Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our first two-time guest, Chrislyn Gardner, about our favorite winter holiday reads past and present.

Books we discuss include:

• “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
• “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Robert L. May
• “The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition” by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell
• “The Christmas Tree That Grew” by Phyllis Krasilovsky, Kathy Wilburn
• “The Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree” by Amye Rosenberg
• “Turkey Claus” by Wendi Silvano
• “Night Tree” by Eve Bunting
• “Letters from Father Christmas” by J.R.R. Tolkien, Baillie Tolkien
• “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn Buehner
• “The Christmas Day Kitten” by James Herriot
• “The Christmas Pig” by J.K. Rowling
• “Bulldozer’s Christmas Dig” by Candace Fleming
• “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” by Barbara Robinson
• “Home Alone: the Classic Illustrated Storybook” by Jason Rekulak
• “A Die Hard Christmas: The Illustrated Holiday Classic” by Doogie Horner
• “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
• “Cathedral Mouse” by Kay Chorao
• Bonus Song: “Wilbur the Christmas Mouse” by Ralph Emery

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our December challenge, award winning books, and learn a lot about the fortitude of the human spirit.

Books we discuss include:

• “James” by Percival Everett (National Book Award for Fiction 2024)
• “Notes on an Execution” by Danya Kukafka (Edgar Award for Best Novel 2023)
• “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand (Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography 2010)
• “Seabiscuit: An American Legend” by Laura Hillenbrand (William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2021)
• “North Woods” by Daniel Mason (The Rachel Timm Pulitzer Prize Award 2024)
• “Night Watch” by Jayne Anne Phillips (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2024)
• “Yonder” by Ali Standish (Kirkus Best Book of the Year 2023)
• “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey (The Booker Prize 2024)
• “Forrest Gump” by Winston Groom (New York Times Top Best Seller 1994)
• “Gump and Co.” by Winston Groom (The Rachael Miller Award for Best Book No One Has Heard Of)

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with Charles Perkins, known to us as “Jerry Beardman”. Listen to find out why.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Ministry of Time” by Kaliane Bradley
• “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells
• “Where The Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein
• “The Hardy Boys” series by Franklin W. Dixon
• “Encyclopedia Brown” series by Donald J. Sobol
• “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
• “Where Wolves Don’t Die” by Anton Treuer
• “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen
• “Holes” by Louis Sachar
• “Shutter” by Ramona Emerson
• “‘Til Death” by Jason Anspach
• “The Empyrean” series by Rebecca Yarros
• “Red Rising Saga” series by Pierce Brown
• “The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife” by Anna Johnston
• “Arlo Finch” series by John August
• “The Book of Doors” by Gareth Brown
• “The Only One Left”, “Home Before Dark”, “The House Across the Lake” by Riley Sager
• “The Ruinous Love Trilogy” series by Brynne Weaver
• “Twelve Angry Men” by Reginald Rose
• “A Christmas Story” by Philip Grecian, a play based on the 1983 motion picture
• “Claus: Legend of the Fat Man” by Tony Bertauski (Russell is once again asking you to please read this book.)

Books and Beans meets the second Saturday of each month, 9 AM at Links Coffee House Cafe.
Books and Brews meets the 3rd Wednesday in November and December (usually the last Wednesday of the month), 5:30 PM at Ballad Brewing.
Let’s Make a Scene - Reader’s Theatre Series meets Monday, December 9 from 5 PM to 7 PM to read “A Christmas Story” by Philip Grecian.

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our November challenge, books written by an Indigenous author.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Sentence” by Louise Erdrich
• “Where Wolves Don’t Die” by Anton Treuer
• “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
• “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fightfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie
• “Heart berries : a memoir” by Terese Marie Mailhot
• “Crazy brave : a memoir” by Joy Harjo
• “Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band” by Christian Staebler, Sonia Paoloni, Thibault Balahy (Illustrator)
• “The Firekeeper’s Daughter” by Angeline Boulley
• “Black Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse
• “The Only Good Indians” by Stephen Graham Jones

Colleen Barnes, DPS coordinator for ELA and Media Specialists, joins Russell and the Rach(a)els to discuss her favorite books, DPS reading challenges, and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Books we discuss include:

• Books of Essays, especially:
  • “The Best of Me” by David Sedaris
  • “Wow, No Thank You” by Samantha Irby
  • “Here For It: Or, How To Save Your Soul in America” by Eric Thomas
• “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
• “Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions” by Daniel Wallace
• “The Iowa Baseball Confederacy” by W.P. Kinsella
• “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• “Colton Gentry’s Third Act” by Jeff Zentner
• “Monster Hunter Mystery” series by Annelise Ryan
• ANYTHING by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume
• “Bud, Not Buddy” by Christopher Paul Curtis
• “Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• “Small Spaces” by Katherine Arden

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our October challenge, books with a supernatural (or spooky) element.

Books we discuss include:

• “My Darling Dreadful Thing” by Johanna van Veen
• “‘Til Death” by Jason Anspach
• “Parade: A Collection of Delightfully Odd Stories” by V.R. Christensen
• “Mile 81” in “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams” by Stephen King
• “Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales” edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent
• “Rougarou Magic” by Rachel M. Marsh
• “The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society” by C.M. Waggoner
• “Through the Woods” by Emily Carroll
• “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman
• “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman
• “The Haunted Mask: A Goosebumps Graphic Novel” by R.L. Stine, illustrated by Maddi Gonzalez
• “Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz, illustrated by Stephen Gammell
• “Under the Dome” by Stephen King

Amanda Paez, assistant to the city manager, and wearer of many hats, talks about her library crimes.

*CORRECTION: A note from Rachael -
Our Classics book club meets on Monday, September 30 at 5:30 PM to discuss “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. Call 434-799-5195 to register! We hope you join us.

Books we discuss include:
“I Want a Pet - A School Zone Start To Read Book”
“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie*
“Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone” by Benjamin Stevenson
“Throne of Glass” series by Sarah J. Maas
“Monster Hunter Mystery” series by Annelise Ryan
“The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” by Ian Fleming
“IT” by Stephen King
“Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls
“Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens
“Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lindgren
“Jaws” by Peter Benchley
“Jurassic Park” by Michael Crichton
“The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
“Winnie-the-Pooh” series by A.A. Milne

Russell and the Rach(a)els explore works by authors with Hispanic heritages.

Book we discuss include:

• “The Bullet Swallower” by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
• “Family Lore” by Elizabeth Acevedo
• “Fruit of the Drunken Tree” by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• “My Favorite Thing Is Monsters” by Emil Ferris
• “River Woman, River Demon” by Jennifer Givhan
• “Mexican Gothic” and “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• “Just for the Summer” by Abby Jimenez
• “Solito” by Javier Zamora
• “Hippie” and “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho