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Books and Bites
JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.
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Carrie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Books and Bites podcast. Each month, we bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them. I'm Carrie Green, and I'm here with my co-hosts, Michael Cunningham and Jacqueline Cooper.
Michael: Hello.
Carrie: Hello, everyone. So we're kicking off 2025 with the Winter Spring Bingo Sheet.
Michael, would you like to tell our listeners a little more about it?
Michael: Sure. From now through June 30th. We are doing the winter spring edition of the Books and Bites Bingo. So, just like last year, you can complete all 25 squares for a chance to win a $100 Joseph Beth gift card. You can also get one of our really awesome enamel pins while supplies last.
And if you need any help or suggestion for your squares, you know, listen to the podcast, follow our awesome Facebook page. It has really sweet memes. Attend one of our , Books and Bites book club meetings or sign up for the Books and Bites [00:01:00] newsletter.
Carrie: Yes, and you can also visit the Books and Bites web page where we're compiling lists for all of the prompts.
So we're still working on those, so keep checking back. So we're really excited about the square read Rednecks by Taylor Brown or another book set in Appalachia. So we're kind of, gonna try to do, like, a little square where everybody, if they want to, everyone who wants to, can read the same book.
And we're gonna have, in March, the podcast episode, we'll be discussing the book, kind of like a little podcast book club. And then, we're also gonna have an in person book discussion of it, and that will be on March 18th at 6. 30. If you read the book and either attend the book club discussion or listen to the March episode, then you'll get another free square of your choice.[00:02:00]
You don't have to, you know, if you're not able to come to the in person book discussion or you can't get it read by March, you don't have to listen to the podcast in March. That's the great thing about podcasts is that you can listen to them whenever you want to. So it gives you a little more flexibility there.
And just to give you a little bit of information about the book, this is from the publisher's description: "Rednecks is a big canvas historical novel that dramatizes the 1920 to 1921 events of the West Virginia Mine Wars, from the Matewan Massacre through the Battle of Blair Mountain. The largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War, when some one million rounds were fired, bombs were dropped on Appalachia, and the term redneck would come to have an unexpected origin story."
[00:03:00] So I have started the book already. Have you, Michael?
Michael: No, I'm about to.
Carrie: Yeah, it's very compelling and like, definitely a lot happening.
So, I think we'll have a lot to talk about with the book.
Yeah, so I think, I think that'll be interesting.
Michael: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it very much.
Carrie: And we do have multiple copies of the book that will be available. I think there are three available right now, but we have more copies that are coming. So everybody who wants to read it should be able to get a copy from the library.
Michael: Yeah.
Carrie: This month we are talking about wintry books, which seems very,
very fitting for the weather that we're having right now.
Michael: Yeah, snow and ice and more snow.
Jacqueline: Yeah. January's typically the coldest month anyway, is that right?
Michael: I thought it was February, but I don't know. [00:04:00] It seems like it now.
Carrie: Yeah. Let's hope January is the coldest month. Yeah. Because I don't want anything colder than this.
Jacqueline: Me either.
Carrie: So the book I read was Time of the Child by Niall Williams. I am such a fan of Niall Williams's writing, I would follow him anywhere, even when, as here, the storyline veers dangerously close to Hallmark territory. But I suppose he should be forgiven for that. In fact, some might even prefer the Hallmark territory, given that this novel takes place around Christmas.
If you read This is Happiness, Williams's previous novel, the setting and some of the characters in Time of the Child will be familiar to you. Like that novel, this one is set in Faha, a small [00:05:00] parish in western Ireland, this time in 1962. The night of the Christmas fair, 12 year old Jude Quinlan finds a baby abandoned at the church.
She appears to be dead, but when Jude and the Talty brothers bring her to the doctor, she revives. The doctor, Jack Troy, swears Jude and the Taltys to secrecy. For now, he and his 29 year old daughter, Ronnie, will care for the girl. The doctor's motivations for keeping the child a secret are unclear, at least at first.
But gradually, we learn that he feels responsible for the fact that Ronnie has never married. She's fallen in love with the baby, and Dr. Troy plots a way for her to keep it, something that would not be possible for a single woman in 1962 Ireland. The doctor's self delusions and the Troys' attempts to keep the child a [00:06:00] secret drive the plot.
At every moment, the reader feels like something terrible is about to happen. I don't want to give away too much, but let me say that just when I thought I was going to throw my Kindle across the room in disgust at the turn of events, something you might call sentiment or, if you're feeling generous, miracle, stepped in.
Did I feel a little as if I'd been jerked around? Yes. Did I care? Not really. Though Dr. Troy and Ronnie are the central characters, this nonlinear novel also goes into the points of view of Jude and a young priest, giving a multi voiced portrait of the town. If you're looking for a wintry book with lots of snow, this isn't it.
Faha in winter is cold and wet, but it's a joy to see just how many ways Williams can describe the rain, and still make it sound fresh and full of [00:07:00] subtext, for the emotions brimming underneath: " There was no rain under the street lamp, only a fine mizzle dandling," he writes. And then later, " Small rain was spitting. " And later still, "Apologetic rain had come in the sashes, gathering in small pools in the corner of the sills." Williams's precise descriptions, humor, and insight into his characters kept me reading. I highlighted six pages of favorite passages.
