Books & Bites, Ep. 116: Books Set on Islands 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. Jacqueline: Hello, everyone. Carrie: So we are almost to the middle of our summer bingo card. How's it going for you all so far? Michael: Not bad. Pretty good. Jacqueline: Maybe about halfway. Carrie: Well, I mean- Jacqueline: So I need to do some reading. Carrie: I would say that's about where you should be, right? Michael: Yeah! Carrie: If we're halfway through the card. Jacqueline: Well, that's good. OK, that's good. [Laughter] Michael: Yeah. So right on track. Carrie: Yeah. And, we have a couple of events coming up. Michael, you wanna talk about our (Not So) Silent Book Club? Michael: Sure. So our next meeting of the (Not So) Silent Book Club will be on Monday, September 14th, from 6:30 to 7:30 in front of the fireplace. If you've never attended before, we just kinda chat about [00:01:00] what we're reading, what we wanna read, and then we have some quiet reading time. Since everybody's kinda busy right now, it gives us a chance to kinda catch up on that reading we've been missing out on. Carrie: Yeah. Especially if you, like, are in a noisy household- Michael: Yep [ laughter] Carrie: ... and have a hard time finding some quiet time to read, it's a good time to touch base with other readers and get some reading time in. Michael: And we have light refreshments. Got some snacks for you too. Carrie: Yep. And then this is not on the bingo card, but also in September, we're going to do another book club discussion. It's gonna be Monday, September 28th, at 6:30 PM, and we're going to be talking about Returns and Exchanges by Kayla Ray Whitaker. It is a USA Today Best Seller. And you may remember Kayla. She came on the podcast several years ago with her first book, The Animators, and she'll be joining [00:02:00] us briefly next month as well. And her book, I'll just read the description, the brief description really quick. "It's a sweeping novel of one Kentucky family's rise and fall through the 1980s, a tragicomic tour de force about love and marriage, parents and children, and the perils of mixing family with business." And it's set in Lexington, so I think it's really fun to read just because, well, and it's in the '80s, so you get to get a little bit of history, and recognize maybe some familiar places to you. Jacqueline: That does sound fun. I love to read books like that about places I've been to or- Carrie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, and I guess I should have said something about the registration. So we will have 10 copies of the book available at the customer service desk beginning on August 17th. So you can stop by the desk to register and request your copy of the [00:03:00] book. But if you don't need a copy of the book, 'cause we do have it available as audiobook and eBook, then you can just let them know when you register. You do need to register in person for this program. So what's not to love? You get a free hardback copy of the book. Michael: Yeah. You know how much a hardback costs these days? [Laughter] Carrie: Yeah. All right. So today we're discussing books set on islands. And, you know, like a lot of our prompts, I think this is a pretty versatile prompt. What do you guys think? Michael: Yeah, there's all kinds of things that happen on an island. [Laughter] Jacqueline: This is true. Carrie: I mean, you know, I think we chose it because it could be, you could choose, like, a typical summer read- Michael: Mm-hmm ... Carrie: set on an island. But as Michael has pointed out many times- Michael: Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of horror books set on islands. Islands can be pretty horrific. Carrie: What's that really famous Agatha Christie ... Is it, And [00:04:00] Then There Were None? Michael: Yeah. Is that set on an island? Jacqueline: Yeah, it's set on an island. Carrie: Yeah. Jacqueline: Yeah. I was just gonna say mystery books. Michael: Yeah. Yeah. That's a big one. Fantasy, a lot of those- Carrie: Mm-hmm. That's true Michael: ... are on an island. Carrie: Yeah, we have all kinds of choices on our book lists. So we have book lists that are linked on our Books and Bites page, and also there are some on Libby or OverDrive if you use that for your books as well. And there's all kinds of books on those. Jacqueline: I read Natasha Preston's mystery, The Island, for this month's prompt. What starts as a dream invitation quickly turns into a nightmare. The story is filled with greed, secrets, and a mystery waiting to unfold. Millionaire Malcolm Wyatt invites six social media influencers, Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and [00:05:00] Paisley, to his new private island getaway. The teen influencers will be the only guests attending an exclusive weekend on Jagged Island before the park opens. They are there to create posts and videos for their channels while documenting their VIP treatment at a one-of-a-kind amusement park resort. The luxury resort does not explicitly advertise as it being only for the wealthy, but a three-night stay costs six thousand dollars per person. The