Books and Bites

This month we're getting nostalgic with books set in the 1990s, one of the prompts in the Winter-Spring Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge.

Teenagers all figure prominently in our picks: a YA mystery, a thriller that celebrates horror's babysitter trope, and a novel where two teens accidentally start a moral panic. Don't miss this episode—it's the bomb!

Jacqueline's Pick

• The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
• Pair with Homestyle Pot Roast

Michael's Pick

• Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona
• Pair with Tipsy Chicken Pizza from Big City Pizza

  Carrie's Pick
  
  

• Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
• Pair with your favorite Little Debbie snack cake

  
  

Start the new year with the Winter-Spring Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge! We hope our prompts will inspire you to read and have fun while doing it.

Up first, we share wintry books perfect for reading by the fire. Our picks include an Irish Christmas story, a horror novel set in a Pennsylvania orphanage, and a YA fairy tale.

Carrie's Pick

Time of the Child by Niall Williams

Pairings: Fish and Chips, classic Irish pub food. Or sip an Irish tea.

Michael's Pick

Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi

Pairing: Smoked Over-the-Top Chili, one of Michael's favorite wintertime dishes.

Jacqueline's Pick

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

Pairing: German Vanilla Crescent Cookies

It's time to wrap up the Summer-Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge! On this episode, we discuss books published in 2024. Our picks include a suspense novel that is also an immersive alternate reality game, a National Book Award-winning adaptation of an American classic, and a YA mystery by a bestselling author.

Michael's Pick

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

Eve Palmer answers the door on a cold, snowy night to a family wanting to know if they can take a quick look around since the father, Thomas, used to live there as a child. 

Eve, still waiting for her partner to get home, reluctantly invites them in. As they’re touring the house, Thomas’s daughter goes missing. Eve and Thomas begin their search in the basement, and that’s when Eve notices some disconcerting things.

We Used to Live Here is part of an ever-evolving immersive alternate reality game that allows you to hunt clues and decipher messages in web code, message boards, and social media accounts long after you've finished the book.

Pairing: A hot dish of Totchos (Loaded Tater-Tot Nachos)

Carrie's Pick

James by Percival Everett

This National Book Award-winning novel retells Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through the point of view of Jim, the enslaved man who travels down the Mississippi River with Huck. 

While the novel pays homage to the original, it also challenges some of Twain's nineteenth-century conventions and deepens Jim's humanity. The risks Jim--who prefers to be called James--faces on this journey, his love for his family and for Huck, all make for a compelling, suspenseful read.

Pairing: Grilled Catfish with Tomato Blackberry Salsa, a dish that combines the two foods most readily available to James and Huck.

Jacqueline's Pick

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

In this YA mystery, 18-year-old Bel Price was just two years old when her mother, Rachel, disappeared. Now, a struggling British documentary filmmaker is making a film about her disappearance.

One evening, Bel sees a  woman who looks just like her mother stumbling around in front of her house. At first, Bel thinks it's the actor playing Rachel during a reenactment scene, but the woman claims she is the real Rachel. Bel thinks the woman is lying and works to uncover the truth.

Pairing: A salty, sweet, rich recipe for peanut butter cookies.

On this episode, we discuss books about chosen or found family, one of the prompts on the Summer-Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. 

According to library database NoveList, books with this theme focus on families "formed by choice, rather than birth." Close friends, nontraditional families, and people who bond over their circumstances can all form chosen families.

Our picks include a YA novel about a found family of unhoused teens trying to save the world; an alternative history about a ragtag crew working to rid the Mississippi River of its feral hippo problem; and a historical novel about a chosen family in post-World War II England and Italy.

Jacqueline's Pick: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Riordan weaves Norse mythology into a mythical fantasy novel for modern day teen readers. When main character Magnus’s mother is murdered in their Boston apartment by wolves, he becomes homeless. 

Magnus keeps ahead of the truant officers and the wolves who killed his mother with the help of two other homeless teens. The three teens become close and look out for each other on the streets of Boston.

On his sixteenth birthday, Magnus learns that he is the son of a Norse god, Frey. Magnus is the only one who can retrieve weapons that can save the world from doomsday (Ragnarök).

Pairing: Perfect homemade falafel in honor of Arab American character Sam.

