Quick Picks

Tana saves the day with her vast knowledge of all the Oscar nominations for Best Motion Picture and shares her predictions and favorites.

Discussed:

American Fiction

Anatomy of a Fall

Barbie

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

Zone of Interest

The surest way to give books free publicity and promotion is to point fingers at them and attempt to ban them. Often those books are so valuable, enlightening, and great for forging connections, that depriving certain people of the ability to experience them is a hot topic. Nick Rodriguez, our Teen Librarian, is starting a Banned Book Club at our local high school and he joins me to talk about potential titles for this program and the importance of fighting censorship.

Discussed:

Maus, by Art Spiegelman

Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank

1984, by George Orwell

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo

Flamer, by Mike Curato

Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe

Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker

Alice Isn't Dead, by Joseph Fink

Video game: Outer Wilds

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Crank, by Ellen Hopkins

Every episode of Quick Picks is essentially a list of stuff we recommend, but the list of our favorite books at the end of the year is the episode Tana and I look forward to the most. Below are the books we discussed and a list of the books others at the library thought were the best.

Discussed:

Calling for a Blanket Dance, by Oscar Hokeah

Horse, by Geraldine Brooks

All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby

The Queen of Dirt Island, by Donal Ryan

Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano

Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane

The Running Grave, by Robert Galbraith

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

The Fox Wife, by Yangsze Choo

The River We Remember, by William Kent Krueger

House with Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher

I Have Some Questions for You, by Rebecca Makkai

Lone Women, by Victor Lavalle

Delicious Monsters, by Liselle Sambury

The Starling House, by Alix E. Harrow

We Meant Well, by Erum Shazia Hasan

The Celebrants, by Stephen Rowley

The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman

Vampires of El Norte, by Isabel Cañas

September House, by Carissa Orlando

Twyford Code, by Janice Hallett

Highway of Tears, by Jessica McDiarmid

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, by Michiko Aoyama (Alison Watts (Translator)

Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride

Bea Wolf, by Zach Weinersmith

Other recommendations:

The Change, by Kristen Miller

Blood and Ash series, by Jennifer Armentrout

Red, White, and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston

Rhapsodic, by Laura Thalassa

Children of Chicago, by Cynthia Pelayo

Once Upon a Broken Heart series, by Stephanie Garber

If He Had Been with Me, by Laura Nowlin

Before We Were Strangers, by Renee Carlino

Sword Catcher, by Cassandra Clare

Small-Town Crafter series, by Tom Watts

Battle Mage Farmer series, by Seth Ring

Not all holiday movies need to be squeaky clean kids' stuff. There's a lot out there for adults as well and Nick Rodriguez joins me to discuss some of our favorite off-beat holiday favorites.

Discussed:

Elf

Nightmare Before Christmas

Christmas Story

Bad Santa

Krampus

Black Christmas

The Ref

Home Alone

Bad Moms Christmas

A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas

Christmas With the Kranks

Love Actually

Stepmom

The Holiday

Muppets Christmas Carol

Spirited

Klaus

Jingle Jangle

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Frosty the Snowman

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1965)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Charlie Brown Christmas

It's a SpongeBob Christmas

Ed, Edd 'n Eddy's Jingle Jingle Jangle

Wish For Wings That Work

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Star Wars Holiday Special

Despite the strikes in the entertainment industry, there are still a lot of great shows to watch on TV this fall, and Tana has joined me to talk about some of our favorites that might become yours as well.

Discussed:

After Party

Shrinking

Lincoln Lawyer

The Diplomat

Loki

Successor

Righteous Gemstones

Discovery of Witches

Only Murders in the Building

Three Pines

Jack Ryan

Reacher

Good Omens

All the Light We Cannot See

Black Cake

Lessons in Chemistry

Joe Pickett

1923

My Pack Life

Underground Railroad

24 Hours in A&E

Ozark

Daisy Jones & the Six

Strike

And these are the earrings I was wearing that Tana talked about: Chevron Lane

Tana and I have some spooky, creepy, gory, and frightening books for this spooky season for you, almost all of them new releases.

The Vampires of El Norte, by Isabel Cañas

The Hacienda, by Isabel Cañas

Murder Road, by Simone St. James

Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, by Grady Hendrix

How to Sell a Haunted House, by Grady Hendrix

Spite House, by Johnny Compton

My Heart is a Chainsaw, by Stephen Graham Jones

Don't Fear the Reaper, by Stephen Graham Jones

Crossroads, by Laurel Hightower

Arnold's Letter, by Michael Van Der Voort

All Hallows, by Christopher Golden

Downpour, by Christopher Hawkins

Delicious Monsters, by Nichelle Samburg

Nightmare Man, by J. H. Markert

Nestlings, by Nat Cassidy

Let Him In, by William Friend

Winter People, by Jennifer McMahon

Ghost 19, Simone St. James

Loss and dealing with it is a life lesson we learn early on, and it can come up in so many different ways, with us all dealing with it in different ways. Michelle joins me today to talk about some books that were meaningful to us and imparted empathy for characters going through losing someone they love. These are not just books that address grief. There are so many stories and so many characters, they just each have a burden of loss they carry with them.