main character, Paisley's, primary social media focuses on true crime. Although she posts about other topics, her crime-related content attracts the most attention. As Paisley finishes recording a trailer for her newest YouTube video, Killer in the Family, she avoids going downstairs because her parents are arguing about Malcolm's invitation. Her father is firmly against allowing his seventeen-year-old daughter to attend the getaway. Paisley cannot believe he might not let her go. [00:06:00] She enlists the help of her mother and brother to persuade him that the trip would be a wonderful opportunity. Her mother, who is not particularly fond of Paisley's social media content, ultimately convinces her husband that the experience would help Paisley make new friends and discover new interests. When Paisley and the other five teens arrive at the resort, she can hardly believe how lucky she is to have been invited. The stone hotel, with sharp towers and carved gargoyles, has a dramatic and intimidating appearance. Despite its imposing exterior, the setting is stunning. Most of the other social media influencers and staff members who are around her age are friendly, and Paisley is excited because she usually has a hard time making friends. Paisley cannot wait to explore the resort and maybe even make a few friends. She plans to ride every attraction as many times as possible. But things soon take a dark turn. Will mysteriously disappears, leaving behind all [00:07:00] his belongings, including his camera. Convinced that something terrible has happened to him, Paisley grows increasingly alarmed. The situation becomes even more disturbing when the group discovers that all of the resort's surveillance footage has vanished as well. Instead of delivering a sunny island beach adventure with carefree fun, Preston creates a Gothic setting complete with stormy weather, eerie surroundings, and mounting suspense. The attractions that once seemed exciting quickly become sinister places to hide. Preston gives genuine Gothic vibes and skillfully builds tension that has kept me on the edge. She includes a haunted house attraction that becomes increasingly frightening as visitors move deeper and deeper inside. In one memorable scene, a knife-wielding maniac chases Paisley through a serial killer-themed room. The killer lovingly strokes the figures as he hunts her. This novel delivers surprise [00:08:00] after surprise, and none of Preston's characters seem safe from the mysterious killer. The Island is a great choice for readers who enjoy Gothic suspense, fast-paced mysteries, and relatable teenage characters. For a carnival-inspired treat with a Gothic twist, try making funnel cakes with blueberry sauce from the Hallmark Channel's website. The dark blueberry topping pairs perfectly with the novel's eerie atmosphere, making it a delicious companion for this suspenseful read. Carrie: Yeah, so your book definitely went the mystery route. It kind of sounds like it's a little bit of a combination with- Jacqueline: Hmm ... Carrie: the resort and the mystery. Like, it sort of, you think it's going one way, but then it goes another way. Jacqueline: Then it, yeah. And it's like so ... And it's sort of a, it's almost a thriller mystery, I guess, too. She's very, her books are very surprising. I mean, you, for me [00:09:00] anyway, like I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm like, "What?" [Laughter] And I'm, not to give away the ending, you know, I'm still like, "That didn't happen." And none of her characters are safe either. So you think oh, this character's safe. She's not gonna, they're not gonna get stabbed. But- Carrie: Mm-hmm ... Jacqueline: no, they're being chased just as much as any of the characters with the knife. And actually, he even gets a machete later on, 'cause he loses his knife, and then he starts chasing them with the machete. Carrie: Ooh. [Laughter] Jacqueline: So, and I thought Michael might particularly like the serial killer fun house, horror house. Michael: Yeah. Jacqueline: 'Cause there's like all these real-life serial killers, and the serial killer's like stroking him as they, as he's hunting her with the knife. It's kinda like, what a scene, you know? Michael: Oh, wow. [Laughter] Yeah. Carrie: Interesting. So was it set kind of in a tropical island? Or, I'm a, [00:10:00] I'm a little unsure about- Jacqueline: That's what it seems like tropical to me ... Carrie: okay Jacqueline: You know, it's amusement resort, but there's, you know, it's around, it's like a beachy scene and stuff like that. But I guess it doesn't implicitly say that, so I guess in your mind you could maybe imagine a more of a lake island? But they do get there by water, and they can't get off because the boats disappear as well. Carrie: Of course they do. Jacqueline: Yeah. [Laughter] Yeah. So everyone's stuck on the island with a serial killer. And oh, and the internet, the internet's been blocked too. So I meant to say that in there, but so they can't contact anybody. They can't, you know, unless they're really good swimmers, they're kinda stuck on this island. Carrie: Mm. Michael: Wow. Carrie: That is one of the benefits of the island setting. For an author. Maybe not for the characters. Jacqueline: Maybe not. Yeah, no. I [00:11:00] mean, can you imagine someone chasing you with a knife, and, you know, you're trying to hide in these big amusement park rides or the, and then you make the mistake of going in this haunted house and- Carrie: Yeah, that sounds pretty scary. Jacqueline: Yeah. But not quite, horror. Michael: More suspense, mystery- Jacqueline: Thriller ... Michael: thriller. Jacqueline: Yeah. Mmm. I mean, I thought of you often when I was reading that scene. I was like, "Oh, Michael would really like this scene." Michael: Yeah, sounds like- Jacqueline: Tried to describe it. I don't know if I described it that well, but I did try to describe it a little bit without getting, giving up too much. Michael: No, yeah. And that's a YA book? Jacqueline: It is. I've read several of her books, and so far all the ones that I have read have been standalones. Well, I'll just say this, that a lot of people get killed, so it's kinda hard to bring, to do a sequel sometimes. [Laughter] Not always Carrie: Heavy body [00:12:00] count in those. Jacqueline: There is usually heavy body counts in these, so. Lots of surprises too, like where the bodies, they find the bodies and stuff. Michael: If you like this, you might like Clown in a Cornfield. Jacqueline: That is true. [Laughter] Yeah. I mean, it could al- this one could almost kind of does the, what do y'all call it when it's two separate genres, like a blending? Carrie: Hybrid. Michael: Yeah. Jacqueline: Yeah. This could almost, almost veer into horror. Carrie: Mmm hmm. Michael: Yeah, definitely got some horror elements in there. Carrie: Cool. Thank you. Michael: My recommendation is The Troop by Nick Cutter. This book follows a Boy Scout troop camping for the weekend on a remote, uninhabited island off the coast of Prince Edward Island, taking one last trip before they age out of Scouts. We are introduced to the troop of five 14-year-old boys: [00:13:00] Kent, the popular jock; Shelley, the loner weird kid; Newton, the overweight nerdy kid everyone pokes fun at; and Ephraim and Max, just two regular inseparable best friends. As they arrive on the island and get settled into their cabin for the night, unbeknownst to them, a mysterious skeletal man that is being pursued by a mad scientist is making his way towards their island. Later that night, the Scoutmaster, who's also the local town doctor, discovers this mysterious man stumbling through their campsite, taking him into their cabin. He quickly finds that he's in way over his head when he discovers the horror that has made its home inside the man. Once the scoutmaster becomes infected, the whole weekend evolves into a bloody survival of the fittest nightmare for the troop of boys who are trying to find a way off the island while not becoming infected at the same time. And to make matters worse, one of the boys is a budding psychopath and is looking to take advantage of the situation. This book is a [00:14:00] jacked up, bloodier, and more horrific retelling of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Cutter uses the well-worn stereotypes used so often for adolescent males, like the popular jock and nerdy overweight kid, and develops these characters using them in ways I didn't expect. Scattered throughout the novel are newspaper articles, diary entries, interviews, and investigative reports that help to give answers to what happened off the island and to give the reader a much needed breather from the intense tale. This book is a perfect example of body horror, a sub-genre where the body goes through some kind of grotesque transformation, be it disease, mutation, mutilation, et cetera, and is definitely not for the faint of heart. Cutter does not shy away from the gory details, often going into graphic description. If you enjoy books with wilderness survival, visceral horror, and coming of age, or maybe you've previously enjoyed books like Lord of the Flies or watched the classic 2002 horror film Cabin Fever, [00:15:00] check out The Troop by Nick Cutter. We have it available in our adult fiction section, and also as an e-book through the Libby app. This is another book that might not leave you with much of an appetite after reading. So I paired it with a Dark and Stormy, a tropical cocktail that's aptly named for this book. This recipe from tasteofhome.com calls for just three ingredients: dark rum, ginger beer, and lime juice. It's a little sweet with some gingery spice. You can also go a little heavier on the lime juice if you're a citrus lover like myself. Carrie: Yeah, that sounds good. Michael: Yeah. Carrie: So did you say this was set on Prince Edward Island? Michael: It's an island off of Prince Edward Island. Carrie: Oh, okay. Michael: Yeah, yeah. Carrie: So it's definitely not Anne of Green Gables. [Laughter] Michael: No. Is that set on prince Edward- Carrie: Prince Edward Island. Yeah. Michael: Oh, no. Man, that would've been a story. Anne of Green Gables going... Carrie: Yeah. [Laughter] Yeah, interesting. So Canadian island- Michael: Canadian horror Carrie: ... off the coast of an island. Michael: Yeah. Listen to that. There you go. Carrie: Yeah. I mean, it sounds [00:16:00] kind of similar to Jacqueline's book in some ways, maybe stepped up with the horror. Michael: Little, yeah, it's a little- Jacqueline: A little more. Michael: Yeah. Jacqueline: Yeah, it did sound kinda like that to me. And also I thought that that would be a book that I might like, except maybe a little less horror, but. Michael: It, yeah, this one's very graphic 'cause it's dealing with a- I don't know if I wanna give it away, but like an infection, parasite type thing, and it's- Jacqueline: Oh, yeah Michael: you know, it's very gross. Jacqueline: I've seen the... Oh, yeah. I think I've seen some movies like that where, I used to really be into horror, but somehow I took a turn after, they just got really so much more graphic as time has gone on that I kinda, like, stopped watching them. Michael: The horror movies? Jacqueline: Horror movies, yeah. Michael: Yeah. There's that whole subgenre of the extreme where, you know, with the Saw movies and- Jacqueline: Yeah, it just went- ... Michael: where they get really graphic and hostile, and Cabin Fever is another one that deals with, you [00:17:00] know, infection and skin coming off the body. It's... [Laughter] Jacqueline: Ew. Michael: Yeah. Carrie: I wonder, is there more body horror in general? Like, is that a shift in horror literature, or- Michael: Yeah, recently. There's, yeah, there's been quite the more of it. It's been, you know, with the, that and Gothic have been really taking off recently, I've noticed. Jacqueline: I like Gothic. Carrie: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I just wonder what is responsible for that. I wonder if the, like, maybe partly arose from the pandemic, like- Michael: I think some of that, and I think, too, when it comes to, I don't know if we put it as, like, transgender stuff, issues with that, that I know I've read several that have been heavily body horror related to that, and probably, you know, anxieties surrounding, yeah, pandemics for sure. I think that's probably a big one that spurred that on. Jacqueline: Mm. And what can be worse than, like, seeing someone's arm hanging on a [00:18:00] wall and stuff like that? There's some- Michael: Well, it's more like body- Jacqueline: Or reading about it ... Michael: yeah, like, more like maybe a parasite eating you from the inside, like- Jacqueline: For this one, yeah. Michael: Yeah. Maybe this one- Yeah ... I mean, it's like a, it's a lab-created tapeworm, so it's like a giant worm- Jacqueline: Oh. Carrie: Oh. Michael: ... That's coming out of your eye, and then it comes out and it shoots more worms that's raining down on everybody. So you got, like- Jacqueline: Oh, yeah. That's not fun ... Michael: skin rotting off, the thing's being eaten from the inside out, and- Jacqueline: That's even worse than arms hanging on the wall. [Laughter] Michael: yeah, no, yeah. This is, like, some kind of body transformation muscle, like, yeah. Jacqueline: Yeah, I think I'll pass on that one. Sorry, Michael. [Laughter] Carrie: Interesting. Michael: And then you got this, like Gothic, it's a little more cozy. It's not as, quite as hard. People want a little more quiet horror too, 'cause, you know, the world's crazy now. Carrie: Yes. Jacqueline: I like the quiet horror. I'll go for quiet. Carrie: Yeah, that's my preference too. I can, you know, have the body horror in my [00:19:00] dreams, as we've already established. [Laughter] Michael: Yeah, that was crazy. Carrie: Okay, so I actually have, two short books for this prompt, both set on remote islands off the British coast. So again, islands off the coast of an island. Michael: Ooh. Carrie: And I read one and I listened to the other. So the first, Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor, opens in September 1938 when a whale washes ashore on a tiny island off the coast of Wales. It's a small community of around 12 Welsh-speaking families of fishermen and sheep farmers, and it's home to 18-year-old Manod, who lives with her lobsterman father and younger sister, Llinos, whom she's taken care of since their mother died years ago.[00:20:00] Manod says that some of the older residents believe the whale, "Was some kind of omen, though could not agree on whether it was good or bad." A month later, ethnographers Joan and Edward arrive from Oxford after hearing about the whale. They decide to stay on the island to study its culture, hiring Manod as their assistant and translator because of her impressive English. To Manod, Joan and Edward represent a life of possibility off the island. She doesn't want to marry an islander, as her father expects, but to study and move away. She is flattered by the researchers' attentions and develops a sexual relationship with Edward, even as she gradually realizes that they have their own selfish agendas. For example, Joan and Edward stage photographs for their book, asking a fisherman to pose in rough water despite knowing that none of the islanders can