Cook Memorial Public Library Podcast

Popular Services Librarian Jo Hansen shares her thoughts on John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany , a novel she read for the first time as part of PBS's The Great American Read . We talk about why she selected this novel out of the 100 finalists, her favorite Owen Meany quotes, and why it should be considered an American classic. Agree? Disagree? Let us know your thoughts! What Great American Read...

Mary Shelley aficionado Emily Stensloff joins us on the podcast to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein's publication.   We talk about Shelley's life, her feminist/anarchist upbringing, the differences between Frankenstein the novel and the idea of Frankenstein in popular culture, and why this 1818 book is Emily's all-time favorite.   Check out Frankenstein from the library Discover mor...

In Locally Sourced we ask local business owners to talk about an influential or special book they've read. Chris Hamel is one of the owners of the new ice cream and Hawaiian shaved ice shop in Libertyville - My Flavor It! Place . Chris stopped by the library to talk about a favorite book with a local Chicago connection, great for history buffs and true crime connoisseurs. We get into how author Er...

We're in the full swing of summer and for anybody looking for a good read, we've got you covered! Andrea joins us to talk about must-read titles from five different genres, each with its own appeal. The titles Andrea recommends in this episode are: Gale Force   by Owen Laukkaner Dear Mrs. Bird   by A.J. Pearce - You can also read Andrea's full review of  Dear Mrs. Bird How Hard Can It Be   by Alli...

Award-winning journalist Catherine Price joins us on the podcast for a conversation on smartphone addiction. A growing number of smartphone users are starting to notice their phone usage has evolved into something problematic. Price's new book is a practical guide to help you acknowledge addictive smartphone behavior and develop healthier relationships with our devices. We discuss what makes smart...

Chances are you've never heard of Samuel Insull, but his fingerprints are all over Libertyville. Stick around this town long enough and you will surely use a building or service with a history that can be drawn back to Mr. Insull. He was like a living Monopoly Man with his hands in utilities, railroads, schools, hospitals and more. Local history librarian Jenny Barry uncovers this foundational Lib...

This second week in April is National Library Week - a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. For a special National Library Week podcast episode we interviewed some of our own librarians about what a day on the job looks like and also interviewed Vernon Hills High School students to get their guesses on what they think...

Susie, Andrea, and Nate recommend a powerful new memoir. They try to put into words why the book had such an impact on each of them. Read Andrea's original Educated blog post on Shelf Life. Check out Educated from the library

Nate and AV Librarian Becky King meet up once again to talk about the past year in film and last Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. They discuss the night's hits and misses plus share a few personal favorites they hope aren't forgotten. Find out what movies you may have missed and how you can use your library to catch-up with all of them.

Chris Harris is the author of the New York Times bestselling  I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups .  This impressive debut of children's poetry has been making the rounds here at Cook Library and quickly become a staff favorite, provoking unhealthy amounts of laugh out loud moments. We can't recommend this collection enough, especially if you...

Cook Memorial Public Library Director David Archer makes his podcast premiere! We chat about the recently announced Aspen Drive Library construction project. Find out what the expanded Vernon Hills library will look like, the demands and needs that will be addressed, and learn what kind of planning and preparation go into a community construction project.   Visit the library's Aspen Expansion page...

In December Erica set some reading resolutions for herself, which you can read about in her blog post . We thought we would check in with Erica and get some tips on those resolutions, get some good reading recommendations and get some tips on another common reading resolution - reading more books (she read 150 last year, so she's a good person to ask). Titles mentioned in this episode: Persepolis ...

Each year Jo Hansen meticulously culls, analyses, organizes, edits, and publishes our selections for the year's best Fiction and Nonfiction. 2017 produced the library's largest booklets yet! Jo comes back onto the podcast to talk about how the booklets were compiled, our year in books, and highlights a few of the titles you'll find in these annual booklets. Be sure to stop by the Reference desk at...

