Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our October reading challenge, Folklore, Fairytales, and Cryptids! We discuss the wide range of cultures and genres this topic overlaps. Russell gets very excited about every cryptid from Bigfoot to Nessie, the chupacabra to the hodag. The gang's all here!

Books we discuss include:

• “The Island of Forgotten Gods” by Victor Pineiro
• “Dear Mothman” by Robin Gow
• “Gilded” and “The Lunar Chronicles” series by Marissa Meyer
• “Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre” by Max Brooks
• “Monster” by Frank E.Peretti
• “Rougarou Magic” by Rachel M. Marsh
• “Empire of Wild” by Cherie Dimaline
• “Windigo Island” by William Kent Krueger
• “Cryptids, Creatures & Critters: A Manual of Monsters and Mythos” by Rachel Quinney
• “The Menagerie” series by Tui T. Sutherland, Kari H. Sutherland
• “Greenteeth” by Molly O’Neill
• “Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery” by Brom
• “Monster Hunter” series by Annelise Ryan
• “Impossible Creatures” series by Katherine Rundell
• “Four Treasures of the Sky” by Jenny Tinghui Zhang
• “Carmilla: The First Vampire” series by Amy Chu, Illustrated by Soo Lee
• “Big Pumpkin” by Erica Silverman

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Angela Longerbeam, Assistant Branch Manager at the Mount Hermon Branch Library in Pittsylvania County. We discuss cozy fall reading, experiencing other perspectives through novels in verse, and exploring our murder book era. Listen until the end for the library crime of the century!

Books we discuss include:

• “Bread and Jam for Frances” by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban
• “Shady Hollow” series by Juneau Black
• “Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” by Patrick Horvath
• “The Spellshop” series by Sarah Beth Durst
• “The Examiner”, “The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels” and everything by Janice Hallett
• “You Know Me Al” by Ring Lardner
• “Under the Dome” by Stephen King
• “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” by Grady Hendrix
• “The Only Purple House in Town” by Ann Aguirre
• “Before the Ever After” by Jacqueline Woodson
• “Good Different” by Meg Eden Kuyatt
• “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander
• “Long Way Down” by Jason Reynolds
• “Apple Crush” by Lucy Knisley
• “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
• “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad
• “Cujo” by Stephen King

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our September reading challenge, books set in a library! We discuss the wonders libraries can bring into your life and Russell’s library fever dreams.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Great Library” series by Rachel Caine
• “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin
• “The Secret, Book & Scone Society” by Ellery Adams
• “The Haunted Library Mysteries” series by Allison Brook
• “The Library at the Edge of the World” by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
• “The Library at Mount Char” by Scott Hawkins
• “The Woman in the Library” by Sulari Gentill
• “The Invisible Library” by Genevieve Cogman
• “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig
• “The Library of Ever” by Zeno Alexander
• “The Legend of the Last Library” by Frank L. Cole
• “Mr. Limoncello’s Library” series by Chris Grabenstein
• “The Library” by Sarah Stewart, illustrated by David Small
• “A Library” by Nikki Giovanni
• “How Can I Help You” by Laura Sims
• “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean