Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our December reading challenge, books with a holiday theme, which it turns out cover a wide range of topics and genres. We discuss the magic of Santa, turkeys, and the 80s.

Books we discuss include:

• “Turkey Claus” by Wendy Silvano, illustrated by Lee Harper
• “Santa Jaws” by Bridget Heos, illustrated by Galia Bernstein
• “The Christmas Guest” by Peter Swanson
• “Secret Santa” by Andrew Shaffer
•  “Silent Night: Fear Street Super Chillers” by R.L. Stine
• “Spirit of Steamboat” by Craig Johnson
• “Christmas in Absaroka County” by Craig Johnson
• “Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker” by Gregory Maguire
• “The Christmas Appeal” by Janice Hallett
• “American Christmas Stories” edited by Connie Willis, featuring stories by Mark Twain, John Updike, Langston Hughes, Ray Bradbury and more
• “Claus: Legend of the Fat Man” by Tony Bertauski
• “The Immortal Nicholas” by Glenn Beck
• “A Boy Called Christmas” by Matt Haig
• “Nicholas - The Legend Begins” by Joe Dodridge
• “Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays” by Leigh Eric Schmidt
• “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
• “Make My Wish Come True” by Rachael Lippincott
• “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Bill Guerrant, local goatherd, Vice President of Pittsylvania Historical Society, and author of four books including “Jim Wrenn” and “Let a Pillar Arise”. We discuss reading in all its many varieties, including newspapers and the dictionary and the importance of keeping historical research alive.

Books we discuss include:

• “A Primer for Star Gazers” by Henry M. Neely
• The Dictionary
• “Nine Who Survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki” by Robert Trumbull
• “Baudolino” by Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver
• “Looking for Class” by Bruce Feiler
• “Days of Defiance: Sumter, Secession, and the Coming of the Civil War” by Maury Klein

View Bill Guerrant's works:

• A Daily Dose of History
• A Daily Dose of the American Rev
• Novels by William Guerrant on Amazon
• Novels by William Guerrant at the library

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our November reading challenge, books about a historic event. We discuss the wide range of topics, genres and time periods this challenge encompasses and what history can teach us about the time we are living in now.

Books we discuss include:

• “War Games” by Alan Gratz
• “Grenade” by Alan Gratz
• **Fact check: The character in this book lives on the island of Okinawa.
• “By Any Other Name” by Jodi Picoult
• “The House Is on Fire” by Rachel Beanland
• “Yonder” by Ali Standish
• “The Dictionary of Lost Words” by Pip Williams
• “The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson
• “Future Boy” by Michael J. Fox
• “The Hacienda” by Isabel Cañas
• “Stalking Jack the Ripper” by Kerri Maniscalco
• “Woods Runner” by Gary Paulsen
• “They Called Us Enemy” by George Takei
• “Wicked Danville” by Frankie Y. Bailey and Alice Green

Get hype! It’s the BRO SHOW! (air horn sounds)
Russell, and also the Rach(a)els, chat with returning guests Scott Longerbeam and Charles Perkins about life, the universe, and every reading rabbit we could possibly chase. 

Books we discuss include:

• “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
• “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
• “American Rapture” by C.J. Leede
• “The Priory of the Orange Tree” by Samantha Shannon
• “Death Without Company” by Craig Johnson
• “The Witcher” series by Andrzej Sapkowski
• “The Book Eaters” by Sunyi Dean
• “The Passage” by Justin Cronin
• “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston
• “Jim Wrenn” by William Guerrant
• “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London

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

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with special guest and local bookfluencer Jasmine Sutton of @JazzysReadingCorner on Tiktok and Instagram. We discuss the wonders of the online reading community, #Booktok drama, and Russell admits to more crimes! 

Books we discuss include:

• “The BFG” by Roald Dahl
• “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
• “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
• “One Day” by David Nicholls
• “1984” by George Orwell
• “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “Beartown” by Fredrik Backman
• “From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home” by Tembi Locke

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our August reading challenge, True Crime novels. We discuss ethical aspects of consuming true crime, what fascinates people about crime, and the wide variety of stories in this genre.

