Episode 501: Spooky Reads

Welcome to our first episode of Reading With Libraries Season Five! We are so happy to be back, and it’s great to have you continue to enjoy our book group podcast!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we support libraries of all types: schools, publics, academics, and special libraries and archives. We started this podcast to provide useful information for library people doing Reader’s Advisory work. There are so many books out there that it’s tough to be an expert on all of them. So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar genre!

This week we’re discussing a topic we covered in our very first season of Reading With Libraries: Horror! Go back and listen to Episode 103 to catch up on all the good books we suggested.

It seems like this genre has gotten more popular recently and we’re excited to discuss it again, this time with the help of a returning guest host! Welcome back to Kelly Kraemer from the St. Ben’s/St. John’s Libraries!

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages, and we each came prepared with our own drink to enjoy while we talk about our books. Today we’ll be drinking some spooky beverages to set the mood for our horror genre:

Blood Orange Moon Rising

Vampire’s Weakness Cocktail

Mad Scientist Punch

  • 2 cans (12 ounces each) frozen pineapple-orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 envelope unsweetened orange Kool-Aid mix
  • 2 liters lemon-lime soda, chilled
  • 1 pint orange sherbet, softened
  • In a punch bowl, combine the juice concentrate, water and Kool-Aid mix; stir in soda. Top with scoops of sherbet. Serve immediately.
  • https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mad-scientist-punch/

Genre Discussion:

From Wikipedia: Horror is a genre of speculative fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon defined the horror story as “a piece of fiction in prose of variable length… which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing”.[1] It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror is frequently supernatural, though it might be also non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society.

The website Get Literary has this article about why you should try reading horror books even if it scares you and they make some good points! 

“The biggest misconception is that all horror is scary and designed to make you feel unsettled or to leave you wide awake at night, fearing every creak and groan and flickering light. In fact, horror is as broad a genre as any other.”

 “The most important thing that I take away from reading horror is that everything is surmountable and survivable. Sure, there are plenty of horror stories where the protagonists die, but there are just as many, if not more, where they make it through. Life is hard, no one is going to tell you otherwise, but horror doesn’t present escapism that comes easy. It asks you to follow the emotional and physical journeys of characters, often to feel what they are going through, or otherwise to stand juxtaposed to the horrible things they are doing or seeing. By the end, it can feel like you have been to hell and back, which might not be “fun,” but is still fulfilling, enriching, and thought-provoking.”

Suggested Reading Resources:

Our Book Discussion:

We have our beverages, we are familiar with this week’s genre, let’s get to the book discussion!

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for joining us for our very first episode of Reading With Libraries Season Five!

We hope our genre of Horror didn’t scare you away, and that you are just as excited as we are for the upcoming season! 

And a special thanks to Guest Host Kelly for being willing to come chat with us and share recommendations!

Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries – which is always interesting! – subscribe to our podcast Linking Our Libraries.

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!