Book Lounge by Libby

When you think about it, we all have a list of books at the ready to recommend. Very often, these are the same books to new people. Today, we've checked our Goodreads lists, Libby Borrowed Smart Tag, and most recent texts with book buds, and we’re ready to share the books we ALWAYS share when someone asks what they should read next.Books mentioned in this episode:Marissa’s Titles:   The Transall Saga by Gary Paulson  Endurance by Alfred Lansing  The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt  Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden   Joe’s Titles:  In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware  Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (and From Here to Eternity) by Caitlin Doughty  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline  I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara  The Diviners by Libba Bray   Jill’s Titles:   Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi  Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn  The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead   Emma’s Titles:   Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter  Sadie by Courtney Summers  You series by Caroline Kepnes   Winston Brothers series by Penny Reid  Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace here.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com. We’ve got merch! Check out our two shirts in The OverDrive Shop (all profits are donated to the ALA Literacy Clearinghouse). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emma is joined by Rachel Koller Croft to discuss her debut novel, Stone Cold Fox! They also chat about villains as main characters, the 1%, found family, and the difference between writing for the screen and writing for the page.SPOILER NOTE: Emma does ask Rachel a MAJOR spoiler at the 20 minute mark. If you haven't read the book yet and don't want to know, skip ahead to 22:35!Books mentioned in this episode: Mean Baby by Selma Blair The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell Spare by Prince Harry The Palace Papers by Tina Brown Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace here.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the pod, the Nerds are offering up some Dystopian Reads to tickle your fancy. Whether you're brand new to the genre or you've already survived a Hunger Games (or two), there are picks here for everyone!Titles Mentioned in this Episode:Joe’s Titles:  Wanderers by Chuck Wendig  Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn  Want by Cindy Pon  Uglies by Scott Westerfeld  Jill’s Titles:   The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton  The Giver by Lois Lowry  The Grace Year by Kim Liggett  Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood  Emma’s Titles:  The Selection series by Kiera Cass  Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam    Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard   Delirium by Lauren Oliver   Here are some foundational/classic dystopian titles and twenty-tens heyday titles mentioned, but not discussed in this episode: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 1984 by George Orwell The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Road by Cormac McCarthy A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Legend by Marie Lu Divergent by Veronica Roth The Maze Runner by James Dashner Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace here.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com. We’ve got merch! Check out our two shirts in The OverDrive Shop (all profits are donated to the ALA Literacy Clearinghouse). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New year, new retrospective! We are back with another deep-dive into a favorite series of the past, starting with Book 1 of the Hunger Games trilogy. Joe, Emma, and Jill answer important questions such as Where would Cleveland be located in Panem? and, of course, Who would you choose: Gale versus Peeta? They discuss differences between the book and movie, favorite scenes, and more.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com. We’ve got merch! Check out our two shirts in The OverDrive Shop (all profits are donated to the ALA Literacy Clearinghouse). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the pod, Joe talks with Mike Albo about his new book Another Dimension of Us (out January 17). They dive into Mike's process, what it was like growing up in the 80s, feedback from his authenticity readers, the excitement around his audiobook, and of course- curating a new age bookshelf.Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com. We’ve got merch! Check out our two shirts in The OverDrive Shop (all profits are donated to the ALA Literacy Clearinghouse). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emma, Joe, and Jill are back for the monthly round up of books they're most excited for coming out this month! In this episode, they also chat about gothic ghost stories, an obsession with the tv show, Supernatural, the 90s, Uggs vs. Crocs, preview some upcoming author interviews, and talk about their favorite tropes.Emma’s Picks:   Radiant Sin by Katee Robert   The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz   Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth   Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft   Immortality by Dana Schwartz   The House Guest by Hank Phillippi Ryan  This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang  Jill’s Picks:   The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi  B.F.F. by Christie Tate  Cold People by Tom Rob Smith  Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez  The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill  Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones  Bookworm by Robin Yeatman  Joe’s Picks:   The Angel Maker by Alex North  Bad Mormon by Heather Gay  The Long Run by James Acker  Revelle by Lyssa Mia Smith  Project Nought by Chelsey Furedi  Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns  Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom by Nina Varela  Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace here.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emma chats with Monica Heisey about her novel, Really Good, Actually. They also discuss divorce at a young age, the triumph of oat milk, writing for television versus writing fiction, the best advice, Toronto Public Library's reading challenge, and how to find the funny in writing and life.Books mentioned:Birds of America by Lorrie MooreTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Garbielle ZevinGeorgia Nicolson seriesHow Should a Person Be? By Sheila Heti We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting the new year off right with our MOST anticipated books of 2023! This list was so hard to narrow down and we're surely missing a lot of releases, but here are some of the titles we cannot wait to read this year. Emma, Joe, and Jill also chat about our undying love for Santino Fontana, the struggle in pronouncing character names from fantasy books aloud, a term we're coining "murder-coms," Joe's chat with Grady Hendrix, MLMs, gothic stories and manifesting the release of the next Crescent City book from Sarah J. Maas.Jill’s Picks  The Teachers by Alexandra Robbins  I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai  Reckoning by V (formally Eve Ensler)  Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer  How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix  The Golden Frog Games by Claribel A Ortega  She is a haunting by Trang Thanh Tran  The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor  VenCo by Cherie Dimaline  Kiss me in the Coral Lounge by Helen Ellis   Emma’s Picks  Happy Place by Emily Henry   A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon  Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken   A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing   Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong   Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey (and Unfortunately Yours)   A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand   Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison   Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffen   The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes    Joe’s Picks  In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune  For You and Only You by Caroline Kepnes  The Only One Left by Riley Sager   The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto  Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood  Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby  The Male Gazed by Manuel Betancourt  The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz  Zero Days by Ruth Ware  Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace here.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Joe for a conversation with Grady Hendrix! They talk about his new book, How to Sell a Haunted House, writing structure, Lemony Snicket, and just what it takes to empty out the clutter of a life gone by.Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace.We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com. We’ve got merch! Check out our two shirts in The OverDrive Shop (all profits are donated to the ALA Literacy Clearinghouse). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of the podcast, the Professional Book Nerds are here to share the prompts for 2023's reading challenge! We read some completed entries from last year's challenge, share the prompts for this year, and tell you what prompt we're most excited about. This episode marks an important milestone for Emma and Joe, too! :)This year's challenge includes: Greek myth retelling  A popular YA series  Book you ONLY picked for the cover  Book with a map  Audiobook narrated by the author  The highest or lowest rated book on your TBR  A book with a bilingual character  A cookbook & make a recipe  Read a poetry collection  Read a friend’s FAVORITE book  A book by an author with a pen name  A book about found family  Books mentioned in this episode: We are the Brennans by Tracey Lange The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener Cemetery Boys by Aidan Thomas Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller Verity by Colleen Hoover The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno- Garcia It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte There, There by Tommy Orange Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode on OverDrive.com or in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace here. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices