Jes and Sarah are discussing the best of 2024 in the last Beyond the Shelves episode of the year! They go through some of books mentioned on several best of lists, and then give their own top 3 books of the year.

Watch on YouTube

Show Notes

• What they're reading
  • The Vegetarian, by Han Kang
  • Make the Season Bright, by Ashley Herring Blake
  • Clean, by Alia Trabucco Zerán
  • A Fire Endless, by Rebecca Ross
  • The Love of My Afterlife, by Kristy Greenwood
• On the Best Of Lists and other mentioned books
  • James, by Percival Everett
  • All Fours, by Miranda July
  • Martyr!, By Kaveh Akbar
  • Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner
  • Intermezzo, by Sally Rooney
  • Colored Television, by Danzy Senna
  • Shred Sisters, by Betsy Lerner 
  • The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio
  • The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
  • Margo’s Got Money Troubles, by Rupi Kaur 
  • The Ministry of Time, by Kaline Bradley 
  • The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo
  • Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV, by Emily Nussbaum
  • Grief is for People, by Sloane Crosley
  • Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, by Jason De León
  • There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, by Hanif Abdurraqib
  • The Women, by Kristin Hannah
  • Funny Story, by Emily Henry 
• Jes' Top 10
  • Beautyland, by Helene Marie Bertino
  • The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
  • Headshot, by Rita Bullwinkl
  • Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle
  • Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk, by Kathleen Hanna
  • Rainbow Black, by Maggie Thrash
  • In Universes, by Emet North
  • The Bog Wife, by Kay Chronister
  • There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, by Hanif Abdurraqib
  • Perfume and Pain, by Anna Dorn
• Sarah's Top 10
  • Pandora's Jar, by Natalie Haynes
  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, by Sangu Mandanna
  • You Should Be So Lucky, by Cat Sebastian
  • Where the Lost Wander, by Amy Harmon
  • A River Enchanted, by Rebecca Ross
  • The City of Brass, by S.A. Chakraborty
  • Barons, by Austin Frerick
  • This is How You Lose the Time War, by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar
  • Check and Mate, by Ali Hazelwood
  • The Book That Wouldn't Burn, by Mark Lawrence

 

On the newest episode of the DMPL Podcast, children's author and illustrator and Des Moines native Don Tate joins host Aaron Gernes on the show. Don Tate will be at the Forest Avenue Library on Thursday, December 12, at 6:30 PM for a fun talk meant for the whole family. He'll discuss his journey into illustrating and writing, demonstrate some drawing techniques, and invite kids up to help him in learning more about the process. This will be a fun, family friendly event!

  Show Notes

• Don Tate at the Forest Avenue Library
• Don Tate Books

On the newest episode of Beyond the Shelves, Jes and Sarah talk about decolonizing and diversifying your bookshelf, giving you suggestions on books with diverse authors and unique viewpoints.

 

What They're Reading

• Jes
  • The Bog Wife, by Kay Chronister
  • Headshot, by Rita Bullwinkel
  • American Rapture, by CJ Leede
• Sarah
  • The Paradise Problem, by Christina Lauren
  • Somewhere Beyond the Sea, by TJ Klune
  • The City of Brass, by S.A. Chakraborty
  • The Book of Doors, by Gareth Brown

 

Book Recs - Decolonizing Your Bookshelf

• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, by David Treuer
• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose
• Shutter, by Ramona Emerson
• My Powerful Hair, by Carole Lindstrom
• Babel, by R.F. Kuang
• The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline
• The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson
• Cursed Bunny, by Bora Chung 
• The Vegetarian, by Han Kang 
• Betty, by Tiffany McDaniel 
• Becoming Little Shell, by Christ La Tray 
• Whiskey Tender, by Deborah Jackson Taffa 
• And Then She Fell, by Alicia Elliott
• Who Am I?, by Julie Buchholtz 
• Memory Police, by Yoko Ogawa

 

Iowa native and upcoming Fall Author Series guest Daniel Kraus joins the DMPL Podcast. Daniel is the co-author of Pay the Piper, an unfinished work of George A. Romero's that Kraus completed after Romero's death.

Kraus talks about how growing up in Iowa shaped his writing, what it's like to put yourself in someone else's shoes in order to compete their work, and more.

Daniel will be on Des Moines on Wednesday, October 23, at 7 PM at the Central Library as part of the 2024 Fall Author Series.

Listen to the podcast on YouTube

Show Notes

• Daniel Kraus at the Fall Author Series
• Checkout Pay the Piper at the library
• Daniel Kraus books

On the newest episode of the DMPL Podcast, Jes and Sarah give book recommendations for each sign of the zodiac. It's a nice warm-up for the next big Flash Recommendation event, coming up on Wednesday, October 16.

What is Flash Recommendations? It's an event on our social media pages where you give us some information and our Book Chat team gives you a book recommendation. On October 16, head over to our Facebook or Instagram page and let us know a genre and your Zodiac sign. Then you'll get a book rec. It's that simple! Be sure to listen to this episode of the podcast to get some general recs as well.

Don't forget about the last event in our Fall Author Series - Daniel Kraus will be stopping at the Central Library on Wednesday, October 23, at 7 PM.

