Books and Bites

Book Notes

Adam recommends:

• The Wild Book by Margarita Engle
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Michael recommends:

• FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
• Slash by Hunter Shea

Carrie recommends: 

• History of the Rain by Niall Williams
• The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss

Bite Notes

• For The Wild Book's bubbly, colorful story, make Fizz and Fruit Popsicles from Raquel Rabade Roque’s The Cuban Kitchen Cuisine.
• Accompany the psychological turmoil of Long Way Down with “Eggs in Purgatory,” found in Questlove’s Mixtape Potluck Cookbook.
• After a harrowing day spent at FantasticLand, whip up a batch of Grilled Cheese Dogs.
• There's nothing better than coming home to a hot bowl of Cholent after surviving a frigid night of being hunted by the Wraith in the ruins of the Hayden Resort.
• Pair History of the Rain with The Good Shepherd's Pie, a vegan update of the classic Irish shepherd's pie that you can find in Jae Steele's cookbook Get it Ripe: A Fresh Take on Vegan Cooking and Living. 
• Enjoy The Hearts of Horses with a meatless—or nearly meatless—soup made with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Tamar Adler's minestrone recipe offers lots of suggestions for seasonal substitutions. You can find it in her book An Everlasting Mealor on Saveur.com.

Book Notes

Melissa recommends:

• Novice Dragoneer by E.E. Knight
• Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar

Adam recommends:

• The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill
• Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Carrie recommends:

• Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire
• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Bite Notes

• Warm up like Ileth in Novice Dragoneer with the hearty Roasted Corn and Chorizo Chowder from The London Cookbook by Aleksandra Crapanzano.
• Make Badam Burfi, a quick sweet treat like Anjali's mom did to celebrate Diwali, using this recipe from Cook with Manali.
• Enjoy The Tea Dragon Society with a non-traditional approach to a London Fog—which is typically made with Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, vanilla, and sweetener. For our twist, swap the Earl Grey with your favorite tea dragon's variety.
• Bittersweet hot cocoa is the perfect sip for the dark, yet nuanced story of Three Dark Crowns.
• As Baba Yaga might say in Egg & Spoon, marinate yourself from the inside with this Vegetarian Red Borscht.
• Pair Other Words for Home with any of the delicious-sounding Syrian recipes in Feast: Food of the Islamic World. Or fry some cauliflower like Jude's mother.

Book Notes

Michael recommends:

• I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid 
• Bird Box by Josh Malerman 

Melissa recommends:

• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
• Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger by Lee Israel

Carrie recommends:

• Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Bite Notes

• Enjoy this recipe of Bourbon Lemonade from Bulleit Whiskey as you try to wrap your head around the mind-bending ending in I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
• Savor a Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale as you join Bird Box's Malorie in trying to survive the new world blindfolded. 
• Enjoy Daisy Jones and the Six with your favorite burger—the messier, the better. Sidebar Grill in Lexington has great meat and vegetarian versions, homemade potato chips, and plenty of rock 'n roll vibes.
• Pair The Good Lord Bird with Peach-Glazed Pearl Onions from the cookbook Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry.

Book Notes

Michael recommends:

• The North Water by Ian McGuire, winner of the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award (2017)
• The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock, winner of the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (2012), the Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing (2012), and the Prix Mystère de la critique (2013)

Melissa recommends:

• Days Without End by Sebastian Barry, winner of the Costa Award for the Novel and Book of the Year (2017)
• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, winner of the Newbery Medal (2018), National Book Award Nominee for Young People’s Literature (2017), Odyssey Award Nominee (2018), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature (2017), Edgar Award for Best Young Adult (2018)

Carrie recommends:

• The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, winner of The Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize (2018)
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, a New York Times Notable Book (2019) and a LibraryReads favorite (2019)

Bite Notes

• As you follow along with the trials and tribulations of the crew of the Volunteer, enjoy this cod dish from Emeril Lagasse’s Essential Emeril: Favorite Recipes and Hard-won Wisdom from My Life in the Kitchen.
• Travel to Appalachia with this recipe for slow cooked roasted pork shoulder from Ronni Lundy’s Victuals: An Appalachian Journey with Recipes.
• Pair Days Without End with a fine Irish whiskey, like Slane Whiskey, which is made in County Meath and available locally at Total Wine and Kroger.
• You may not be able to replicate the perfect, lightly salted blackberry that the Winns taste along the South West Coast Path, but you can bake Salted Dark Chocolate Vegan Blackberry Brownies.
• After reading Red at the Bone, feed your body and soul with the Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice from The Fresh & Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook.

