Not a traditional romance – podcast 34

Hello and welcome to the Falkirk Libraries podcast with Lynne, Tanya and Vikki.

Today’s episode is all about Romance and relationships but definitely not in the traditional sense. All the books mentioned can be found at our library catalogue. Our ebooks, eaudiobooks and emagazines can be found online here

What we have been reading and listening to:

Vikki has been reading:

  • Our House, Louise Candlish
  • The Lingering, SJI Holliday
  • Rupture, (Dark Iceland series), Ragnar Jonasson

Tanya has been reading and listening to:

  • Millie’s Fling, Jill Mansell
  • Tez Talks podcast (with comedian Tez Ilyas)

Lynne has been reading:

  • Burial Rites, Hannah Kent
  • Beastie Boys Book, Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz

Audio Book of the Podcast:

  • Beastie Boys Book

New and forthcoming adult books:

  • Love Without End – the story of Heloise and Abelard, Melvyn Bragg
  • The Wrong Mother, Michel Bussi
  • Three Bullets, Jon Roger Ellroy
  • Swallowtail Summer, Erica James
  • The Lemon Tree Hotel, Rosanna Ley

New and forthcoming children’s titles:

  • The story of Tantrum O’Furrily , Cressida Cowell (0-5)
  • Row, row, row your boat: a lift-the-flap, sing-along book, Richard Merritt (0-5)
  • The Dragonsitter’s party, Josh Lacey,  Illustrator Garry Parsons (7-9)
  • The Tale of Angelino Brown, David Almond, Illustrator Alex T. Smith (9-11)
  • Savage Island, Bryony Pearce (Teen)

DVD recommendations:

  • The Happy Time Murders (15)
  • Hotel Artemis (15)
  • The House with a Clock in Its walls (PG)

Our Reading Agony this week: ‘I want to set up a reading group can you help?’

Our suggestions for finding material included

  • Joining Reading Groups for Everyone (via the Reading Agency website)where there are lots of tips and potential freebies to apply for
  • There are lots of authors, book bloggers, book publishers on social media who have lots of book suggestions
  • Podcasts and blogs can be useful (perhaps even this one!)
  • Shadow other reading groups examples include Radio 2 book club, Hurricane book club

Staff quote of the day: I’m chasing my tail this week and it’s not as fun as it looks when the cat does it….’

Our discussion was all about Romance but not as you know it. Our varied suggestions included:

  • Gracekeepers, Kirsty Logan
  • Jane Eyre,  Charlotte Bronte
  • Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
  • Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers
  • Comet in Moominland, Tove Jansson
  • High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
  • Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
  • Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
  • Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion
  • The Time Traveller’s Wife,  Audrey Niffenegger
  • The Book of Strange New Things, Michel Faber 
  • Strong Poison, Dorothy L Sayers

Did you know?

One of the things libraries have always done is Storytimes. It’s one of our favourite things to do. Every library has a weekly storytime except Slamannan, but the staff at Slamannan are happy to read a wee story if you pop in and they’re not too busy.

Families usually start out at the library with Bookbug song and rhyme sessions and Storytimes are a great way to move on from that to and get ready for school and nursery. It gives even more time over to falling in love with books, encouraging wee ones to listen and improve their focus and lets them hear new words and word sounds. And really what’s nicer than having someone read you a  story – especially when they’re doing the sounds and voices and actions?

Also afterwards there’s time for parents and wee ones to socialise and there’s often fun to be had with colouring and other things. You’ll find details of our storytimes on our website.

Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then rate and review us on Apple so that more people can find out about us.

 We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, or if you’ve got a Reader Agony of your very own then go to www.librarylovefalkirk.com, Falkirk Libraries on Facebook or @LibFalkirk on Twitter

Children’s Books – Podcast 23

Hello and welcome to the Falkirk Libraries podcast with Tanya and Gavin
Today’s episode is all about children’s books, but there’s still lots for adults to enjoy, even if you haven’t got a wee person to get books for. Have a look on the library catalogue to request books discussed.

What we have been reading and listening to:
Tanya has been reading:
• Reading Dorothy L Sayers’ Strong Poison
• Listening to: Peace out – relaxation and mindfulness stories for kids Grant has been reading:
Gavin has been reading:
• Raw: My journey into the Wu-Tang by Lamont ‘U-God’ Hawkins.