Books we discuss include:

• “Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail” by Andrea Lankford
• “Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West” by Tom Clavin
• “Famous Sheriffs and Western Outlaws: Incredible True Stories of Wild West Showdowns and Frontier Justice” by William MacLeod Raine
• “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk Wallace Johnson
• “Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks” by Patrick Radden Keefe
• “Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion” by Tori Telfer
• “The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper” by Hallie Rubenhold
• “The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France” by Eric Jager
• “Crimes of the Centuries: The Cases That Changed Us” by Amber Hunt
• “Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder” by Rachel McCarthy James
• “The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird” by Joshua Hammer
• “American Cult” edited by Robyn Chapman
• “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” by David Grann
• “A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton” by Deb Miller Landau

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Josh Lineberry, on-air personality for WBTM/WAKG, dubbed by Russell “The Voice of Danville”. We discuss the power of telling your own story, the wonders of audiobooks, and how to foster a love of reading in the next generation.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Indian in the Cupboard” series by Lynne Reid Banks
• “Encyclopedia Brown” series by Donald J. Sobol
• “My Next Breath” by Jeremy Renner
• “Tooth and Claw” by Craig Johnson
• “Dungeon Crawler Carl” series by Matt Dinniman
• “Under the Dome” by Stephen King
• “Jericho Quinn” series by Marc Cameron
• “Ready Player One” series by Ernest Cline
• “Goosebumps” series by R.L. Stine
• “Ranger’s Apprentice” series by John Flanagan
• “Dogman” series by Dav Pilkey
• “Room on the Broom” by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our July reading challenge, a book that takes place in another world. We discuss how we define ‘another world’, our love of all things cozy, and Russell’s many animal adventures. 

Books we discuss include:

• “The Lord of the Rings” series by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “The Spider Chronicles” series by Tony DiTerlizzi
• “Lightraider Academy” series by James R. Hannibal 
• “A Wizard of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin
• “The Mistborn Saga” series by Brandon Sanderson
• “The Wheel of Time” series by Robert Jordan
• “Tress of the Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson
• “The Wingfeather Saga” series by Andrew Peterson 
• “The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst
• “The Tea Dragon Society” by Kay O’Neill
• “The Well” by Jake Wyatt
• “The Infinity Particle” by Wendy Xu
• “Wilderlore” series by Amanda Foody 
• “Januaries: Stories of Love, Magic, & Betrayal” by Olivie Blake

Danville Public Library's Youth Services Department, Chrislyn Gardner and Jess McAllister, join Russell to talk all things children's programming, summer reading, and library memories. 

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Freja Bridgen, library circulation specialist, about public speaking anxiety, mean college professors, and finding the right books for you.

Books we discuss include:

• “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly
• “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Brontë
• “Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas
• “The Book of Doors” by Gareth Brown
• “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our June reading challenge, books with movie adaptations. We discuss the power of nostalgia, the many valid ways art can be interpreted, and why Tippi Hedren keeps falling down.

Books we discuss include:

• “The NeverEnding Story” by Michael Ende
• “Mary Poppins” by P.L. Travers
• “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
• “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda” by Roald Dahl
• “Memento Mori” by Johnathan Nolan
• “The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier
• “Story of You” by Ted Chiang
• “Jaws” by Peter Benchley
• “Here” by Richard McGuire
• “Big Fish” by Daniel Wallace
• “The Last of the Mohicans” by James Fenimore Cooper
• “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King
• “Thrawn” by Timothy Zahn
• “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk
• “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
• “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Grace Mamon, Danville reporter for Cardinal News. We discuss the joys of reading children’s literature, how reading enhances your writing, and Grace surprises us with an interview question of her own. 

Books we discuss include:

• “Gregor the Overlander” by Suzanne Collins
• “Harry Potter” series by Joanne Rowling
• “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” Series by Rick Riordan
• “Anne of Green Gables” series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket
• “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
• “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë
• “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Brontë
• “Beowulf” by Unknown
• “Chain of Gold” by Cassandra Clare

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our May reading challenge, Short Story Collections. We discuss life, the universe, and of course baseball. Let us know how many letters a woodchuck could write if a woodchuck could write letters.