Michael's Pick: River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

This alternate history tale introduces us to a late 19th Century U.S. where hippos have been introduced into the Mississippi River that runs through Louisiana. 

The story opens with the federal government hiring Winslow Houndstooth, a former hippo rancher, to assemble a crew to take care of the feral hippo problem before the river's crumbling dam fails. This ragtag group forms a highly dysfunctional chosen family. 

This hippo caper, or operation, as Winslow would say, is action-packed with hippo mayhem and full of colorful, interesting characters.

Pairing: A 19th century hippo romp calls for a 19th century New Orleans cocktail, the La Louisiane.

Carrie's Pick: Still Life by Sarah Winman

Still Life is a witty, sprawling historical novel about art, love, and friendship. It opens in WWII-era Florence, Italy, where 24 year-old British soldier Ulysses "Temps" Temper meets a kindred spirit, sixty-something art historian Evelyn Skinner.

Their time together in Florence is brief, with Temps and Evelyn's lives diverging into parallel narratives. Each forms their own chosen families, but will these two friends ever reunite?

Still Life spans the years 1901-1979, and plenty of things happen during that time. But relationships are the focus of this character-driven, leisurely paced novel.

Pairing: Pasta with olive oil and chili. Learn how to make two fresh pasta versions on the Pasta Grannies YouTube channel: "How to make an easy garlic, chilli & pepper pasta - with a twist!" and "Enjoy Maria's garlic, chili pepper & olive oil dressed 'sthridhlja' pasta!" 

Or make it using dried pasta with a recipe from the blog Saturdays in Rome.

On this episode, we discuss Southern Gothic books, one of the prompts on the Summer-Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. Southern Gothic is a sub-genre of Gothic fiction--or, as Michael says, it's "Gothic with a twang." 

According to Book Riot, some of the characteristics of Southern Gothic include, “eccentric, flawed characters, sinister events, elements of the supernatural or fantastical, and themes relating to race, class, decay, violence, and isolation.”

Our picks for this month include a Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, a YA mystery, and a haunting, surprisingly spicy novel.

Carrie’s Pick

The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty

In this 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning novella, Laurel McElva Hand, a widow in her mid-forties, travels from her home in Chicago to New Orleans, where her father is having a routine eye operation that proves fatal. 

Laurel and her crass, young stepmother accompany his body back to Mississippi.

After the funeral, Laurel is left alone in her childhood home to reckon with her past and the loss of her mother, father, and husband.

Pairing: Pat Nixon’s Hot Chicken Salad, a comforting and nostalgic casserole that was popular in the 1970s.

Jacqueline’s Pick

Losing Brave by Bailee Madison and Stefne Miller

Payton Brave is a popular high school girl whose twin sister Dylan has been missing for more than a year. Payton was mentally devastated by the disappearance of her sister and cannot remember anything about the day Dylan disappeared at the train station. 

As Payton slowly attempts to recover the events in her mind, strange, unexplainable things begin happening. Set in a small Mississippi town, this young adult mystery focuses on death, social interaction, and terror.

Pairing: Air Fryer Donuts. Enjoy with coffee for a modern equivalent of tea and crumpets.

Michael’s Pick

House of Cotton by Monica Brashears

Alone and practically broke in the East Tennessee mountains, nineteen-year-old Magnolia meets Cotton, a well-dressed man with blood on his hands who offers her a modeling job. 

The catch? Cotton has discovered a niche market where people who have missing loved ones will pay a lot of money to see them again. His aunt Eden can transform Magnolia to look like just about anyone.

Pairing: Nashville Hot Chicken, because a spicy book calls for a spicy dish.

 On this episode, we discuss books with kings and queens, one of the prompts on the Summer-Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge.

Our picks include a page-turning history of the Magna Carta; a novel about Mary, Queen of Scots; and a YA novel that imagines an American royal family.

Michael's Pick

Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty by Dan Jones

Dan Jones crafts a historical narrative that is compelling and as close to a page turner a book of history can be. 

Over 800 years ago, at Runnymede in England, the Magna Carta was born out of a bunch of very angry barons and King John I coming to terms of peace after a serious fraying of relations with each other. 