Discussed (Tissue rating, out of 5):

Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt (3 tissues)

Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston (3 tissues)

The Guncle, by Stephen Rowley (5 tissues)

The Celebrants, by Stephen Rowley

Before I Let Go, by Kennedy Ryan (4 tissues)

Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (5 tissues)

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, by Fredrik Backman

Beartown, by Fredrik Backman

Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanne Raybourn (2 tissues)

The Half Moon, by Mary Beth Keane (2 tissues)

Amazing Grace Adams, by Fran Littlewood

Go As a River, by Shelley Read

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer

Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Other recommendations from Michelle:

The Supremes at Early's All-You-Can-Eat, by Edward Kelsey Moore

The Secret to Hummingbird Cake, by Celeste Fletcher McHale

The Accidental Text, by Becky Monson

The Ways We Hide, by Kristina McMorris

Surviving Savannah, by Patti Callahan

The Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, by Marianne Cronin

P.S. I Love You, by Cecilia Ahern

Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, by Balli Kaur Jaswal

The Unsinkable Greta James, by Jennifer E. Smith

A Year on Ladybug Farm, by Donna Ball

Under the Southern Sky, by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Smells Like Tween Spirit, by Laurie Gelman

One True Loves, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, by Phaedra Patrick

Thank You For Listening, by Julia Whalen

Truths I Never Told You, by Kelly Rimmer

House of Eve, by Sadeua Johnson

Under the Magnolias, by T.I. Lowe

A Wish for Winter, by Viola Shipman

The Secret of Snow, by Viola Shipman

Tana is back and we share our favorites from this summer

Books:

Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano

The Bookbinder, by Pip Williams

The Celebrants, by Steven Rowley

Queen Hereafter, by Isobel Schuler

Monstrilio, by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

The Anomaly, by Hervé Le Tellier

TV:

The Lincoln Lawyer

Movies:

Oppenheimer

Mission Impossible

Summer reads are a favorite theme of mine and I am always looking for fun books that fall into this category, so I'm sharing my recommendations with you with the hopes that you might also find some good ones.

Literary Fiction:

Keeper of Lost Things, by Ruth Hogan

Return to Valleto, by Dominic Smith

The Librarianist, by Patrick deWitt

The Guncle, by Steven Rowley

Cozies:

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules, Catherine Ingelman-Sundberg

Carlene O'Connor books: Irish Village Mysteries, County Kerry Mysteries, and Home to Ireland Mysteries

Richard Osman books: Thursday Murder Club series

Alan Bradley books: Flavia de Luce series

Rom-Coms:

Beth O'Leary books: The Flatshare, The No-Show, The Road Trip, and The Switch

Sophie Kinsella books: Shopaholic series, Remember Me, and I've Got Your Number

Lily Bennett's Bucket List, by Katherine Dyson

Steamy Romance:

Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang

Darynda Jones books: Charley Davidson series, Betwixt & Between series, and Sunshine Vicram series.

Chick Lit:

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, by J. Ryan Stradal

Mary Alice Monroe books: Beach House series

Sandra Dallas books

Liane Moriarty books: What Alice Forgot, Truly Madly Guilty, Apples Never Fall and Big Little Lies

Dude Lit:

Reed Farrel Coleman books: Gus Murphy series

Last Flight of Poxl West, by Daniel Torday

IQ series, by Joe Ide

Harry Dresden series, by Jim Butcher

Alex McKnight series, by Steve Hamilton

SF/Fantasy:

Ink Blood Sister Scribe, by Emma Törzs

The Binding, by Bridget Collins

Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The Measure, by Nikki Erlick

House In the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett

Books about Greek myths: Circe, by Madeline Miller; Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller; Clytemnestra, by Costanza Casati; Psyche & Eros, by Luna McNamara; Atalanta, by Jennifer Saint; House of Names, by Colm Toibin

Mystery/Thrillers:

The Hawthorne and Horowitz Investigate series, by Anthony Horowitz

All the Sinners Bleed, by SA Cosby

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson

On a Quiet Street, by Seraphina Nova Glass

Harlan Coben books

Sally Hepworth books

Peter Swanson books

Jane Harper books

Nonfiction:

Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery

Things My Son Needs to Know About the World, by Fredrik Backman

Memoirs: As You Wish, by Cary Elwis; Bossypants, by Tina Fey, Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh; Solutions and Other Problems, by Allie Brosh; anything by David Sedaris

A Walk In the Woods, by Bill Bryson

Mary Roach books: Stiff, Gulp, and Grunt

Nick joins us again this time to talk about the three most recent books he's discussed with his book club from March to May, and a sneak preview of upcoming books to be read and discussed over the summer.

Discussed:

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, by Akwaeke Emez

The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner

Once There Were Wolves, by Charlotte McConaghy

Upcoming:

Pineapple Street, by Jenny Jackson

The Half Moon, by Mary Beth Keane

Pieces of Blue, by Holly Goldbert Sloan