Books we discuss include:

• “Haunted Maine” by Charles Stanfield
• “Something Rich and Strange” by Ron Rash (“Three AM and the Stars Were Out”)
• “The Illustrated Man” by Ray Bradbury (“The Veldt”)
• “The Amazing Mr. Morality” by Jacob M. Appel (“Burrowing in Exile”)
• “One More Thing” by B.J. Novak (“The Rematch”)
• “Classic American Short Stories” by Various (“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain)
• “The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories” by Penelope Lively
• “Life Ceremony” by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (“The Hatchling”)
• “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks
• “Normal Rules Don’t Apply” by Kate Atkinson (“The Void”)
• “When a Stranger Comes To Town” Anthology by Mystery Writers of America (“A Six Letter Word for Neighbor” by Lisa Unger)
• “Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks” by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Alexander Nabaum
• “The Brooklyn Nine” by Alan Gratz

On this special edition of Russell Reads with the Rach(a)els, Russell and Rachel get the opportunity to sit down with National Bestselling Author Alencia Johnson to discuss "Flip the Tables; The Everyday Disruptor's Guide to Finding Courage and Making Change," now available for purchase or at your Danville Public Library. 

For more information, visit www.alenciajohnson.com. 

Click the link to view the library's copy of Flip the Tables

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Susanne Bell, Senior Program Officer at Danville Regional Foundation, about setting realistic reading goals, recommending the right book, and a horrifying movie adaptation of one of our favorite childhood classics.
Susanne created a wonderful reference for the books she shared with us.

Childhood reads:

• “Make Way for Ducklings” by author and illustrator Robert McCloskey
• “Three Little Kittens” by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen 
• “Anne of Green Gables” or anything by Lucy Maud Montgomery 
• “Ozma of Oz” by L. Frank Baum

Novels:

• “Excellent Women” by Barbara Pym 
• “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler
• “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi
• “Should We Stay or Should We Go” by Lionel Shriver

Short Story Collections:

• “Light Action in the Caribbean” by Barry Lopez (especially “Construction of the Rachel”) 
• “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• “Fidelity” by Wendell Berry (especially “Pray Without Ceasing”)

Other titles we discuss:

• “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
• "Commonwealth” by Anne Tyler
• “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce
• “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our April challenge, childhood favorites, with one of our favorite childhood experts here in the library, Jess McAllister. We discuss how children's literature shaped us, opened our worlds, and continues to delight us to this day!

Books we discuss include:

• “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton
• “The BFG” by Roald Dahl
• “Dear Mr. Henshaw” and “Strider” by Beverly Cleary
• “Freckle Juice” by Judy Blume
• “The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise” by Dan Gemeinhart
• “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton
• “Amos Fortune: Free Man” by Elizabeth Yates
• “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• “Grandpa’s Mountain” by Carolyn Reeder
• Wayside School” series by Louis Sachar
• “My Teacher Is an Alien” by Bruce Coville
• “Dog Man” series by Dav Pilkey
• “My Weird School” series by Dan Gutman
• “Frog and Toad Are Doing Their Best” by Jennie Egerdie
• “The World of Beatrix Potter” series by Beatrix Potter
• “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame
• “Artemis Fowl” by Eoin Colfer
• Everything by Alan Gratz
• “The Complete Brambly Hedge” by Jill Barklem
• “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stuart 

Russell and solo Rachel chat with our guest, Scott Longerbeam, city GIS coordinator, about almost every Stephen King book, filming locations, and the love of a good librarian.

Books we discuss include:

• “Foucault's Pendulum” by Umberto Eco
• “Pet Sematary” by Stephen King
• “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
• “The Demon of Unrest” by Erik Larson
• “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett
• “The Empusium” by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
• “The Bear and the Nightingale” by Katherine Arden
• “A Libertarian Walks into a Bear” by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
• “Extinction” by Douglas Preston
• “Pirate Latitudes” by Michael Crichton
• “The Indian Lake Trilogy” by Stephen Graham Jones
• “Cycle of the Werewolf” by Stephen King
• “Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season” by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King
• “Horns” by Joe Hill
• “Locke & Key” by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez
• “Full Throttle” short stories by Joe Hill, including “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain”
• “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz, illustrated by Stephen Gammell
• “Scary Stories for Young Foxes” by Christian McKay Heidicker, illustrated by Junyi Wu
• “Wolfsong” by T.J. Klune
• “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Doulgas Adams

