Amy Lee Lillard, Author of 'Dig Me Out'

Jes and Sarah are joined by DMPL Systems Administrator Katie on the newest epsiode of Beyond the Shelves! Katie knows all the numbers and stats about the library that you can imagine, and she gives us some fun facts about circulation, programs, technolgoy, and more. It's a great peak behind the curtain about parts of the library you probably don't know about!

Also, what famous author recently said he lied about having cancer? Stay tuned all the way to the end of the podcast for the Book Bulletin segment!

What Our Hosts Are Reading

• The Salvation Gambit, by Emily Skrutskie
• Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson
• Say You'll Be Mine, by Naina Kumar
• Technically Yours, by Denise Williams
• A Tempest at Sea, by Sherry Thomas
• Come and Get It, by Kiley Reid
• Penance, by Eliza Clark

Secret Iowa author Megan Bannister joins the DMPL Podcast. She discusses traveling across the state to discover the fun, unknown sites featured in this book, her favorite roads in Iowa, and what famous authors she outsold at a bookstore in Iowa last year.

Show Notes

• Secret Iowa at the library
  
• Iowa Supper Clubs, by Megan Bannister
  
• Megan Bannister's website

It's February, and love is in the air! Get your HEA (happily ever after) by listening to Sarah, a romance aficionado, and Jes discuss the history of the romance genre, current trends, cross-genre romance books, and what some of their favorite stories are within different romance tropes.

Currently Reading

• The Book the Wouldn't Burn, by Mark Lawrence
• Ruthless Vows, by Rebecca Ross
• Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino
  
• Good Material, by Dolly Alderton
  
• Light from Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki
  
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty

Trope Picks

• Enemies to Lovers
  
  • ​​​​​​​Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert
• Grumpy Sunshine
  
  • ​​​​​​​Well Met, by Jen Deluca
  • It Happened One Summer, by Tessa Bailey,
  • Delilah Green Doesn't Care, by Ashley Herring Blake
• Only One Bed
  
  • The Rogue Not Taken, by Sarah Maclean
  • Float Plan, by Trish Doller
  • Happy Place, by Emily Henry
• Marriage of Convenience
  
  • ​​​​​​​How to Catch a Queen, by Alyssa Cole
  • Tempest, by Beverly Jenkins
• Forbidden Love
  
  • ​​​​​​​Red, White, and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston
  • Hate to Want You, by Alisha Rai
• Fake Dating
  
  • ​​​​​​​Boyfriend Material, by Alexis Hall
  • Yours Truly, by Abby Jimenez
• Second Chance
  
  • ​​​​​​​Seven Days in June, by Tia Williams
  • Recipe for Persuasion, by Sonali Dev
• Amnesia/Mistaken Identity
  
  • ​​​​​​​The Girl With the Make Believe Husband, by Julia Quinn
  • Spoiler Alert, by Olivia Dade.
• Sports:
  
  • Check Please, by Ngozi Ukazu
  • Intercepted, by Alexa Martin
  • Bromance Book Club, by Lyssa Kay Adams
• Funny-Paranormal
  
  • ​​​​​​​My Roommate is a Vampire, by Jenna Levine

Other Books Discussed

• Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton
  
• Patricia Briggs - books
• Laurell K. Hamilton - books
• Johanna Lindsey - books

Welcome to the New Year! On the latest episode of 2024, Jes and Sarah review their 2023 reading goals and talk about what they want to do in 2024.

Show notes

• What they're reading:
  • The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters
  • Mall Goth, by Kate Leth
  • If You'll Have Me, by Eunnie
  • A Guest in the House, by Emily Carroll
  • Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett
  • Seven Days in June, by Tia Williams
  • The Book that Wouldn't Burn, by Mark Lawrence
  • The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
• Other books discussed:
  • Who is Maud Dixon?, by Alexandra Andrews
  • Shutter, by Ramona Emerson
  • How Can I Help You?, by Laura Sims
• News items
  • Storygraph is so popular the app crashed to start the year
  • Cait Corrain loses her publisher and agent after review bombing fellow debut authors
  • A federal judge blocks enforcement of an Iowa law banning books in schools
  • What's in and out in 2024

On the latest episode of the DMPL Podcast, hosts Jess and Sarah talk about their favorite books of 2023, as well as some of the most common books on the best of 2023 lists across the book media sphere.

Show Notes

What They're Reading

• Bookshops & Bonedust, by Travis Baldree
• Calamity, by Constance Fay
• Assistant to the Villain, by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
• The Quiet Tenant, by Clemence Michallon

Best Of Lists

• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, by Ned Blackhawk
• The Wren, by Anne Enright
• Loot, by Tania James
• The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut
• The Biography of X, by Catherine Lacey
• Terrace Story, by Hillary Leichter
• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
• The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters
• How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair
• Land of Milk and Honey, by C Pam Zhang

Jess' Five (plus one)

• Chang Gang All-Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Death Valley, by Melissa Broder
• I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, by Marisa Crade
• I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
• Iris Kelly Doesn't Date, by Ashley Herring Blake
• A Council of Dolls, by Mona Susan Power

Sarah's Five

• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
• Yours Truly, by Abby Jimenez
• True Love Experiment, by Cristina Lauren
• Knockout, by Sarah MacLean
• Eating to Extinction, by Dan Saladino

Andrew Sean Greer, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Less, its sequel Less is Lost, and four other novels, is the keynote speaker at this year's 23rd annual Iowa Author Awards Dinner. He speaks with host Aaron Gernes about the surprise that is winning the Pulitzer Prize, what it's like to sit as a judge for a major literary award, and what he's going to talk about this Friday in Des Moines.