swim. "The island that's in your head," Manod says to Joan [00:21:00] afterwards, "I don't think it exists." Interspersed with Manod's narration are transcriptions of songs and stories by the islanders, as well as notes by the researchers. This lyrical, fragmented novella captures a dying way of life in a beautiful but harsh environment. It's an atmospheric portrait of Manod as she grows from a naive young girl to a determined young woman. If you prefer character-driven historical fiction that's reflective and stylistically complex, Whale Fall might be the island of your dreams. And the audiobook is a great resource if you'd like to hear the correct Welsh pronunciations. I listened to part of it, though ultimately preferred reading the physical book. I also listened to The Name Game by Beth O'Leary, a contemporary romance set on another tiny British island, this time the fictional Ormer in the English Channel. The island farm shop [00:22:00] has just hired someone named Charlie Jones as manager, but on Charlie's first work day, not one but two people named Charlie Jones show up: a grieving woman who wants to start a family, and a newly sober man just off a big breakup. Since no one at the shop seems to know who the job was actually meant for, the Charlies agree to a trial period of sharing the position--and living quarters. Naturally, shenanigans ensue. Michael: Oh, man. [Laughter] Carrie: Like O'Leary's book, The Flat Share, which I recommended several years ago, this witty epistolary novel is narrated from both the man and woman's perspectives. The plot is so twisty, I had a little trouble keeping up with everything while I was driving, but I found myself rooting for both Charlies, charmed by even the grumpy villagers, and satisfied by everyone's happily ever after. Where Whale Fall showed a more realistic [00:23:00] portrayal of rural island life, The Name Game served up the tourist's fantasy complete with long walks, beautiful views, and barn dances, and it would also count for the prompt about workers or the workplace. If you want to read these books together like I did, then pair them with a traditional Welsh cake and a cup of farm shop coffee that's fancy enough for the tourists, but not too fancy for the locals. Welsh cakes are similar to scones, but cooked more like a pancake. We'll link to a recipe on our blog. Jacqueline: That's really neat that you read the books about ... They're both set in Wales, is that- Carrie: Uh- Jacqueline: Or was it just the first one? Carrie: No, the UK. Yeah, so the first one was set off the coast of Wales. Jacqueline: Okay. Carrie: A Welsh island, Welsh-speaking island off the coast of Wales, and the ... But yeah, they were both set on tiny islands off the coast of islands so. Jacqueline: Okay. Okay. Michael: That second one, was there a lot of comedy in that one? Carrie: Yeah, it was kind of a romantic comedy. Yeah. It [00:24:00] was ... I like that particular writer because it, it's a nice ... She writes nice, light kind of books that are fun to listen to while you're driving, you know, rather than- Michael: Yeah. Yeah Carrie: ... listening to depressing news. Michael: Yes! [Laughter] Carrie: Although this one, like I said, it was just hard to keep track of, like, who was who, and there were some other twists, and the characters weren't always, it wasn't always apparent who they were, so there was like a while where I was just like, "I don't really know what's happening here," you know? I think it would've been easier to follow had I been reading it, but anyway, I did sort of figure it out- Michael: Yeah Carrie: ... eventually. Michael: There's some of those books, like, the twists are just, like, too much. Like, I can't ... And it's like, "What is ... I can't ... what?" Carrie: Yeah. Well, we had a pretty diverse selection today, I think. Jacqueline: Yeah, I think so. Michael: Oh, yeah. Suspense, [00:25:00] horror, thriller, mystery, romantic comedy. Carrie: Mm-hmm. And then literary fiction. Michael: Yeah. There's another book called Whalefall that just came out. Is that the one ... Did that ... No. Carrie: Yes. I know what you're talking about. Yeah, because yeah, I had a, when I was considering what to read, yeah, both of them, I was like, "Wait, I thought it, I thought that had a different cover." But yeah. One of ... This one is whale, like, it's Whale Fall. Michael: Two words? Carrie: Two words. Michael: I think the other one's one word. Yeah. Carrie: And the other one, I think, is one word. Yeah. Michael: That guy gets swallowed by a whale. Carrie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And that, I mean, I guess, is a- Michael: I don't think it'd be an island book. Carrie: No. Jacqueline: There's plenty of island books out there for people. Carrie: Plenty of island books. And then I guess next month we'll be talking about books about workers or the workplace. [00:26:00] Thanks for listening to the Books and Bites podcast. Our theme music is The Breakers from the album In Close Quarters with the Enemy by Scott Whiddon. Learn more about Scott and his music at his website, adoorforadesk.com