CJPL's Beyond the Bookshelf

In this episode, Erin and Mandy share their favorite book descriptions of food, just in time for Thanksgiving. It started off as three books, but morphed into four, and then some honorable mentions at the end, always coming back to potatoes (again, just in time for Thanksgiving). But before we begin and end with potatoes, we travel the world through food. Alternative episode titles include: "Her-shay"and "The One Where Erin Never Mentions the Title, or the Dish."

We'd love to hear your favorite book-ish descriptions of food, or your culinary adventures in trying some recipes you've only read about. Email us at [email protected]

As always, all our episodes and the titles/links for everything we've chatted about can be found at: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast

Closing music credit: AleXZavesa via pixabay.com

On this episode, Erin and Mandy chat about different reading platforms, including those available with your library card and those available for everyone via the worldwide interwebs. From classics to animated children's books to a new-ish storytelling via text message, these platforms have something for everyone. So when you're looking for new content but the winter weather has you down, check out any one of these!

As always, check out: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast for all items we've discussed on the podcast. And we would love to hear from you, so email us at [email protected]

Ever wonder what the inspiration was behind some of your favorite books and authors? Well, do we have some doozies for you - gruesome, weird tales from author's real lives and how they've inspired their writing. From the birth of science fiction to authors who regretted the births of their own children, murder mystery writers living their own murders and mysteries, and unexplainable happenings. Perfect spooky season listening!

Alternate titles to this episode include: "how many times can we say wild in this episode?" and "the Romantic poets were really just the first frat boys." Check out our wakelet/website for everything we discussed in this episode: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast

As always, we'd love to hear from you about this episode, future episodes, or anything in between: [email protected]

In this episode, Erin and Mandy kick off spooky season with 12 new books (and some others that randomly pop up) that are perfect for your spooky season reading! Some non-fiction, some fiction, some weaving together elements from different genres like horror and true crime, and some graphics! It’s a potpourri of spookiness!  

Alternate titles to this episode: “The One Where We Make Lots of Weird Sounds” and “This Has Not Been a Good Podcast for my Image.”

If you have spooky season recs (or just want to chat, fill us in on something, anything), email us at: [email protected]

As always, all the books we talk about in this episode are listed on: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast

Music: "Recurring Vision"- Ghost Stories Incorporated https://ghoststoriesincorporated.bandcamp.com/ 

In this episode, Erin and Mandy discuss tropes - plot devices that follow a traditional pattern or trajectory that will seem familiar or allow the reader (or viewer of movies) to know what is happening without the author needing to explain (think, love triangle). We'll talk about the ones we love, the ones we hate, and the ones we conditionally tolerate! Listener beware - Mandy's 80's are showing A LOT in this episode, and Erin goes off the deep end about "Twilight." It's a doozy of an episode but we can't wait to hear which tropes you love (or hate) or any hot takes where you disagree with us!

Check out all the books and movies we talk about in this episode at: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast

Stop by the library or send us an email at [email protected] for any thoughts about this (or previous episodes)!

The wild, bananas case of Chuck, in prison for first-degree murder, and Sara, world famous author. Buckle up, buttercup - this one is a rollercoaster! Sara Gruen, of "Water for Elephants" fame, befriends a convicted murderer following a fan letter. What happens next costs Sara everything - money, health, sanity, her book deal....

Alternative names: The One with Bad Fish or The One Where Erin Feels She Can No Longer Trust Mandy

Check out our website: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast for a rundown of all episodes, links, books, and more.

On this episode of Beyond the Bookshelf, Erin and Mandy chat about favorite mysteries and crime-related books. Some may be classified as other genres, but we'll make the case as to why these books made the cut for this episode. Alternative titles to this episode include "The One Where We Use Steak Temps to Classify People...Again," "The One Where We Discuss Sherlock's Cocaine Habit, and Compare to Nowadays Habits," and "The One Where Erin Learns about Chain Letters but Can't Believe People Spent Money to Send Spam."

Check out our website for a list of all the books included here: https://www.columbusjct.lib.ia.us/programs/beyond-bookshelf-podcast

A quick update and check-in on Erin and Mandy's reading challenges -  what they've read, what they're supposed to be reading, and a whole  bunch more! If you're joining us for the reading challenge we developed,  or you're looking for inspiration for a different challenge, this 25  minute episode covers 29 books!

This episode is a wild ride full of spooky places, scary movies, true crime, books, and more with Iowa gothic horror author S. Feaker! She shares a bit about her own "are you kidding me?!" stories and writing process. If you're looking for a great list of true crime stories to delve into, recommendations of fantastic books, or amazing paranormal investigations, this episode is for you! We think the perfect alternative title for this episode is "Goosebumps"...for the chills we got and the throw back to the R.L. Stine books that started our fascination with creepy things!

On this episode, Erin and Mandy chat about books they're glad they didn't finish for a variety of reasons...terror...content...just plain boring. Who knows?! No beef with any of these books - sometimes it's just not the right time in your life to click with a book. Tell us your own books that you're glad you didn't finish - we totally want to hear about them! Also, because this comes up, we want to know what your bougie thing is! Let us know after you've listened!

Alternative titles to this episode include: "the one where Erin dances the entire time," "I don't have time to be sad," "It all comes back to Outlander," and "the one where we talk about the birds and the bees."