Show Notes

• Iowa Author Awards Dinner
• About Andrew
  • Andrew's Books at the Library
  • Andrew Sean Greer | Website
  • Andrew Sean Greer | Instagram

On the newest episode of the DMPL Podcast, host Aaron Gernes speaks with one of the headliners at this year's Community Table Festival, Toni Simmons. Simmons is a longtime professional storyteller who has traveled across the country, telling stories and hosting workshops on storytelling.

During the podcast, Toni discusses what storytelling is and how it differs from something like a one-person show. She also talks about her past as a children's librarian right here in Des Moines!

Show Notes

• Toni Simmons | Website
• Toni Simmons | Facebook
• Toni Simmons | Instagram

On this month's Beyond the Shelves, Jes and Sarah are talking all things spooky season. They discuss some of their favorite horror movies and TV shows and the book adaptations that go along with them.

Show Notes

Spooky Season Books

• The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirly Jackson
  • Netflix
• The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James
  • Netflix (as The Haunting of Bly Manor)
• The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allen Poe
  • Netflix
• The Midnight Club, by Christopher Pike
  • Netflix
• Interview with a Vampire, by Anne Rice
  • 1994 film - Hulu
  • 2022 TV series - AMC+
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson
  • Prime Video, Peacock, AMC+, Roku Channel, Kanopy, Pluto TV
• iZombie, by Chris Roberson
  • Netflix
• A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
  • AMC+ (check out from the library)
• Wynonna Earp, by Beau Smith
  • Netflix, Hulu
• Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman 
  • Hulu
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism, by Grady Hendrix
  • Prime Video
• The Changeling, by Victor LaValle
  • Applie TV
• Lovecraft Country, by Matt Ruff
  • Max
• The Initial Insult, by Mindy McGinnis
  
• The Last Laugh, by Mindy McGinnis
  
• What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher
  
• Misery, by Stephen King
  
• The Shining, by Stephen King
  
• Turn of the Key, by Ruth Ware
  

What We're Reading

• Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
  
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
  
• Eating to Extinction, by Dan Saladino 
• The Vaster Wilds, by Lauren Groff
  
• Death Valley, by Melissa Border
  
• A Council of Dolls, by Mona Susan Power
  
• The Violin Conspiracy, by Brenden Slocumb
  
• Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, by Claire Dederer

Best Bets

• Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers
  
• The True Love Experiment, by Christina Lauren
  

First Dibs

• Anita DeMonte Laughs Last, by Xochitl Gonzalez
  
• The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale, by Virginia Kantra

Jes and Sarah are taking us back to middle school this month! They're talking about some of their favorite books from when they were in middle school and giving you some readalikes for those books today!

Show Notes

Middle School Books and Readalikes

Weetzie Bat, by Francesca Lia Block

• One Last Stop, by Casey McQuiston
• Stray City, by Chelsey Johnson

Shadow Children series, by Margaret Peterson Haddix

• How Beautiful We Were, by Imbolo Mbue
• War Girls, by Tochi Onyebuchi

Fear Street series, by R.L. Stine

• My Heart is a Chainsaw, by Stephen Graham Jones
• Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle

Island series, by Gordon Korman

• Into the Jungle, by Erica Ferencik
• The River, by Peter Heller

The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney

• Dear Child, by Romy Hausmann
• A Girl Named Anna, by Lizzy Barber

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg

• Where'd You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by C. Alan Bradley

What We're Reading

• The Wallflower Wager, by Tessa Dare
• Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, by Melissa L. Sevigny
• How Can I Help You, by Laura Sims
• Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher
• The Forest Brims Over, by Maru Ayase; translated by Haydn Trowell

First Dibs

• A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food, by Will Harris
• Say You'll Be Mine, by Naina Kumar

Best Bets

• Fight Night, by Miriam Toews
• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, by Deesha Philyaw

We're talking Vacation Reads on the newest episode of Beyond the Shelves! Jes and Sarah are talking about what makes a great vacation read, as well as some great "escapism" books if you can't get out on vacation for awhile. Plus, what they're reading, best bets, and first dibs!

Show Notes

Vacation Read Recs

• Dial A for Aunties, by Jesse Q. Sutanto
• The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston

Escapism Books

• Lake Books
  • Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
  • It Happened One Summer, by Tessa Bailey
• Road Trip Books
  • Mrs. Nash's Ashes, by Sarah Alder
  • In the Face of the Sun, by Denny S. Bryce
• Beach Books
  • The Perfect Ruin, by Shanora Williams
  • The Unhoneymooners, by Christina Lauren
• Books Abroad
  • Who is Maud Dixon?, by Alexandra Andrews
  • My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante

What We're Reading

• All-Night Pharmacy, by Ruth Madievsky
• Excavations, by Hannah Michell
• Seven Year Slip, by Ashley Poston
• A Court of Thorns and Roses series, by Sarah J. Maas

First Dibs

• The Future, by Naomi Alderman
• Death Valley, by Melissa Broder

Best Bets

• • Untethered Sky, by Fonda Lee
  • The Man Who Could Move Clouds, by Ingrid Rojas Contreras