Literary Heartthrobs – podcast 42

Hello and welcome to the Falkirk Libraries podcast with Daryl and Tanya

Today’s episode is all about our literary heartthrobs.  All of the books mentioned can be found on our library catalogue

What we have been reading and listening to:

Tanya has been reading:

  • Ilona Andrews Innkeeper series

Daryl has been listening to:

  • Coming Out with Lauren and Nicole

New and forthcoming adult books:

  • How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid
  • The Second Sleep by Robert Harris
  • The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson (non fiction)
  • Postscript: The sequel to PS, I Love You by Cecilia Ahern
  • Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré

New and forthcoming children’s titles:

  • The Most Beautiful Child by William Papas (0-3 yrs)
  • Weather and the Seasons  (4-6 yrs)
  • Billy and the Minpins by Roald Dahl (7-9 yrs)
  • The Dog Who Saved the World by Ross Welford (9-12 yrs)
  • SeaFire by Natalie Parker (Teen)

DVD recommendations

  • The Secret Life of Pets 2 (PG)
  • Booksmart (15)

Our Reading Agony this week:  ‘I keep reading about climate change and I’m feeling overwhelmed.  Can you help?’

Okay, this is a massive topic that we’ll all need to get to grips with , but it can seem so big that it’s tempting to hide under the blanket and pretend it’s not there.  However, as with most things in life, knowledge really helps.  There are some brilliant books about climate change and about what you can do to help:

  • The ecology book by Dorling Kindersley
  • Small acts to save our world : simple, everyday ways you can make a difference by the World Wildlife Fund
  • Live green : 52 steps for a more sustainable life by Jen Chillingsworth
  • 50 ways to help the planet : easy ways to live a sustainable life by Sian Berry

If there are areas of becoming more green that you want to explore, like gardening, cycling, growing your own veg, cleaning with less polluting products, crafting with re-used items, rather than new, etc, then we also have lots of books about these.  Another resource locally is Falkirk Environment Link who run various workshops and run ebike hire and how to ride sessions.  There’ll be somewhere that does something similar close to you.

Staff quote of the day ‘Hmmm, kiss, marry, kill is a step too far – we are librarians’

Our Discussion was all about our literary heartthrobs.  We Loooove books here, and that easily becomes loving particular characters in novels.  Wee proviso – if any of them have been in a film, then we are thinking of them as how they were written in the book, not how they are portrayed in film.  Difficult to separate the people who we would personally love and those who we love as they are loved by another character.  Quite a lot of these involve a sort of ‘platonic’ love, the love of a character because of what they stand for, and who they represent. The love of seeing a character you can relate to in some way.

  • Captain Wentworth in Persuasion by Jane Austen
  • Harry Dresden in the Dresden series by Jim Butcher
  • Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
  • Sam Merlotte from the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris
  • Mr Thornton in North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
  • Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Rhysand and Feyre both from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  • Stargirl from Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
  • Elena Greco in My Brilliant Friend
  • Honor Harrington in the novels by David Weber
  • Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones’ Diary
  • Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Tank Girl

Did you Know?  If you can’t find a book you are looking for on our shelves, come speak to us and we can see if it’s available at any of our other libraries. Failing that we may also be able to check our suppliers stock and if they have it we might be able to order it in for you for only a £1 charge. This service can be very handy if you are trying to find that book that someone mentioned on the radio, or even any of the books we have mentioned here today or on our other podcasts.

Coming soon in October, we’ll be running some Big Climate Conversation discussions around climate change and what Scotland can do about it in our libraries – these will feed into the Scottish Government’s climate change work.  Keep your eyes open on social media or drop us a line if you’d like to get involved if you’re in the Falkirk area.

Thank you for listening to the Library Love podcast, we hope you’ve enjoyed yourself and if you did, then  subscribe to our podcast.  We love to hear from you and if you’d like to get in touch with us, then go to our blog LibraryLoveFalkirk.com, @LibFalkirk on Twitter, or Falkirk Libraries on Facebook or Instagram.  Bye

Not the World Cup – podcast 20

Hello and welcome to Falkirk Libraries’ Library Love podcast with Vikki and Naomi.  This episode we were discussing Summer time pursuits all in aid of avoiding the Football World Cup.  All the books and dvds mentioned can be found on the Falkirk Libraries’ Catalogue (and in lots of other libraries all across the UK)

What we have been reading and listening to:
Vikki has been reading:
Island of Dreams by Dan Boothby
Hidden Figures by Margaret Lee Shetterly
Naomi has been reading:
The History of Bees by Maja Lunde

