Richfield Branch Library Podcast

In our final episode, Christina and Jen share what they’ve read recently, and what they’re going to read next. Pirate Enlightment by David Graeber , Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow The Relevant Library: Essays on Adapting to Changing Needs by Vera Gubnitskaia Libraries as Dysfunctional Organizations and Workplaces by Spencer Acadia How To Think Like A UX Researcher by David T...

The ladies of the RBL Podcast dip into the magical with what they're reading lately. Christina's shares work from one of her favorite authors: Get In Trouble by Kelly Link , and White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link . Plus, check out this amazing feature in Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/kelly-link-white-cat-black-dog-profile.html Jen recommends Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen...

This week Jen's reading Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein and The Trend Forecaster's Handbook by Martin Raymond.   Christina's working through Stanford's Human-centered AI Reading List (view the full list here! ) starting with Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith , and she's enjoying...

The RBL team has some bittersweet news.

Connect with your inner sleuth with Kat’s take on Long Bright River by Liz Moore, Transcription by Kate Atkinson, The Witch Elm by Tana French, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Recursion by Blake Crouch. The mystery continues with Jen’s take on Mary Kubica’s Just the Nicest Couple , which sends her running to “ In the Hall with the Knife ” by Diana Peterfreund, the first the Teen b...

Christina is on a film roll with Sarah Polley’s memoir Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory . Discover a magical mixture of magazines and gothic mystery with Kat’s talk on Orion Magazine and Paraic O’Donnell’s The House on Vesper Sands . Jen talks workplace philosophy with The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs by Christina Maslach and Michae...

Christina explores the weight of social expectations and gender dynamics with My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig before taking an introspective stroll through The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control by Katherine Morgan Schafler. Jen continues to treasure hunt (with a side of murder) with Maureen Johnson’s truly devious series: Truly Devious . Richfield’s manager also shares selections from her wayf...

Season Five is here and we have great expectations. Christina walks the halls of dark academia with Donna Tartt’s The Secret History , continues her foray into the world of Alex Stern with Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo and signs off with runaway bestseller Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang. Jen reviews The Writing Retreat by...

Yearly reading goals: do we set them? Do we accomplish them? We also share what’s up next on our TBR piles. Christina picked up Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabriele Zevin again, and liked it better this time around.  She also shares Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv , and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy. Next up: Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated by Stephan...

This week we tackle books from all the fun genres we pulled out of a hat in our episode "You Have My Full Attention" (Nov 1st, 2022.) Jen didn't like Fake Memoir; she tried Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill & A Hell Called Ohio by John M. Hamilton .  But she loved Nordic Noir! She read Winterkill by Ragnar Jónasson & The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg is next up on her TBR pile. C...

In this episode, the library ladies of Richfield cover a range of topics from art and academia, disorder and design, fancy juices and the vastness of space. Christina cleans her palate with Graphic Novels, especially those from Canadian publisher Drawn and Quarterly .  Check out their recent anthology Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty-five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novel...

We kick of the episode with something fun: we picked fun genres out of a hat to review in Episode 7! So look for that in the coming weeks. Christina's enjoying Everyday Information Architecture by Lisa Maria Martin , and one of the books she references, Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by George Lakoff . Jen's exploring Creative Bug, and found a great artist who goes by e bond .  She's also...

Christina examines the line between beauty and terror in When We Cease To Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut . Jen's looking for insights in Navigating Ambiguity Andrea Small and Kelly Schmutte , and The Library as Playground by Dale Leorke and Danielle Wyatt ( And check out MuseumNext’s Museums, Games, and Play Summit .) Kat's finding inspiration in the Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca...

Christina discusses two memoirs: Crying In H-Mart by Michelle Zauner , and The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras . Jen shares The Third Teacher by Cannon Design, VS Furniture, and Bruce Mau Design (Check out their website thethirdteacher.com for cool resources.) And Kat explores not letting limitations slow you down in Thursday Murder Club, and The Man Who Died Twice by Richard O...

Our To Be Read piles have gotten unwieldy again, so we thought we'd share the wealth of great-sounding titles we're hoping to get to... someday. Christina's interested in How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur , How To Fail Successfully: Finding Your Creative Potential Through Mistakes and Challenges by Brandon Stosuy , Private Virtues, Public Vices by Emma Saunders-Hastings , Atlas of AI by Kate Craw...

Former student shelvers Rachel & Megan return to tell us all about how college is going, what amazing things they're up to, and of course, what they're reading! Rachel's reading Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson , and The Dilemma by B. A. Paris .  (The book she mentions about a prison librarian is Running the Books by Avi Steinberg .) Megan's exploring how Things Fall Together: A Guide...

You can tell it’s our last episode of Season 3, because we have a small tangent festival discussing art critiques and browsing discarded magazines in public places. This really is what it’s like to pull up a chair behind the desk! (PS - The book we discuss about formal art critique is What Art Is by Arthur C. Danto , the conference Jen attended was the Ohio X Conference , and the essay collection...

This week, we realized all our books were ones that we saw (or saw again and were reminded that we wanted to read them) when they were returned!  Our patrons find the best stuff! Jen's reading and recommending MANY books this week: Storytelling with Data & Storytelling with Data: Let’s Practice by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic . Also books about museums, including Come, Stay, Learn, Play: A Gui...

In this episode, we mine the book sale for hidden treasures!  Join us this weekend, June 4th 2022, at the Richfield Library for the Friends of the Library Book Sale. Christina shares books that have collected meaningful ephemera before she found them, including Uses of Enchantment, and The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits , Less by Andrew Sean Greer , The Intuitionist, and Colossus of New York...

In this episode, we discuss the healing, charming, and classic books we're reading, as well as our favorite books from our childhood. (Why are adults in children’s books always so apathetic?) (**Please note: In this episode we discuss Women Talking by Miriam Toews, which contains some mature themes, including sexual assault. If you’re looking to avoid that content, you can skip to from 7:45 to 10:...

Jen, Kat, and Christina talk about the books they're reading this week, about moving, staying, and the meaning of place. Christina shares insights from Tarot For Change by Jessica Dore . Kat explores Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz , and why people move (or don't) in This Is Where You Belong by Melody Warnick . Jen discusses some of her selections for a presentation she gave at Akron's World IA...

April is National Poetry Month (Check out Poets.org for 30 ways to celebrate at home!) and we've been having so many discussions about what poetry means to us, what is and isn't poetry, and what is and isn't meaningful. (**Please note: in this episode we discuss some poems with mature themes, including sexual assault. If you’re looking to avoid that content, you can skip to from 13:45 to 17 minute...

It's our favorite week here in Richfield: National Library Week ! Kat discusses 10,000 Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow , The Card Catalog by The Library of Congress and Carla Hayden , The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern , and, of course, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows . Christina shares Living In Data by LOC's first Innovator-In-Residenc...

Jen and Christina welcome new co-host and Adult Librarian Kat to the show! Christina read so many great books over the break. But she also read Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen. Kat makes the case for letter writing with To The Letter: A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing by Simon Garfield , and shares one of her favorite memoirs, The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher . Jen takes some of...

Meet our new co-host and Adult Librarian, Kat, and hear what Jen and Christina are looking forward to in Season 3.  We'll be back in 2 weeks with full episodes, so start looking for us again wherever you listen to podcasts!