 

What We're Reading

• Jes
  • The Really Dead Wives of New Jersey, by Astrid Dahl
  • Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, by Elena Ferrante
  • The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio
• Sarah
  • City of Brass, by S.A. Chakraborty
  • The Black Bird Oracle, by Deborah Harkness

 

Picks of the Zodiac

• Aries
  • 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
  • Hell of a Book, by Jason Mott
• Taurus
  • The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker
  • The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben
  • The Cottage Around the Corner, by D.L. Soria
• Gemini
  • Open Throat, by Henry Hoke
  • The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth, by Zoë Schlanger
• Cancer
  • The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, by Balli Kaur Jaswal
  • What the Fireflies Knew, by Kai Harris
  • Black Candle Women, by Diane Merie Brown
• Leo
  • ​​​​​​​Maeve Fly, by CJ Leede
  • Perfume & Pain, by Anna Dorn
• Virgo
  • ​​​​​​​Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail, by Ashley Herring Blake
  • The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott
  • Election, by Tom Perotta
• Libra
  • ​​​​​​​Evenings and Weekends, by Oisín McKenna
  • Cleopatra & Frankenstein, by Coco Mellors
• Scorpio
  • ​​​​​​​The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff
  • When We Were Birds, by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo
  • Portrait of a Thief, by Grace D. Li
• Sagittarius
  • ​​​​​​​The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio
  • All I Want is You, by Falon Ballard
• Capricorn
  • ​​​​​​​The Violin Conspiracy, by Brendan Slocumb
  • Educated, by Tara Westover
  • For the Wolf, by Hannah Whitten
• Aquarius
  • ​​​​​​​Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, by Ananda Lima
  • That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, by Amanda Jones
• Pisces
  • ​​​​​​​Stay True, by Hua Hsu
  • The Dreamers, by Karen Thompson Walker
  • Peaces, by Helen Oyeyemi

Iowa native and upcoming Fall Author Series guest Austin Frerick joins the DMPL Podcast. Austin is the author of Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry.

Austin discusses how the genesis of this book started in a dive bar in Des Moines, the challenges he had as an academic writer writing for a general audience, and more.

Austin will be on Des Moines on Wednesday, September 25, at 7 PM at the Central Library as part of the 2024 Fall Author Series.

Listen to the podcast on YouTube

 

Show Notes

• Austin Frerick at the Fall Author Series
• Checkout Barons at the library
  •  The Always Available Audiobook

On the newest episode of Beyond the Shelves, Jes and Sarah find new versions of old classics they want to recommend for their listeners, including the best readalikes for books like The Great Gatsby, 1984, Moby Dick, and more.

Show Notes What They're Reading

• Jes
  • Story of a New Name, by Elena Ferrante
  • Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV, by Emily Nussbaum
  • We Used to Live Here, by Marcus Kliewer
• Sarah
  • A Fate Inked in Blood, by Danielle L. Jensen
  • Winter Lost, by Patricia Briggs

 

Classics, Reimagined CLASSIC TITLE UPDATED CLASSIC The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald Normal People, by Sally Rooney Lord of the Flies, by William Golding String Follow, by Simon Jacobs The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka Nightbitch, by Rachel Yoder Of Mice and Men, by Jon Steinbeck The Sweetness of Water, by Nathan Harris 1984, by George Orwell Chain Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger Martyr, by Kaveh Akbar To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens Walden, by Henry David Thoreau Upstream, by Mary Oliver David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

 

Book Bulletin

• Former president Barack Obama's Summer Reading List
• The It Ends With Us press tour controversy
• Authors sue Claude AI chatbot creator Anthropic for copyright
• The Pairing controversy

Fall Author Series author Shawntelle Madison joins us on the latest episode of the DMPL Podcast! Madison will be the first author in this year's Fall Author Series, visiting the Central Library on Thursday, September 5, at 7 PM at the Central Library. Her newest book, The Fallen Fruit, comes out on Tuesday, September 3.

Show Notes

• Fall Author Series: Shawntelle Madison
• Shawntelle Madison books at the library
  • The Fallen Fruit
  • Other books
• The Fallen Fruit review on Kirkus
• What Shawntelle's reading:
  • The Next Mrs. Parrish, by Liv Constantine
  • The Luminous Dead, by Caitlin Starling

On the newest episode of Beyond the Shelves, Jes and Sarah talk with Kathleen, a Central Library Librarian that works with The Library of Things and Tech Central. She talks about developing the Library of Things, what items are most popular, how they decide what to purchase, and more!

• Borrow items from the Library of Things
• Borrow Board Games
• Borrow Family Board Games

 

What Everyone's Reading

• Two Twisted Crowns, by Rachel Gillig
• The Wishing Game, by Meg Shaffer
• Icebreaker, by Hannah Grace
• Brat, by Gabriel Smith
• Bad Habit, by Alana Portero
• My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante
• The Wars of the Roses, by Dan Jones
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by S.A. Chakraborty
• Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino

 

In honor of Disability Pride Month, Jes and Sarah are discussing some of their favorite books that center characters with disabilities. They also discuss the history of Disability Pride Month and the importance of audiobooks.

You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube.

 

Disability Pride Month Picks:

• Get a Life, Chloe Brown, by Talia Hibbert
• Being Heumann, by Judith Huemann
• Golem Girl, by Riva Lehrer
• Seven Days in June, by Tia Williams
• All the Little Bird-Hearts, by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
• True Biz, by Sarah Nović

 

What Jes and Sarah are reading:

• All Fours, by Miranda July
• Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle
• The Wedding People, by Alison Espach
• Margo's Got Money Troubles, by Rufi Thorpe
• This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
• The Book That Broke the World, by Mark Lawrence
• Barons, by Austin Frerick

 

Book Bulletin

• The first draft of Rebecca Yarro's next book, Black Onyx, is complete
• Ransomware attack at Seattle Public Library - full service is "weeks or even months away"
• Hoopla has started providing content ratings on books and concerns on soft censorship
• Libro FM's 10 best selling audiobooks of all-time

  Audiobook Information

• 2016 Rogowsky study on Audiobooks
  • Summary
  • Full Study
• 2019 Neurological Study on Written vs Spoken Word
  • Summary
  • Full Study