New and forthcoming adult books:
Ritchie Boys, Bruce P Henderson
Hitler’s collaborators: choosing between bad and worse in Nazi-occupied Western Europe, Philip Morgan
Highlands and Hebrides, Colin Mcintyre and Ellen Macaskill
Bruce Lee A life, Polly Matthew
Born Trump, Emily Jane Fox

New and forthcoming children’s titles:
Cuddle bears book of hugs , Claire Freedman, Claire & Gavin Scott, (0-5)
Bunny Trouble, Lucy Daniels (5-7)
Listen, My Bridge Is SO Cool!: The Story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff as Told by the Troll, Nancy Lowen
Never Say Die (Alex Rider), Anthony Horowitz
The Red Ribbon, Lucy Adlington

DVD recommendations:
Coco (U)
The Post (15).
12 Strong (15)

Our Reading Agony this week: “I need some help and tips with my writing.  I work shifts and find it hard to attend writing sessions.”

Staff quote of the day “I don’t care what you do but I want a line of coloured elephants when I get back”

Our discussion: All the ways in which your library can help you actively avoid the World Cup, with all our favourite summer time pursuits and hobbies:
Bee Keeping, Pam Gregory
Bee Manual , Clare Waring
Fencing: Skills Tactics Training, Andrew Sowerby
Fencer’s Start Up a Beginners Guide, Werner Doug
Allotment Manual, Paul Peacock
The Half Hour Allotment, Lia Lenndertz
The Modern Preserver, Kylee Newton
Making Preserves,  Catherine Atkinson
Webers Complete BBQ Book, Jaimie Purviance
The Happy Pear: Recipes for Happiness, David Flynn, Stephen Flynn
The Happy Pear: Recipes and Stories from the first 10 Years, David Flynn, Stephen Flynn
Hairy Bikers Meat Feasts, Si King, Dave Myers
The Perfect Scoop, David Lebovitz
Make your Own Organic Ice Cream, Ben Vear
Wild Mocktails and Healthy Cocktails, Lottie Muir

Coming Soon: Tesco Bank Summer Reading Challenge Scotland
The challenge takes place every year during the summer holidays. You can sign up at your local library, read six books of your choice and collect stickers and other goodies along the way. For this year’s challenge the Beano is working with the Reading Agency to bring Mischief Makers to libraries, featuring all our favourite Beano characters.

Did you know? You can renew your books on line – all you need is your library card and pin number. A handy tip when borrowing items at holiday time, you can ask to take items out for a bit longer than usual, just ask staff for a holiday extension.

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.

Chick Lit Strikes Back – podcast 2

Hello pod people, we had lots of chat today on the second Library Love podcast, with loads of great reading suggestions. Tanya, Margo and I (Vikki) shared what we had recently been reading and listening to:
Tanya read The Habit of Murder by Susannah Gregory
and has been listening to The Guilty Feminist podcast (sweary warning)
Vikki read Follow the Dead by Lin Anderson
Margo read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

New and forthcoming adult books:
• Bernard Cornwall – Fools and Mortals
• Joanne Harris – A Pocketful of Crows
• John Grisham – Rooster Bar
• Karen Rose – Edge of Darkness (Cincinnati Series book 4)
• Diane Chamberlain – Stolen Marriage

New and forthcoming children’s books:
Hack and Whack by Francesca Simon
Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam: Jingle Bells by Tracey Corderoy
The Girl who saved Christmas by Matt Haig
Matt Millz by Harry Hill
La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Volume One by Philip Pullman

DVD recommendations:
Their Finest (based on book Their Finest Hour and a half by Lissa Evans) (12)
Hidden Figures (PG)
T2 Trainspotting (18)

Our Reading Agony this week “I’ve finished all the Danielle Steel novels and I don’t know who else to read” – we recommend some other authors who write a bit like the hugely popular Steel.

We discuss Chick Lit , why does it have such an offensive title and what types of books does this genre encompass? Some of the titles and authors mentioned:
Missing Wife by Sheila O’Flanaghan
• Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday and Mystery of Mercy Close
• Jojo Moyes – Me Before You
Hester Brown
Jane Austen
Katie Fforde
Cathy Kelly
• Patricia Scanlan – Orange Blossom Days
Contact us with your favourite chick lit book and why we should read it!

Staff quote “No Smiling” (obviously we are having far too much fun planning these podcasts)

Did you know? On these podcasts we are discussing and recommending lots of books and DVDs so we thought it might be useful to remind everyone how to request an item from Falkirk libraries.

Thanks very much for listening and don’t forget to subscribe to Library Love on itunes or your favourite podcast app.