Season 2, Episode 13: Off and On the Book Wagon + Library Love

Meredith and Kaytee are ready to chat about one of their favorite topics this week: local libraries, how to love them well, and how to enjoy them extensively.

You’ll hear a “bookish moment of the week” from each of us: a bookshelf purge and new library bliss.

Next, we discuss our current reads for the week. We’ve got scary stuff, apocalypses, children’s fiction, and books everyone needs to read.

We’ll move on to a short Slow But Steady update from each of us, and some observations from our listeners about what they’re reading for SBS.

For our deep dive this week, we are showering love on our local libraries. We’ve got tips and tricks for how to use your library well, but we’ve also got the inside scoop on what you can do to help your library and keep it going strong. So many words, and we tried to rein it in!

Finally, this week, we are Pressing Books Into Your Hands. Our books are great complements to each other, in that one will be thought-provoking and essential and maybe even emotional or difficult while the other is fun and feisty and sweet.

As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down! *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*  

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1:20 - Sleep at a Book Hotel!

6:29 - Babysitter’s Club Graphic Novels by Ann M. Martin

6:39 - Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

6:41 - Smile by Raina Telgemeier

9:59 - The Whisper Man by Alex North

12:45 - Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

15:01 - Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

15:22 - Shelf subscription from Bookshelf Thomasville

15:58 - From the Front Porch podcast

18:37 - The Stand by Stephen King

19:07 - The Book of M by Peng Shepherd

20:33 - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

20:39 - Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

26:31 - The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Janssen

30:54 - Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

31:52 - Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

34:12 - Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

34:31 - Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

34:58 - A Torch Against the Night (Book 2) by Sabaa Tahir

35:40 - A Court of Thrones and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

36:12 - A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

37:08 - Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

38:02 - Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery

39:11 - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

39:49 - Patreon

40:15 - The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain

42:28 - Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

43:11 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

43:12 - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

43:46 - The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M Graff

46:36 - Library Extension for your browser

51:59 - Library Elf to manage your holds and such

53:20 - Keep scrolling down for the full list of ways to help your library from our Bookish Friend and local library board member, Sarah McGuire!

54:05 - Friends of the Library membership - your local library will probably have a link to THEIR friends program on their website

58:01 - Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

1:00:18 - La Cucina by Lily Prior

1:00:28 - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

1:00:30 - Chocolat by Joanne Harris

1:03:14 - Currently Reading Drinkware

1:03:16 - Currently Reading Sherpa Throw

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Options for helping your library from a board member:

- share a talent (grant writing, graphic design, etc.)

- join the library "friends" group or at a minimum attend a meeting or two and help at fundraising events - maybe even volunteer to chair an event.  In this day and age of dwindling book sales as a major fundraiser, new ideas are encouraged!

- if your library has a membership campaign/fundraising drive, donate even if just $10-15 - if every town resident donated even $5, we'd raise a ton during our annual membership drive!

- if you donate and have company match, submit it and double your dollars if your library qualifies as a non profit

- consider a recurring donation if your company promotes that (right from your paycheck if your library qualifies as a non profit)

- attend budget meetings and support your library.  Get the facts and if there are budget cuts that you do not agree with, go and advocate for library funding.  If you can't attend, send a letter for public forum/comments advocating for your library.

- attend programs your library holds - they love to see people at their programs!

- ask your library director what they need!

- donate GOOD books for book sales/book carts

- share your enthusiasm with friends and your community - advocate for your library!

- ask if there is something you can help with (I stuff envelopes, write thank yous, etc)

- donate items for fundraising drives - our library does an annual auction and we usually put together baskets - get a small group of friends to donate items for a basket!  Have season sport tickets/theater tickets you can't use? Donate them! If you know a local business, ask them for donations - it takes a village to put together a good silent auction!

Thank you, Sarah, for all these amazing tips!