Category Archives: Books

CMLE Reads Across MN: War for the Oaks

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, but it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

There are all kinds of fun stories happening across Minnesota. If you have had any dreams of an exciting rock and roll life – one that involves fairies and other exciting aspects – this could be the book for you!

“Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But her boyfriend just dumped her, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse. Then, walking home through downtown Minneapolis on a dark night, she finds herself drafted into an invisible war between the faerie folk. Now, more than her own survival is at risk—and her own preferences, musical and personal, are very much beside the point. By turns tough and lyrical, fabulous and down-to-earth, War for the Oaks is a fantasy novel that’s as much about this world as about the other one. It’s about real love and loyalty, about real music and musicians, about false glamour and true art. It will change the way you hear and see your own daily life.”

Episode 104: Thriller

Palace Thriller

Want to listen to an episode?

  • You can download an app, search for “Books and Beverages Podcast from CMLE” hit subscribe, and all episodes will appear on your phone – it’s so easy!
    • Apps we like include Pocket Casts, iTunes, and Stitcher.
    • Download any of these, search for “Books and Beverages Podcast” and hit Subscribe.
    • If it is not readily available, just enter this RSS feed: http://booksandbeverages.blubrry.net/feed/podcast/.
  • Or, you can stream an episode right now on your computer by going to our streaming page, by clicking here.

Check out our full information page for all the beverage pictures and recipes, as well as all the authors and books!

Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to Books and Beverages! This week we are discussing Thrillers!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we support all types of libraries. This is our book group podcast, where we discuss different genres of books each week, while we all sit in our comfy chairs and drink our beverages. And you are, of course, an important part of this book group. So if you do not already have a nice beverage please go get one, so you can join the experience.

There are no “right” or “wrong” books to read and chat about for our book group – we are just here to explore all kinds of books. We love books, and want to talk about them – and we want you to share what you are reading. All of us will take away at least a title or two that we want to read at the end of our time together!

Who is joining our reading group this week? This week our guest host is Kelly Groth from St Cloud Public Library.

Genre Suggestions

This is another very broad category of potential reading material – so you have a ton of books to consider here. Yes, your reading lists can be filled for years just trying to sample it all! Here are a few different kinds of books that could be considered thrillers:

  • Mystery
  • Legal thriller
  • Medical thriller
  • Political thriller
  • Spy fiction
  • Psychological thriller
  • Techno-thriller

This is a genre that gets made into all kinds of popular movies or TV shows; so if you like pop culture material, and cross-format content – this is a good place to start! And this genre really overlaps well with many other genres, including horror (check back to our episode 103 from last week).

There are a lot of authors who are very popular in the thriller genre. If you want to explore, you can start with some of these bestselling authors, and see if you like their different series!

Some Reading Resources

 

Join CMLE’s online book groups in November!

We’ve got some great book picks for you this month in our groups on Goodreads, and hope you read along with us!

For our group CMLE Librarian Professionals, we will be reading Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy.

“Brilliantly researched, impassioned, and accessible, Presence is filled with stories of individuals who learned how to flourish during the stressful moments that once terrified them. Every reader will learn how to approach their biggest challenges with confidence instead of dread, and to leave them with satisfaction instead of regret.”

 

For our group CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books, we will be investigation the creepy myth of Vlad to Impaler by reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

 “What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed—and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe.”

Join us in learning and enjoying books! 🙂

Episode 103: Horror

 

READY TO WIN?

 

We will picking a random commenter to win the scariest  puppet we’ve ever seen! Her name-tag says she’s Sven’s Grandma, but clearly in some terrifying dimension! It will be perfect for some puppet fan, or for a collection of puppets in a library. (A scary library!)

This week we are sitting in a pretty dimly lit room room, with monsters covering our walls, orange lights, and jack lanterns all over the place. We are ready to enjoy some good thrills and chills – so we are glad you are here with us. If you feel someone grab your hand, that’s probably just us being scared. Probably.

Check out our full information page here, with links to all our books, podcasts, and creepypasta discussed – along with pictures and recipes for this episode’s beverages!

You can find all kinds of horror stories out there. Some of them are on the front pages of newspapers, but we want to talk about the fictional kind of horror this week. True crime has been a popular genre (Helter Skelter is a good one; Stranger Beside Me started Ann Rule’s career) – scary, but too scary to discuss today

These books are the ones that you might not be able to stop reading at bedtime – but you spend the rest of the night hearing every weird knock and rattle. Was that an eerie footstep? Tell yourself it probably wasn’t, and let’s talk about scary books!

One thing I find about horror books, as I review my favorites, is that they are really dependent on the situation I’m in while I’m reading them. Some books seemed extra scary because I was in the right place, or situation, or frame of mind. So not everything we discuss here is strictly “horror” books – but as with all of our genres and chats, it’s what you think it is. So if a book was scary to you, or has the potential to be scary: that’s horror.

There can be horror elements to all kinds of books, including mystery, literary fiction, and Western.

Want to listen to an episode?

  • You can download an app, search for “Books and Beverages Podcast from CMLE” hit subscribe, and all episodes will appear on your phone – it’s so easy!
    • Apps we like include Pocket Casts, iTunes, and Stitcher.
    • Download any of these, search for “Books and Beverages Podcast” and hit Subscribe.
    • If it is not readily available, just enter this RSS feed: http://booksandbeverages.blubrry.net/feed/podcast/.
  • Or, you can stream an episode right now on your computer by going to our streaming page, by clicking here.

CMLE Reads Across MN: Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, but it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota! (This book is set in fictional Mayville Heights, Minnesota, a small town on the Mississippi River. I have arbitrarily decided to set our pin in the town of Little Falls, MN as a placeholder.)

This is a fun series, if you like cozy mysteries about librarians! (And really – can you imagine a more fun topic??) Throwing in the magic cats is just a bonus. I read this when I moved to St. Cloud – and I am still waiting for my magic cats. In the meantime, I can keep reading through this entire

“When librarian Kathleen Paulson moved to Mayville Heights, Minnesota, she had no idea that two strays would nuzzle their way into her life. Owen is a tabby with a catnip addiction and Hercules is a stocky tuxedo cat who shares Kathleen’s fondness for Barry Manilow. But beyond all the fur and purrs, there’s something more to these kitties.

When murder interrupts Mayville’s Wild Rose Summer Music Festival, Kathleen finds herself the prime suspect. More stunning is her realization that Owen and Hercules are truly special—perhaps even magical. Now, with a little legwork from her four-legged friends, Kathleen may be able to solve this purr-fect murder..”