upon us by the time this is live for reading ... Here's hoping for a cozy hibernation weekend, with "nice" rain and lots of good books to read. 

Stay safe, y'all!

Read Together

A slightly different angle on the books featured in today's Read Together post... instead of focusing on books related to a particular topic, I'm going to share a particular kind of book: Short Story Collections.

Sometimes you want to read a story, but you don't have the time (or mental bandwidth) to dive into a novel. What's a reader to do? Turn to short stories! There are so many options to choose from - whether you want to dive deeper into your favorite story universe (Star Wars, anyone?) or catch up on quick reads about certain characters, or lose yourself in stories set during a particular season. And, of course, there are love stories. 

There's something fascinating about a short story - from both a reading and a writing point-of-view - and if you'd like to give the genre a trial read, here's a small sampling of titles to get you started.

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (Various Authors)

The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View (Various Authors)

Star Wars: Canto Bight (Various Authors)

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries (Various Authors)

A Simple Murder (Linda Castillo)

No Middle Name (Lee Child)

Uncommon Type (Tom Hanks)

Men Without Women (Haruki Murakami)

Sparring Partners (John Grisham)

Together, Apart (Various Authors)

Meet Cute (Various Authors)

Serendipity (Various Authors)

My True Love Gave to Me (Various Authors)

Summer Days and Summer Nights (Various Authors)

Endless Summer (Elin Hilderbrand)

Love in Colour (Bolu Babalola)

Chance Developments (Alexander McCall Smith)

Love and Other Seasons (Rebecca M. Fleming)

See anything that catches your eye?

Do you read short stories - if so, what's your favorite collection and/or type to read?

Book Bites Recommends

September's gathering of the Book Bites crew resulted in another varied - but all recommended! - titles. Fall is an excellent time to lose yourself in a good book - have you read any of these? Do any catch your eye?