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Books about Heroes and Villains

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

Books & Bites Podcast, Ep. 118

It’s October, which means it’s time for fall reads, Comic Surge— and a new bingo card!

We cover all three with books about heroes and villains, one of the prompts on the Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge.

Our picks include a modern classic with a literary villain, a YA dystopian novel, and a novel about the making of an epic superhero movie. Listen below!

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Prompt to Page with Melissa Scholes Young

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts. These exercises can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing.

Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 60

If writing sometimes feels like a chore, author Melissa Scholes Young has some advice for how to change your outlook.

“I like to think about when I show up to my writing desk as sort of a date rather than a punishing part of the process,” she says, “and I wanna set that date the night before.”

That means setting out her favorite pen, journal, and coffee mug—all of which helps her look forward to her writing time.

Shifting perspectives is something Melissa likes to do in her work as well, and she shares a writing prompt that will help you think “bigger and then smaller about the world.”

She also discusses her new Lexington bookstore Bond House Books, the art of revision, and more. Listen below!

more: Prompt to Page with Melissa Scholes Young

9 to 5: Books about Workers or the Workplace

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

Books & Bites Podcast, Ep. 117

Summer bingo is winding down this month, and the Books & Bites team is back on the job with books about workers or the workplace.

Carrie talks to author Kayla Rae Whitaker about the role of work in her novel Returns and Exchanges, how she balances her writing life with a full-time job, and more.

Michael shares a horror story that will give a whole new meaning to your retail experience at big-box furniture stores. And Jacqueline reviews a YA romance about a teen who finds herself drawn back into competitive chess to help support her family.

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Prompt to Page with Josh Boldt

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts. These exercises can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing.

Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 59

Author and editor Josh Boldt knows how challenging it can be to find a publisher. “It’s just really hard to find the exact right fit that you need,” he says. “So the person out there that’s…feeling that way right now, I’m there with you.”

On this episode, Josh discusses Brown Hound Press, a literary magazine he started partly as a way to reach other writers like him.

He also shares a writing prompt that will help you get out in the world, something that’s important to his own creative process. Listen below!

more: Prompt to Page with Josh Boldt

Books Set on Islands

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

Books & Bites Podcast, Ep. 116

We’re halfway through the Summer Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge, and this episode, we discuss books set on islands.

Island settings are about more than sipping cocktails on the beach. Sometimes, as with Agatha Christie’s classic mystery And Then There Were None, the primary goal is to get off the island while you still can.

Whether you’re into thrillers, horror, historical fiction, or romance, you’ll find the island of your dreams—or nightmares—with our picks. Listen below!

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The Island book cover

Jacqueline’s Pick

The Island by Natasha Preston

This YA thriller is filled with greed, secrets, and a mystery waiting to unfold. Millionaire Malcolm Wyatt invites six teen social media influencers, Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley, to his new private island getaway.

But when one of the teens goes missing, their sunny island beach adventure turns into a gothic setting complete with stormy weather, eerie surroundings, and mounting suspense.

Pairing: Funnel Cake with Blueberry Sauce

The Troop book cover

Michael’s Pick

The Troop by Nick Cutter

This horror novel follows a boy scout troop camping for the weekend on a remote, uninhabited island off the coast of Prince Edward Island.

When the Scoutmaster, who’s also the local town doctor, discovers a mysterious, skeletal man stumbling through their campsite, he takes the man into their cabin.

He quickly finds that he’s in way over his head when he discovers the horror that has made its home inside the man.

Once the Scoutmaster becomes infected, the weekend devolves into a bloody nightmare for the troop of boys who must try to find a way off the island without becoming infected.

Pairing: Dark ‘n Stormy Rum Cocktail

Whale Fall book cover

Carrie’s Picks

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor

This coming-of-age novel opens in September 1938 when a whale washes ashore on a tiny island off the coast of Wales. It’s home to 18-year-old Manod, who lives with her lobsterman father and younger sister, Llinos.

When ethnographers Joan and Edward arrive from Oxford to study the Welsh-speaking island’s culture, they hire Manod as their assistant and translator. To Manod, it feels like a way out of the harsh island life that’s expected of her.

Pairing: Welsh Cakes

The Name Game book cover

The Name Game by Beth O’Leary

This contemporary romance is set on another tiny British island, this time the fictional Ormer in the English Channel.

The island farm shop has just hired someone named Charlie Jones as manager, but on Charlie’s first work day, not one but two people named Charlie Jones show up: a grieving woman who wants to start a family, and a newly sober man just off a big break up.

Since no one at the shop seems to know who the job was actually meant for, the Charlies agree to a trial period of sharing the position—and living quarters. Naturally, shenanigans ensue.

Pairing: Not-too-fancy farm shop coffee

Prompt to Page with Mandi Fugate Sheffel

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts. These exercises can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing.

Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 58

Author Mandi Fugate Sheffel has always kept a journal, which she thought of “as this internal thing, a summary of my thoughts and feelings for the day.”

She had to learn to pay more attention to sensory details. “What you recognize in a moment is significant as a writer,” she says, because “that’s where voice comes from.”

On this episode, Mandi shares several writing prompts, including one that will help you become a better observer.

She also discusses why she opened a bookstore in Eastern Kentucky and the joys of attending the Appalachian Writers’ Workshop. Listen below!

more: Prompt to Page with Mandi Fugate Sheffel

Reads for America 250

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

Books & Bites Podcast, Ep. 115

This episode, we mark the 250th anniversary of the United States with books about American history, one of the prompts on the Summer Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge.

Carrie and Michael share nonfiction about people and events that are often left out of the historical record, while Jacqueline discusses a teen novel about the more recent past. Listen below!

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