podcast Archives - Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

The Bookmark S5 E18: Hot reads for cold weather

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:27:59 +0000

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This week we’re hoping to keep you warm with hot reads. Our hosts discuss hot books coming out soon that we’re excited for as well as newish books that are a little (or a lot!) steamy. Some major authors have new books coming out and there’s even a new collaborative book featuring major authors. Tune in to also hear about books that may not be on your sizzle radar.

Books we discussed in this episode

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What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops January 29, 2024!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5 E18: Hot reads for cold weather appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E17: Local 2023 book picks

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 20:00:16 +0000

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This episode we discuss the books our staff picked as the best books they read in 2023 and those books you, the community, picked as favorites in 2023. Looking over the lists, we’ve determined books by authors we have hosted usually take the top spots. Both lists are quite eclectic.

Autumn thinks of these books as the ones she keeps meaning to read and hasn’t gotten to yet. In addition to these books, her reading plans for the future include reading one book a month with the word “Autumn” in it. She welcomes suggestions, so hit us up at podcast@tscpl.org if you’ve got any recommendations.

The Bookmark podcast hosts picks for favorite book read in 2023 are as follows:
Chris – The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Miranda – The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Autumn – Do Nothing by Celeste Ann Headley

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops January 22, 2024!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E17: Local 2023 book picks appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E16: Best books of 2023

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 16:56:37 +0000

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We’re reviewing the best books from last year by going through the Goodreads Best Books of 2023. Our hosts look category by category, enthusiastically discussing the books we’ve read and those we can’t wait to read. We found several surprises in the rankings and there are changes in Goodreads Best Books categories this year as well. Which are your favorites and which are you adding to your to be read list?

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops January 15, 2024!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E16: Best books of 2023 appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E15: Winter reading plans

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 15:12:28 +0000

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In this episode our hosts discuss what winter reading means to them. Miranda likes to hold off on some winter books throughout the year so she can read the books during the season it’s set in. Autumn likes to read winter romances she says are the equivalent of Hallmark movies. Chris just reads whatever he gets into at that point in the winter.

We’re wrapping up on the Year of the Rabbit (2023) and are looking forward to 2024, the Year of the Dragon. Looking for something to read on these chilly days? The Bookmark Team has your back.

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops January 8, 2024!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E15: Winter reading plans appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E14: Unboxing More ARCs

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 20:05:41 +0000

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We’re back to going through a brand new stack of Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) that we’re picking at random to discuss with you. Listen as we discover what’s coming out in the next few months and what’s going on our radar. We’ve found lots of murder mysteries and this week there are two books with maps! This selection of books is taking us all over the world. There are lots of family secrets and espionage. We even threw in a reference to Mary Toft.

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops Dec 18, 2023!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E14: Unboxing More ARCs appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E13: Unboxing advance reader copies

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 15:17:39 +0000

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We’ve got a brand new stack of Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) that we’re picking at random to discuss with you. Autumn’s already decided some of them are going to end up on the Booker list. Listen as we discover what’s coming out in the next few months and what’s going on our radar. Tune in next week to pick up where we left off in our stack.

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops Dec 11, 2023!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E13: Unboxing advance reader copies appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E12: What are you reading?

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 17:59:24 +0000

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It’s time to find out what you, our listeners, are reading. We post the question “What are you reading?” to our social media accounts on a weekly basis and this episode is all about what you answer. We’re adding your suggestions to our To Be Read (TBR) lists and discussing read alikes while we’re at it. What are you excited about reading next?

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops Dec 4, 2023!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E12: What are you reading? appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E11: The Booker Award

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 17:07:00 +0000

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It’s Chris’ favorite season of the year! This episode we’re discussing the Booker Award!

For the last 15 years, Chris has speculated what will end up on the Booker Award long and short lists and tries to read at least all of the books on the short list. If given enough time, he’ll also try to predict nominees and read ahead, but he says he’s a slow reader, so he doesn’t often get to all 13 titles on the long list. Chris then concentrates on the short list of six titles when it is announced. Every year brings a new panel of judges, so it’s not always easy to predict which books will make it.

The Booker Award used to be called the “Man Booker Award” because the award was then sponsored by a company called “Man,” but is now just the Booker Award. The International Booker Award is a separate award for books in translation.

To be considered for the Booker Award, the book has to be submitted by its publisher. Americans have only been considered for the last 10 years, but now any book in English can be submitted.

Listen in as our hosts spend some time discussing past winners. Chris summarizes each of the books that made this year’s short list and Autumn gives her predictions on who’s winning this year.

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops Nov 27, 2023!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E11: The Booker Award appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E10: What sub-genre should you read next?

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 14:45:51 +0000

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Our hosts took a quiz at Bookriot to find out what sub-genre they should each read next! We discuss each question, our answers, and our results. After you take the quiz, you can read about each possible result. Check out the booklist below to see the books that fit in each category.

Results

Autumn’s recommended sub-genre was Grim-dark fantasy, which features books such as Black Company by Glen Cook and The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang.

Chris got Cli-Fi (climate fiction) as a result. We discussed whether Grapes of Wrath (or other Steinbeck works) might qualify as Cli-Fi. Bookriot listed The History of Bees by Maja Lunde, American War by Omar El Akkadand and Clade by James Bradley as Cli-Fi.

Miranda took the quiz twice and got two different results. Her first result was Cli-Fi. Her second result was God-punk, which includes books by Neil Gaiman such as American Gods and Anansi Boys.

Other possible sub-genre results of this quiz are as follows: Magical Realism, Paranormal Romance, Cozy Mystery, Locked Room Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Bio-Punk and Domestic Horror.

We encourage you to read more articles on Bookriot to find out more about them. We’d love to hear your results! Email us at podcast@tscpl.org.

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops Nov 20, 2023!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E10: What sub-genre should you read next? appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Bookmark S5E9: Cozy fantasy & other fall cozies

estaley@tscpl.org (Elizabeth Tschetter) — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:21:30 +0000

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It’s time to get snuggly! In this episode we’ll talk about comfy reads for chilly days. “Cozy fantasy” is now its own genre like “cozy mysteries.” To be a cozy fantasy, the book needs to be fluffier, focus on the characters’ relationships and make you feel like you’re reading a hug. There’s also a conflict scale so you know what you’re getting into before cracking that cover. You’ll find some kids’ titles in our recommendations.

Want to know more about cozy fantasy? Check this out.

Books we discussed in this episode

View complete list

What’s Next?

The next episode of The Bookmark drops Nov 13, 2023!

Previous Episodes

Meet your Hosts

Autumn Friedli, Chris Blocker and Miranda Ericsson relish talking books with recurring readers and special guests from the library and community in The Bookmark.

Thanks for listening! We love to hear from listeners.

The post The Bookmark S5E9: Cozy fantasy & other fall cozies appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.