Since that day in 1215, the Magna Carta has come to influence countless constitutions across the world and is still seen as a cornerstone of Western traditions of liberty and democracy. 

Pairing: Spit Roasted or Grilled Steak, a medieval recipe featured on the British Museum's blog.

Carrie's Pick

The Tower by Flora Carr

It's 1567 when this debut historical fiction novel opens, and Mary, Queen of Scots has just been captured and taken to Lochleven Castle, where she will remain imprisoned for about a year. 

The novel takes place over the course of this year, mostly in the two rooms Mary shares with three other women: her chambermaids, Jane and Cuckoo and, later, one of her ladies-in-waiting, Lady Mary Seton.

If you enjoy lyrical, character-driven novels with a strong sense of place and history, lock yourself away with The Tower. 

Pairing: Dried Pears, a comforting and shelf-stable treat fit for a queen

Jacqueline's Pick

American Royals by Katharine McGee

The premise of this young adult novel imagines what would have happened if America had become a monarchy after gaining independence from England. 

The novel is set in the present day, and the story follows the royal family of America, who are the descendants of George Washington.

If you are fascinated by the history of English Royal family, you might like this series.

Pairing: Homemade Cherry Pie, an all-American dessert.

On this episode, we discuss books that are hybrids of at least two genres, one of the prompts on the Summer-Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. 

Jacqueline's favorite romantasy novels are a good example. They combine elements of romance and fantasy. Other books mash up elements of science fiction and horror or, in the case of both Michael's and Carrie's picks, Westerns and dystopian fiction.

Some nonfiction titles blend different genres, too, such as A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa or The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock. Both mix the authors' personal memoirs with biographies of historical women.

Jacqueline's Pick

My Lady Janeby Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

Not only is My Lady Jane a hybrid romantic comedy, it is also a fantastical historical fiction novel. The novel is a re-imagined account of England’s shortest ruling monarch, Lady Jane Grey.
 

The novel is told in the alternating perspectives of our three main characters and narrator historians who often break the fourth wall to set the historical record straight.

This book brings in fantasy aspects from the beginning while still interweaving history from the sixteenth century.

Pairing: Old-fashioned Blackberry Pudding

Michael's Pick

The Great State of West Floridaby Kent Wascom

Published just this year, The Great State of West Florida blends Southern Gothic with Western, dystopian, and coming of age with hints of sci-fi thrown in for some added flavor.

This book is told by Rally Woolsack, a 13-year–old in 2026. Rally is raised by his aunt after his spurned mother conspires with Rally’s other aunt to wipe out the rest of the Woolsack clan. 

After a violent confrontation, Rally's uncle Rodney takes Rally to meet his aunt Destiny, aka the Governor, who now has a golden robotic arm and is working to fulfill her grandfather’s grandiose dream of establishing the state of West Florida. 

Pairing: Shrimp Po'Boys with Pineapple Slaw

Carrie's Pick

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Upright Women Wanted blends dystopian and Western fiction with a touch of romance. While it's set in the unspecified future, the Arizona landscape feels very Old West.

When we're first introduced to main character Esther Augustus, she's hiding in the back of the Librarians' wagon. Esther is on the run from a marriage her father arranged after he executed her best friend and secret lover, Beatriz, for possessing insurgent reading material.

Esther gradually learns that the Librarians aren't exactly the government agents she'd imagined. They're part of the resistance movement, working to protect people like Esther and Beatriz.

Pairing: Tuscan Stewed Beans

July is Disability Pride Month! Learn more about the history, experiences, and contributions of the disabled community by reading books by authors with disabilities.

On this episode, we also introduce the Summer-Fall Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge.

Teens and adults, from now through December 30, 2024, keep track of books you read or listen to by writing the title and author in the matching square. Complete all 25 squares for a chance to win a $100 Joseph-Beth gift card or an Amazon Kindle. You’ll also earn an enamel pin (while supplies last).

Carrie's Pick

In How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir, Lexington resident Shayla Lawson explores what it means to travel the world as a Black, nonbinary, and disabled person. 

The reader accompanies Lawson (who uses they/them pronouns) on journeys that span from young adulthood to early middle age, from New York City to Tokyo to Zimbabwe and many other places.

