Richfield Branch Library Podcast

Christina & Jen wrap up Season 2 with this special bonus episode devoted to all the books that are up next in our #TBR piles! Christina's hoping to read: Lila by Marilynne Robinson Fight Night by Miriam Toews The City Is A Rising Tide by Rebecca Lee Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami Up to Heaven...

Looking for some great book inspiration as we head into the holiday season? Christina, Jen, and special guest @ray_whin , creator of @everydayakron , share books they'd give and books they'd love to receive. Ray shares Women On Food by Charlotte Druckman ( And hear her great interview with David Chang on his podcast here. ) and dreams up some great gift pairings for Neil Gaiman books, like Stardus...

Christina and Jen get hyperlocal with Rachel & Scott Luther, half of the duo behind The South Richfield Podcast .  Scott and Rachel share local wisdom and lore ( Why does the Post Office sign look off-center ? How do you get a cow out of the street ? What happened to the beloved old Minutemen band uniforms ? Where is the best place in Richfield for your vacation home?) and a good laugh or...

Mike is retiring, and we're sad to see him go. But before he does, he shares his favorite novels of all time: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller , and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens . Christina discusses the quiet power of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. And Jen is wowed by a patron recommendation (shoutout to Megan!)...

The team discusses books that haunt them with compelling plots, unforgettable characters, creepy moods, or the book itself tending to disappear! Plus, a plea for generating metadata. Mike is haunted by The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins , and The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware . Christina rereads the Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber in a new light, and talks about finding and searching f...

Mike drops some massive history lessons on us all in this edition of the Richfield Branch Library Podcast.  Our favorite know-it-all highly recommends Erik Larson's Devil In The White City and Dead Wake , Bruce Catton's A Stillness at Appomattox , Barbara W. Tuchman's The Guns of August and A Distant Mirror , AND William Manchester's The Glory and the Dream . Christina travels up, down, and f...

Special guests Mac & Allyse Love of Akron-based creative agency ArtxLove join Christina & Jen to talk about the power of stories! We talk about our new neighbor The Pint & Pie Works . Mac shares about their unique card deck project Akron On Deck , and how they structured the profits to benefit area artists and local businesses during the pandemic and beyond. Allyse shares some amazing...

On a rainy day in Richfield, the RBL Podcast team talks about environmental fever dreams and dream careers. Christina discusses visions of nature and our future within it from Under A White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert . Mike compares thrillers that draw you in, from Maine's a series by Mike Doiron to Britain's A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee . Jen finds out her Enneatype (3 wing 2) and it leads the gr...

The gang assigns themselves titles from Modern Library's 100 Greatest Novels List to read over the summer. Mike read Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence , and Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie . Christina read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison . Jen read And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie .

Jen and Christina talk about podcasts they love in this special bonus episode! Join us next week for the start of Season 2. Podcasts we LOVE: Christina- The Clearing The Dropout Serial Season 3 Midnight Gospel The Experiment La Brega Jen- The Librarian Is In IDEO Creative Confidence Science Talks: National Parks Nature Walks Getting To Yes, And Curious Minds At Work Results May Vary

We'll be back in 2 weeks with the first full episode of Season 2: Back To School! In the meantime, find out what we're looking forward to this season on the Richfield Branch Library Podcast.

In our last episode of Season 1, we reflect on how making this podcast has changed our reading habits. Jen explores The Look of the Book by Peter Mendelsund and David J. Alworth . Mike discusses the crazy circumstances both within and that led to the creation of The Last Green Valley by Mark T. Sullivan. And Christina shares the visionary Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham (Check out...

This week, we explore adaptation, preparing for chaos, and finally giving in to the dark lure of Teen lit. Mike discusses divergence and longing for convergence in Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi . Christina fangirls about all of Leigh Bardugo's canon , from Ninth House to the Grishaverse, including Shadow and Bone & The Language of Thorns . And Jen shares her research on metaphorical swans and rhinos...

What do nerds look forward to reading on vacation? Not books with pictures of the beach on the cover! Mike, Christina, and Jen talk about lighter fare, escapist lit, pondersome fiction and the prospect of travelling a post-pandemic world. Mike talks about roads not traveled in Midnight Library by Matt Haig . Christina talks about two books that examine race in a way that you could totally enjoy on...

Jen, Mike, and Christina talk Batgirl-inspired library services , fully integrated library-makerspaces, and some of Virginia Woolf's best advice in this installment of the Richfield Branch Library Podcast.   Mike recommends two full series': Cuckoo’s Calling (The Strike Series #1) by Robert Gailbraith , and Open Season (Joe Pickett Series #1) by C. J. Box. Christina pours over the fascinating...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Your favorite book nerds celebrate Star Wars and the mainstreaming of science fiction on this special episode of the Richfield Branch Library Podcast. Jen discusses I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing by A. D. Jameson . Christina finally gets around to reading Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher . Mike takes us on a journey to another universe in Sevene...

Mike, Christina, and Jen talk about characters being removed from their homes, outsiders realizing they ARE home, and the architectural histories of the cities we call home. Mike talks about Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate , and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles . Christina discusses Homeland Elegies by Ayad Ahktar (with gorgeous cover design by Lucy Kim .) And Jen SPOILS Girls with Sharp...

The gang examines libraries of the past, present, and future in this special episode on our favorite writing about libraries. Mike discusses The Library Book by Susan Orlean and Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer , the true story of how a group of librarians smuggled hundreds of thousands of rare volumes to safety in 2012. Christina reminisces about the neighborhood library of her chi...

This week we highlight some ways personal obsessions become collective culture and then ultimately archives. Mike discusses The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson , and the journaling project in Britain that captured the stories of everyday Britons during the war.  You can access the Mass Observation Project's archives here. Christina discusses the process of researching art, the beauty of...

Sometimes a book lives up to its hype. But sometimes... not so much.   This week, Christina discusses Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin , which very much lives up to its reputation as a classic. Mike discusses Miracle Creek by Angie Kim .  And Jen shares two recent disappointments: Rural Voices edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter and Rust by Eliese Colette Goldbach .

In this first episode, we talk about our idea for this podcast, and then get right down to business: BOOKS! Mike discusses Born A Crime by Trevor Noah and Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear . Christina discusses Red Pill by Hari Kunzru . Jen discusses Notes From A Public Typewriter edited by Michael Gustafson and Oliver Uberti .