New and forthcoming adult books:
• I am Heathcliff, Kate Mosse
• 84K, Claire North
• Displaced, Barbara Nadel
• Grime Kids, DJ Target

New and forthcoming children’s titles:
• The Cook and the King by Julia Donaldson (author), David Roberts (illustrator) (0 – 5 years)
• Daisy and the Trouble with School Trips by Kes Gray (6 – 9 years)
• Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll (9 – 12 years)
• The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle (Teen)

DVD recommendations:
• Peter Rabbit – PG
• Rampage – 12
• The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie – 12

Our Reading Agony this week:
I borrow a lot of books, but I also like to buy some. Any tips for picking up reasonably priced books? – Most of the libraries sell withdrawn books, DVDs and audio books. The items are removed from our collections for various reason and are very reasonably priced.

Staff quotes of the day: I never knew that my staff wanted me to be a pretzel

Our discussion:  Fantastic children’s books for ages (very roughly) 10 – 13yrs
• Game Guides are particularly popular for this age group – see Minecraft or Fortnite
• Graphic novels are also an excellent way of getting them reading, especially the ones related to games or TV show. For example, Plants Vs Zombies, Teen Titans Go!, Pokemon, Yo-kai Watch.
• Manga – (for the older kids) My Hero Academia Manga series; the Assassination Classroom series; how to draw Manga books
• Tintin
• Follow your child’s interests, for example books about science
Fiction
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
• Sky Hawk, Gill Lewis
• Mind Blind, Lari Don
• Rat Runners, Oision McGann
• Everything by Rick Riordan (e.g. the Percy Jackson series)
• For the upper part of the age range) Michael Grant’s Gone series
• How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell
• Andy Griffiths’ The 13 Storey Treehouse series
• Harry Potter books
• James Patterson, Middle School series

Did you know? If you are looking for a kids’ or teens’ reading group, then get into your local library – most public libraries have them. At Falkirk Libraries we have Chatterbooks sessions (7 – 12yrs) in most of the libraries and a teenage reading group in Falkirk Library (ages 13 – 17yrs) where we have booky fun and chat about books that we love (or hate). – have a look on the website at www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org or ask in your local library.

Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then tell a friend or colleague about our podcast; or give us a review on iTunes so more people get to hear about us. We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, then go to then go to librarylovefalkirk.com, Falkirk Libraries on Facebook, or @LibFalkirk on Twitter.

A resolution we can all keep, read more books – podcast 9

Hello, we had a great chat today on the ninth Library Love Podcast, with loads of excellent reading suggestions. Gavin and Naomi shared what we had recently been reading:
• Gavin read Monstress Volume Two – The Blood by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Naomi read Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent and Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

New and forthcoming adult books:
Anne Boleyn by Amy Licence
Last Will by William McIntyre
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
American Assassin by Vince Flynn
Beyond the Empire by K. B. Wagers

New and forthcoming children’s books:
Supertato Evil Pea Rules by Sue Hendra (0-5)
Zombies and Meatballs by Blake Hoena Moran (5-7)
Guiness World Record’s Amazing Animals (7-9)
Matt Millz by Harry Hill (9-11)
Sweetfreak by Sophie McKenzie (Teen)

DVD recommendations:
Sing (U)
Trolls (U)
Hitman’s Bodyguard (15)
Ghost in the Shell (12A)

Books enjoyed by Falkirk Libraries Book Groups
We discussed a range of books that have been enjoyed by our reading groups across the Falkirk area. These titles were:
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith
A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman
The Returned by Seth Patrick
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Black Eyed Susans by Julia Hearberlin
The first fifteen lives of Harry August by Claire North
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon
The Boy That Never Was by Karen Perry

Our reading groups meet on the following days/times:

Bo’ness – first Wednesday of the month at 14:00
Bonnybridge – last Monday of every month at 14:00
Falkirk – first Monday of every month at 18:30
Grangemouth – last Thursday of every month at 18:30
Larbert – third Monday of every month at 18:30
Meadowbank – first Tuesday at of the month at 14:00
Meadowbank – first Thursday of the month at 18:30
Slamannan – last Friday of every month at 14:00
Hurricane (online reading group): first meeting is February 22nd at 18:00
Audio book group (based at Forth Valley’s Sensory Centre, all welcome) – the third Tuesday of each month, 10:00-11:00

Did You Know? We have a Home Library Service that visits customers in their homes if they are unable to get to the library? For more information contact 01324 506800