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