Michael: Wow.
Carrie: Yeah. And I have read other books by him and I think I've done them on the podcast before and that is always the case for me, like, with this writer.
He's just, his writing is so good. So here's one: " Nan Hassett had two convictions. A fish had to be [00:08:00] cooked with the tide still in it, and you could never have too much salt. Nan knew that, having come from the sea, people craved nothing else. Her cuisine was salt with extras, her customers devouring whatever she put on the plate, and after, like the legendary Fionn, licking their fingers."
Just rereading that passage makes me crave fish and chips, which would undoubtedly be better eaten in an Irish pub, but can be recreated with a recipe from Sense and Edibility. If you'd prefer something warm to sip that's a little less caffeinated than Irish coffee, try a cup of Irish tea. Made with Irish whiskey, black tea, honey, and lemon juice,
it's the perfect drink to enjoy by the fire. And the perfect drink for the weather that we've been having.
Michael: Yeah, I like a cup of that.
Carrie: Yeah, might help with this little frog in [00:09:00] my throat I have today. In any case, we'll link to both recipes on our blog.
Jacqueline: Sounds good. Sounds like an interesting book.
Carrie: Yeah, it was, I mean, it was really good and I, I read it, you know, we have to read a little bit ahead of time since we record this.
We're recording in early January. So it was really nice to be able to read it right around the holiday season.
Jacqueline: Yeah, that does seem like it would be nice.
Michael: My wintry book is Boys in the Valley by Philip Fercassi, one that had a lot of buzz on BookTok when it was released in 2023. In the early 20th century, 32 boys are preparing for the harsh Pennsylvanian winter at the isolated St. Vincent's Orphanage for boys. Under the strict supervision of Father Poole and two other priests, these boys work the land, [00:10:00] clean, worship, and learn.
While we get several points of view in this story, we mostly follow Peter Barlow, a 16 year old who was tragically orphaned when he was 9. He's one of the older boys many of the younger ones look up to for guidance. Some call him St. Peter derisively since he's on the path to becoming a priest under the tutelage of Father Andrew.
Yet he's become very conflicted now that he's in love with a nearby farmer's daughter. Then one frigid and snowy night, the normalcy of the orphanage is shattered when the sheriff and a group of deputies from the closest town arrives with a bound and hooded man, carved head to toe in occult symbols. Thinking he's possessed by something,
the posse decides to take him to the priests to perform an exorcism. However, something is let loose in the orphanage after the harrowing and deadly exorcism attempt, something that spreads and infects the boys, causing them to act on their most violent and gruesome tendencies. Lines are drawn, [00:11:00] sides are chosen, leaving Peter and those closest to him to survive and do everything they can to protect the most vulnerable of the boys.
This coming of age story grabs you and doesn't let go. The author doesn't let you forget that these boys are still just scare kids, and once the horror starts, it's almost relentless. It's been described as The Exorcist meets The Lord of the Flies, which is a good description. But I think The Exorcist meets The Children of the corn is just a little more fitting.
It's one of those books that stays with you long after you're done. I highly recommend it. I pair this with one of my favorite dishes to keep me warm in the wintertime: Smoked Over-the-Top Chili. This calls for two pounds of ground beef. A pound of hot breakfast sausage, 3 red onions, chipotle peppers, dark chocolate, fire roasted tomatoes, and cinnamon sticks.
Once you have your pot of chili ready to go, you're going to combine your 3 pounds of meat into a ball and smoke it over the pot of the chili on the smoker for 3 hours, so you can catch all those, uh, wonderful drippings. [00:12:00] And then you're going to let it simmer on the smoker for another 3 to 4 hours. And you can find this recipe on MeatChurch.
com.
Jacqueline: So, does the boy grow up in the book? Like, how many years go by?
Michael: None. There's a prologue when he's small, and then it kind of jumps to 16. So, it's, I think that it takes course maybe over a week.
Jacqueline: Oh, okay.
Michael: If that, a few days.
Jacqueline: I was just curious, because you were saying they were young. He got there when he was really young, and now he's in love.
Michael: Yeah,
Jacqueline: is the woman involved in the horror part of it, the scary part or
Michael: the the farmer's daughter farmer's daughter No, she's one of those like periphery characters She's there and she makes an appearance here there, but most everything takes place at the orphanage
Jacqueline: Looks like it'd be cold and scary.
Michael: It is very cold.
Very scary Lord of the Flies, but In the middle of the winter time.
Carrie: Yeah, kind of the opposite as far as [00:13:00] temperature, right? It seems like there are a lot of horror books that take place in the winter.
Michael: Oh yeah. Yeah, there's a whole, I had trouble choosing.
Jacqueline: Oh really?
Michael: Yeah.
Jacqueline: That's interesting.
Michael: Misery, The Shining.
Jacqueline: That's true.
Carrie: Yeah. Well, I know you added a bunch more to our wintry books list, so people can check there.
Michael: Yeah, sorry if it's a little overdone before.
Carrie: But that recipe, that sounds like a very serious endeavor.