Pairing: Banana Pie, a recipe found in the Bermuda entry of library database AtoZ World Food. (To log in, enter your library card number.)

Michael's Pick

When Chuck Tingle's Bury Your Gays opens, Misha Byrne, a writer for the famed Harold Brothers’ Studios, is on top of the world. 

His short film has been nominated for an Oscar and his popular television series, Travelers, is about to wrap its third season with a grand finale where the two agents finally confess their feelings for each other.

Except now, the studio higher-ups want him to axe that part and have one of his agents tragically die “for the algorithm.” 

This satirical horror novel about creating stories is layered yet fast-paced and compelling, using unease and disorientation to ratchet up the tension. 

Pairing: A flute of California 75.

Jacqueline's Pick

Storm and Fury is a paranormal YA novel set in a supernatural world full of gargoyles, demons, and a girl, Trinity, who must be protected at all costs. 

Trinity is lonely because she lives in a gargoyle compound. Only her Protector, Misha, and her father figures, Matthew and Thierry, know the truth about her past and what she is. 

Though Trinity is actually more powerful than any of the gargoyles, she must learn to compensate for her vision losses as she prepares for a supernatural battle.

Pairing: Homemade vanilla ice cream.

No matter the genre, when you read a book with a map, you're in for an adventure. This month, we share a YA historical fiction meets fantasy novel; a mystery set in 1920s Bangalore; and a dystopian novel set during a future American Civil War.

Don't forget to turn in your bingo sheets for the Winter-Spring 2024 Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge by June 30, 2024! If you still need book suggestions, check out the book lists on our Books & Bites page.

Jacqueline's Pick

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross is book one of the YA Letters of Enchantment series. After centuries of sleep, two ancient gods are warring again, using human armies in this fantasy set during World War I. 

Pairing: Simple Plum Pudding, a World War I-era recipe.

Carrie’s Pick

Set in colonial Bangalore, India, in 1921, The Bangalore Detectives Club is the first book in a mystery series by Harini Nagendra. If you like your mysteries on the cozy side and enjoy learning a little history and culture while you’re at it, this might be the book for you.

Pairing: Lemon rice, the perfect South Indian dish for a picnic.

Michael's Pick

American War by Omar El Akkad takes place over two decades, beginning in 2075, during the outset of the second U.S. Civil War. Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia have seceded from the United States after vehemently opposing the Sustainable Future Act that outlawed oil production.

Pairing: Mississippi Mud Pie, a delicious Southern dessert that will take the edge off this sobering book.

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with books by AAPI authors! It's one of the prompts on the Winter-Spring 2024 Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. Our suggestions include an action-packed adventure tale, a YA romance, and a comic but realistic immigration story.

Michael's Pick

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin begins with Ming Tsu traversing the salt flats of the Utah Territory, making his way to a Union Pacific camp to kill a man. The past couple years, Ming Tsu had been serving his sentence laboring for the railroad, all because he made the mistake of falling in love and marrying the daughter of a railroad baron.

This is an action-packed, cinematic adventure tale full of brawls, gunfights, showdowns, betrayal, and ambushes. It also gives a peek at the xenophobia and racism experienced in the Old West by Chinese immigrants and marginalized folks.   

Pairing: Pit Beans is a hearty dish that's perfect for any cowboy.

Jacqueline's Pick

Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi is about two young people, Penny and Sam, whose awkward meeting results in them exchanging numbers and promising to be each other’s emergency contacts because neither of them has a reliable parent. Their friendship grows via text as they find themselves texting one another non-stop.

Fans of Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before will enjoy this novel. Both novels have fresh Asian American voices and similar story arcs.

Pairing: A flat white espresso.

Carrie's Pick

In The Chinese Groove by Kathryn Ma, main character Shelley is an 18 year old Chinese student eager to seek his fortune in the United States, where he plans to win back his girlfriend by becoming a famous poet. His "foolproof plan" hits some snags as soon as his flight lands in San Francisco.

Though the characters, including Shelley, are all grieving, his comic and somewhat satirical voice keep the tone hopeful. Fans of The Wangs vs. the World will appreciate this character-driven and intricately plotted book.

Pairing: Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Spring Onion, a recipe from Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuschia Dunlop.