Jac Jemc is the author of  The Grip of It ,  a deftly told story about a couple who purchase what turns out to be a haunted house. You may think you've read haunted house stories before, but you've never read any told this well or that does the creepiness so well. The Grip of It  is featured in our Favorite Fiction of 2017 booklet , is featured on Chicago Review of Books list of The Best Fiction B...

While we like to discuss books, movies and music on our podcast, we also like to share with you all the other great stuff we do here at the library. In this episode we talk with our genealogy librarian, Sonia, and find out how to get started using the library to do family history research. There's a lot of great resources mentioned in this episode, so make sure to give it a listen! Links and other...

Mark Russell is the author of DC Comics' re-imagined version of The Flintstones , one of our favorite comics here at the library. And yes, we are talking about the Yabba-Dabba-Doo Hanna-Barbera TV characters. Russell and illustrator Steve Pugh's version of Bedrock is a newly established Stone Age civilization just beginning to construct things like economics, religion, marriage, science, politics,...

If you consider yourself a book lover, bookworm, or bibliophile you will love this week's author interview. Annie Spence is the author of Dear Fahrenheit 451: A Librarian's Love Letters and Break-Up Notes to the Books in her Life . This collection of insightful and often hilarious letters to books will rekindle (no ebook device pun intended) your fond feelings towards the written word. It will als...

Libertyville local mystery author Gail Lukasik discovered a family secret that led her on an extraordinary personal journey through America's complicated racial history. After appearing on PBS's Genealogy Roadshow , Lukasik began recounting her memories and compiling her research into a book. White Like Her  was published last week and Gail stopped by our Digital Studios to talk about putting all...

For a chilling Halloween edition of The Past is Present , Local History Librarian Jenny Barry digs into another mysterious Libertyville legend: the 1885 murder of August Rosine. You may never look at the Cook House the same way again. Listen to last year's episode on The Gate .

It's time for another episode of Meet the Bookies, where we introduce our library's  Bookies  who can give you great book, movie and music recommendations. This week we are chatting with Jo Hansen, the editor and mastermind behind the extremely popular Favorite Fiction & Non-Fiction booklets we publish every year. Some of Jo's recommendations from the episode: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbra...

The library offers several book clubs for you to join, but we wanted to take time with this episode to highlight one of our newer book clubs, Teen Lit for Grownups. We talk with Andrea who runs the book club about teen lit and why adults might want to try reading books. Our next Teen Lit for Grownups book club is Tuesday, September 26th at 7pm at Cook Park. Email Andrea at alarson@cooklib.org if y...

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg and her dog Gaby join us on the podcast to talk about her new collection of Facebook posts Make Someone Happy and her upcoming novel The Story of Arthur Truluv . Elizabeth also shares how she became a professional writer, insights on the publishing industry, advice for aspiring writers, and of course, what she's been reading lately.    Get on the wa...

Welcome to another edition of Bonus Features where Nate and Becky highlight two movies currently flying under the radar.    Becky shares the cultural coming-of-age tale Growing Up Smith , then Nate shares the Nick Cave making-of music documentary One More Time With Feeling . Both titles are new to the library's collection and shouldn't be missed.   Note: In our episode we forgot to mention Growing...

Welcome to another episode of our Meet the Bookies podcast, where we introduce you to our library's Bookies who can give you great book, movie and music recommendations. This week we are chatting with Ellen, reader's advisor in Popular Services, selector for our Young Adult collection, and a fan of, well, all kinds of books! Some of Ellen's recommendations from the episode: books by author Louise...

Have you ever wondered why the library servicing Libertyville/Vernon Hills is called the Cook Memorial Public Library District? I mean, we're not even in Cook county, right!?  The answers can be found in 19th century Libertyville resident Ansel B. Cook. Our local history librarian Jenny Barry returns for another episode of The Past is President. Find out who Mr. Cook was, what he did, and how his...