Michael: It wasn't that bad.
Carrie: No?
Michael: I think the hardest part was chopping all those onions. But other than that, you just kind of throw it all in the pot, you know.
Get that meatball formed and stick it over top of the pot and let it smoke for a few hours. And then once that's done and you just break it up, put it in there, let it simmer some more.
Jacqueline: Perfect chili weather.
Michael: Oh yeah.
Carrie: Yeah. So we [00:14:00] got chili, we got beverage. Jacqueline, do you have a dessert for us?
Jacqueline: I do. A whole meal is planned.
Michael: Yeah.
Jacqueline: The book I chose to read was Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones. Wintersong is a young adult fantasy filled with lyrical prose, music, and magic. This coming of age story is told in the style of a fairy tale set in 18th century Bavaria. The main character is 18 year old Liesel. She is the oldest of three children and an innkeeper's daughter.
She's always had to live in the shadow of her musically gifted brother, Joseph, and her beautiful sister, Kathe. Kathe is engaged to Liesl's best friend, Hans, the one man Liesl thought might love her. Liesl has a gift as well, the gift of composition, but because [00:15:00] she is a girl, her father dismisses her musical creations.
She cannot reveal her musical talents or her feelings for Hans because the family must come first. Their father, who once played for all of Europe, only trains Joseph. Since Joseph and Kathe have their futures laid out, they embrace adulthood. While Liesel, with little to look forward to, clings to her childhood, her grandmother's fantastical tales of the Goblin King and other creatures who live in the woods beyond their barbarian village.
So when Constance warns Liesel to watch out for their sister whose wanton ways might attract the Goblin King, her eyes are opened to the possibility. According to one of the tales, the king leaves the underground, now that it is, " the last night of the year, now the days of winter begin, and the Goblin King rides abroad, searching for his bride."
So, when Kathe disappears, Liesel goes underground to save her sister from becoming the Goblin King's bride. What does Liesel have to sacrifice to get her sister back? [00:16:00] The king tells her, "without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth." Will she or her sister have to become the Winter King's bride for winter to end?
The author brings a lot of natural elements to describe the winter underground that is the Goblin King's domain. The climbing out of the underground symbolizes spring flowers poking their heads through the dirt. I found this story like other fairy tales with plenty of warnings. If you go off with strange goblin men, you might not survive.
The sister got into trouble because she did not heed the warning from her superstitious grandmother. Liesel must embrace her true self and her talent to succeed. I found the bit of book confusing, especially the second half. There are a lot of loose ends, but maybe the sequel will clear them up. The book's mature content makes it
more appropriate for older teens and adults. If you like this book or interested in the struggle of female composers in the 18th century, you might want to read The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu, a historical fantasy [00:17:00] about Wolfgang Mozart's sister, Maria Anna Mozart, also known as Nannerl. For my bites, I chose a German Austrian cookie from Kitchen Nostalgia.
These are vanilla crescent shaped cookies shaped by hand. Once baked and still warm, they are then coated in powdered sugar or a warm vanilla sugar.
Carrie: Yeah,
sounds like we have a whole
meal.
Jacqueline: We do. I've actually made these cookies with an Austrian friend. When I was in Alabama, she came to visit her sister and we made these cookies.
They make lots of different cookies and that was one. And I was like, that's perfect for this book, I think.
Carrie: Yeah. Yeah. It seems like fairy tales are often in take place in winter too.
Jacqueline: Oh yeah, that's true.
Carrie: I don't really know why that is, but
Jacqueline: a lot of rebirth, I guess, because they're usually I think maybe they're like Cinderella.
They're all in downtrodden and rags, but then they [00:18:00] get reborn into like a princess or whatever, I guess, or they get reborn into an evil villain. Just depends on the fairy tale. This one did have a, it had a lot more going on. I, I don't know how I could even explain everything because it, there was so many different side stories going on with the brother and then the sister.
And so, but. I did my best to kind of explain it.
Michael: And you said there's going to be a sequel?
Jacqueline: Yeah, there is a sequel. I have not read it yet because I was like, just haven't had the time. I think I will read it even though I was like, the whole Goblin King, we never really found, Well, maybe I shouldn't give this away, but really did he has a whole story that we really don't know a back story
Michael: Was it David Bowie?
Jacqueline: Some of the reviews and they commented that this book was sort of like The Labyrinth
Michael: That's exactly what popped into my head. This reminds me of The Labyrinth [00:19:00] a little
bit.
Jacqueline: Yeah, another reviewer said that too. Maybe she kind of borrowed, I don't know.
Carrie: Oh, that makes me want to re watch that. I haven't seen The Labyrinth in many, many years.
Jacqueline: There you go. You can read Wintersong and watch The Labyrinth.
Carrie: I think it's, I've seen it on Kanopy. I think it's available to watch on Kanopy, so, yeah.
Thanks for listening to the Books and Bites podcast. To learn more about Books and Bites Bingo, visit us at jesspublib. org/books-bites. Our theme music is The Breakers from the album In Close Quarters with the Enemy by Scott Whiddon. You can learn more about Scott and his music at his website adoorforadesk.com.