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our March challenge, first book in a series, with surprise guest Colton. Consequently there are a lot of dad jokes in this one. Listener beware.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Dark Is Rising” series by Susan Cooper
• “Dragon Masters” series by Tracey West
• “Goosebumps” graphic novel series by R.L. Stine
• “Ghost on Haunted Street” by Colton Carter
• “Done and Dusted” by Lyla Sage
• “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stewart
• “Leave No Trace” by A.J. Landau
• “Joe Pickett” series by C.J. Box
• “Finlay Donovan Is Killing It” by Elle Cosimano
• “Impossible Creatures” by Katherine Rundell
• “Mummies in the Morning” by Mary Pope Osborne
• “The Emerald Atlas” by John Stephens
• “Wildwood” by Colin Meloy
• “Every Heart a Doorway” by Seanan McGuire
• “Middle Earth” series by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “Spy School” series by Stuart Gibbs
• “The Cricket in Times Square” by George Selden
• “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Beverly Cleary
• “Redwall” by Brian Jacques
• “The Green Ember” by S.D. Smith
• “The Great Library” series by Rachel Caine
• “A Death in Door County” by Annelise Ryan

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest, Honorable Doctor Corey Williams about his long title, and many other titles that shaped his love for reading.

Books we discuss include: 

• “The Word Bird” by Nicola Davies, Abbie Cameron (illustrator)
• “Darius the Great Is Not Okay” by Adib Khorram
• “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway
• “Moby-Dick or, The Whale” by Herman Melville
• “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
• “The Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White
• “Watership Down” by Richard Adams
• “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson
• “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
• “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
• “Congo” by Michael Crichton
• “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire
• “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
• “The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids” series by Debbie Dadey
• “The Boxcar Children” series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
• “The Great Library” series by Rachel Caine
• “Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
• “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” by Ned Vizzini

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss  our next challenge, love stories and go on an important tangent about 90's teen movies.

Books we discuss include:

• “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman
• “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
• “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune
• “The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife” by Anna Johnston
• “The Weight of the Stars” by K. Ancrum
• “A Novel Love Story” by Ashley Poston
• “The List” by Robert Whitlow
• “The Girl Behind the Red Rope” Ted Dekker, Rachelle Dekker
• “Voyage of the Damned” by Frances White
• “All Stories Are Love Stories” by Elizabeth Percer
• “Book of Days” by James L. Rubart
• “Monster” by Frank Peretti
• “The One” by John Marrs

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Catherine Carter, owner of The Dog-Eared Page bookstore and teahouse. We discuss the deep and abiding friendship between libraries and bookstores, books about rabbits, and so much more.

Books we discuss include:

• “House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski
• “Manacled” by SenLinYu
• “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James
• “After” by Anna Todd
• “Quicksilver” by Callie Hart
• “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
• “Dragon Rider” and “Inkheart” by Cornelia Funke
• “The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris
• “The Lord of the Rings” series by J.R.R. Tolkien
• “Jaws” by Peter Benchley
• “The Empyrean” series by Rebecca Yarros
• “Watership Down” by Richard Adams
• “Christopher Bunny” by Jane Werner Watson, Richard Scarry
• “Bunnicula” by Deborah Howe
• “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams Bianco
• “The World of Beatrix Potter” series by Beatrix Potter
• "Bunny Trouble" by Hans Wilhelm
• “The Sea of Trolls” by Nancy Farmer
• “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano
• “Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe” by Heather Webber
• “Book Lovers” by Emily Henry
• “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and others by Sarah J. Maas

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael discuss our January challenge, Memoirs and Autobiographies, and new Rachael lore just dropped.

Books we discuss include:

• “Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood” by Gary Paulsen
• “Sonny Boy” by Al Pacino
• “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey
• “Pageboy” by Elliot Page
• “Officer Clemmons” by Dr. Francois S. Clemmons
• “Sociopath” by Patric Gagne
• “Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood” by Trevor Noah
• “Educated” by Tara Westover
• “Just as I Am” by Cicely Tyson
• “The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra” by Alex Messenger
• “Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Natasha Trethewey
• “The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book” by Wendy Welch