Episode 607: Libraries and Librarians - Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange

Hi everyone! Welcome back to your book group podcast, Reading With Libraries! We are here to talk about books, to enjoy some beverages, and to have this time together. Thanks for joining us!

It’s hard to be an expert on ALL of the great books out there! So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar area for you!

This week we are enjoying a much-loved genre in our office: Libraries and Librarians!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we are here to support all of our 300 member libraries. They all like books, we like to share books with our patrons, and we know you like books too. So let’s jump in here and discuss some books in today’s genre!

Who is with us today?

And our Returning Podcast Correspondent is Ariel! She works at the Great River Regional Library System. Welcome back to the book group!

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. You are an important part of this book group, so if you don’t have a beverage go ahead and get one now. Each of our beverages will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself!

This week’s beverages are from thedrinksbusiness.com website, and there are a lot of other fun drinks there so go check it out. They are all related to books you might enjoy, or that you can find in a library.

The Lime of the Ancient Mariner

From: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Next time you are marooned on an island, resist the temptation to call out, “Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!” First of all, the other survivors don’t need a clever quote, they need cocktails and a grief counselor. Second, you’ll probably end up dying of dehydration, so your final worlds ought to be accurate. The actual phrase – “water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink!” – is from an epic poem about bad weather, angry oceans and pissed off dead birds who aren’t afraid to haunt a hull. (Moral of the story: leave God’s creatures alone, skipper.) Celebrate your land legs with this limey twist on a salty classic – and seriously consider staying back on the beach.

Sea salt, for highball rim

2 ounces lime juice

2 ounces grapefruit juice

1 1/2 ounces gin

Rim a chilled highball glass in sea salt. Fill the glass with ice, pour in the ingredients, and give a good stir. When you’re sobred up, matey, head back to the lookout deck – and watch out for low-flying birds.

The Adventures of Sherbert Holmes

From: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891 – 92) – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Pro-tip: “Elementary, my dear Watson” was never exactly spoken by Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle’s beloved sleuth appeared on the big screen saying that phrase, but not on the page; he was too busy being the only detective who could crack a case from the comfort of his arm chair. We take a tip from a lesser-known story that appeared alongside twelve others in a blazingly popular magazine series: raise a glass to “The Blue Carbuncle.” a Holmes whodunnit involving a goose with a very expensive gem lodged very inconveniently in its neck. After you trade jewels for berries, the only remaining mystery will be why you’ve never made this party pleaser before.

(Makes 10 drinks)

1 quart sherbet

1 bottle (about 3 cups) Champagne, chilled

1 litre ginger ale

1/2 cup fresh blueberries, washed, for garnish

Empty the sherbet into a punch bowl and pour the Champagne and ginger ale on top. Float the blueberries and serve. Don’t leave the room for long – you’ll return to a fast-empty bowl and a classic whodrunkit.

Brave New Swirled

From: Brand New World (1932) – Aldous Huxley

Imagine a world dominated by antidepressants and governmental control over reproductive rights. (Oh wait). Written in the thirties, Brave new World could’ve been copy and pasted from today’s headlines. Huxley penned a dystopian world in which embryos are preprogrammed for certain behaviours and needs, and technology is so revered that “oh my Ford” is a commonplace utterance. While Huxley was an outspoken fan of psychedelic drugs, you can legally freeze your own brain with a swirly smoothie featuring a surprising aphrodisiac: watermelon. Hey, what you drink (and who you drink it with) ain’t nobody’s business but your own.

1 ounce vodka

1 cup seedless watermelon, chopped into course cubes

1/4 ounce lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 ounce melon liqueur

Add the vodka, watermelon, lemon juice, sugar and a handful of ice to a blender, running until smooth. Pour into a cocktail glass and float the liquer on top. No matter your political leanings, one gulp of this and you’ll be more than brave enough to fight The Man.

Genre Discussion:

It’s not a secret: we love these books. We have posted many of them on our Goodreads pages, we have recommended them in prior podcasts, and shared them in articles on our website. Libraries and librarians are pretty much our entire professional purpose, so we do love reading books about these topics.

And it does seem like a lot of authors also like libraries because there are a lot of good books in this area! For sure, if you enjoy reading cozy mysteries you will find so many good books here. But it doesn’t matter what kind of genre you enjoy, or that you patrons want, there will be a book set in a library.

Here are a few additional resources for you, to help you find the best books for yourself or for your patrons:

Book Discussion

Now we are a little more familiar with this week’s genre, and we have enjoyed some of our special beverages, let’s get to the book discussion!

We will give you a list of all the books we share today. You can click on any of these links to go to Amazon.com for more information. If you buy anything while you are there, Amazon will give us a small percent of their profits from your purchase. Thanks in advance for helping to support the mission of CMLE – we appreciate it!

Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies

Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

Murder Past Due, Miranda James

Check Me Out, by Becca Wilhite

The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern

Dewey the Library Cat, by Vicki Myron

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein

Deal with the Devil: A Mercenary Librarians Novel, by Kit Rocha

The Accidental Keyhand (The Ninja Librarians #1) by Jen Swann Downey

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for joining us on Reading With Libraries! A special thanks to our Guest Host Ariel! And thank you for listening; you know it’s always a better book group when you are here with us.

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 or expand your library skills, check out our podcast Linking Our Libraries!

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and we will join you back here on Thursday!