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Book and Video Notes

Melissa recommends:

• Reel Injun, directed by Kino Lorber and available on Kanopy
• In Whose Honor?, New Day Films and available on Kanopy
• There, There by Tommy Orange

Carrie recommends:

• The Detectorists, written and directed by Mackenzie Crook and available on AcornTV, which you can check out through RBdigital
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer
• The Man at the Helm series of novels by Nina Stibbe
• Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

Michael recommends:

• Hereditary, directed by Ari Aster and available on Kanopy
• A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Bite Notes

• Melissa and Carrie both look to the recent article in the New York Times, “Sean Sherman’s 10 Essential Native American Recipes,” for bites to pair with their books. 
• This holiday season, try a Snowball cocktail, a classic winter warmer from the U.K.
• Pour yourself a glass of Campfire Whiskey, neat, while you ponder the shocking ending of Hereditary. 
• Sit down with the Barrett family and enjoy a hot plate of baked spaghetti. 

Book Notes

Carrie recommends:

• Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime by Ron Stallworth
• Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

Melissa recommends:

• Whiskey & Ribbons by Leesa Cross-Smith

Michael recommends:

• Savage Season by Joe R. Lansdale
• The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale

Bite Notes

• Alton Brown’s Pickled Okra from Good Eats is a great recipe for preserving the harvest.
• Roasting okra and tomatoes reduces the slime factor of stewed okra and tomatoes. Find the recipe in Mississippi Vegan: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Boy’s Heart.
•  Enjoy the Texas staple Cowboy Beans from The Homesick Texan’s Family Table: Lone Star Cooking from My Kitchen to Yours by Lisa Fain. Wash it down with an ice cold Dr. Pepper. 

Book Notes

Michael recommends:

• Moonshine by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
• Kill Creek by Scott Thomas

Melissa recommends:

• Good Talk by Mira Jacob (link to our catalog coming soon!)
• The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Carrie recommends:

• Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
• Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

Bite Notes

• Enjoy a cocktail of Werewolf’s Blood as you try to survive the mob and werewolf war and make it out of the West Virginia mountains alive.
• Sip a cold pint of Shlafly’s Pumpkin Ale as you join Sam McGarver and try to escape the horrors of the Kill Creek house before it’s too late.
• Enjoy Mrs. Caliban with Avocado and Lemon Zest Spaghetti from Anna Jones’s A Modern Way to Eat. Since most of the ingredients are pantry staples, it’s the perfect meal to whip up when a frogman drops in unexpectedly.
• Pair Good Talk with south Indian rice pudding, Paal Payasam or the Syrian Christian version made with rice flakes, Palada Payasam.
• The Grace Year would go well with the Early Autumn Apples on Hot Toast recipe found in Nigel Slater’s cookbook Ripe.

Book Notes

Carrie reads:

• Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
• My Ántonia by Willa Cather

Michael reads:

• 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Melissa reads:

• Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Bite Notes

• Pair Get in Trouble with a slice of Florida Key Lime Pie, available on our website. You can tell from the state of the copy pictured that it's a favorite recipe in Carrie's family. For a less sweet pie, use 3/4 cup of sugar instead of a full cup. Carrie recommends Nellie & Joe's key lime juice, which you can usually find at Kroger. The pie is also great when served frozen. 
• The kolaches mentioned in My Ántonia are still enjoyed in areas of the United States where Czech immigrants settled. Read more about the history of this Czech pastry and find a recipe on toriavey.com.
• Try the recipe from the website Caroline's Cooking for the Trinidadian snack Pineapple Chow. It's just like the dish Tommy Tester enjoyed at the Victoria Society.
• Enjoy this easy recipe for the New England staple the Fluffernutter sandwich as you relish each story in 20th Century Ghosts by New England’s very own Joe Hill. 
• Try the Jabberwock cocktail from the Savoy Cocktail Book in honor of the Vorpal's Special that Tuesday Next orders in The Eyre Affair.

Books & Bites Podcast, Episode 30

Each month, JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them. We’re gearing up for back-to-school in this episode, with books set in school or books we should have read in school.

Book Notes

Melissa recommends:

• Dear America : Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward

Carrie recommends:

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• Citrus County by John Brandon
• Old in Art School by Nell Painter

Michael recommends:

• The Bone Weaver’s Orchard by Sarah Read
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Bite Notes

• Try out Panlasang Pinoy’s Filipino Chicken Adobo to taste the food Jose Antonio Vargas grew up with in the Philippines.
• Learn more about French wine in Windows on the World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly and then go find one to try as you savor the words of James Baldwin and the authors that responded to him in The Fire This Time.
• Since kale is a staple in Scottish kitchens, try the Warm Salad of Roasted Kale, Coconut, and Tomatoes from Anna Jones’s cookbook, A Modern Way to Eat.
• West Sixth Brewery’s Valencia Berliner Weisse is a beverage with bite to match Citrus County‘s hard-boiled feel.
• Enjoy a chilled Cidergeist Semi-Dry Cider as you try to piece the mystery of the old abbey with Charley and Sam.
• If you want to transport yourself back to the late 80’s, try the Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Sloppy Joes and pair it with an ice-cold Diet Coke with a slice of lemon.

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them. This month, Carrie and Melissa welcome Michael to talk about good books for summer reading--whether you're outside by the pool or staying cool inside.