Choose Love, Read Romance

Find Your Joy (and Your Friends) at the Library

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1846599/fan_mail/new] On this episode we are celebrating National Library Week. This year’s theme is “Find Your Joy,” and Kacie and Eliza are here to tell us all about the many different ways the library can help you do just that.   In addition, Kacie talks to Pat Sirulnick about the Friends of the Hamden Library and all that they do for us. If you don’t already know, the Friends are absolutely crucial to what we do. If you’re looking for a way to support the library, joining the Friends is a great way to do so. Visit our website [https://hamdenlibrary.org/support-the-library/friends/] for more details.

Poetry Roundtable

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1846599/fan_mail/new] When it comes to a subject as broad as poetry, it’s hard to pick one thing to focus on. So we picked a whole bunch. From statistics of who is writing poetry and why, to a staff-wide poetry collaboration, to an infamous poet with a relentless drive to write and recite his creations regardless of how well, or how poorly, they were regarded by the audiences who heard them - this is a conversation that covers a lot of ground. We had lots of fun making this episode and we hope you have fun listening.

Choose Love, Read Romance

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1846599/fan_mail/new] Love is in the air and on the shelves! In this Valentine’s Day episode, Kacie chats with booksellers from two of Connecticut’s romance-only bookstores to rave about all things romance novels. From breaking down stereotypes to sharing can’t-miss love stories, we’re making the case that romance is for everyone. Big thanks to Sarah and Elizabeth from Montgomery & Taggert [https://www.montgomeryandtaggert.com/] and Jenna from Blush Book Lounge [https://www.instagram.com/blushbookloungect/?hl=en] for chatting with us this month!   For more romance novel suggestions, stop in and browse the February book display on the first floor of Miller Library. <3

Setting Goals and New Year Traditions

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1846599/fan_mail/new] This is a special, Matt-centric episode in which podcast team member Matt sits down to talk with host Michael Pierry to talk about New Year’s traditions. And because the only force in the known universe more powerful than one Matt is .. two Matts, Matt interviews Matthew Kerzner, aka Dr. K, to help us all in formulating and following through on our New Year’s resolutions and goals. There are also some book recommendations, of course.

End-of-year 2025 Roundtable Books & Media Discussion

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1846599/fan_mail/new] Enjoy our special end-of-year roundtable discussing our favorite (and least favorite) books and media of 2025 and what we're looking forward to in 2026. List of books/media discussed: * Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid * The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid * The Summer Hikaru Died, Mokumokuren * Alchemised, SenLinYu * The Black Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #20) & The Gray Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #19), Louise Penny * The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans * Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace * Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1), Matt Dinniman * Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver * Atavists: Stories, Lydia Millet * The Hacienda, Isabel Cañas * Babel, R.F. Kuang * The Framed Women of Ardemore House (Ardemore House #1) & The Dead Came To Stay (Aredemore House #2), Brandy Schillace * Read Between the Lines (Ms. Right #1) & No Rings Attached (Ms. Right #2), Rachel Lacey * Sky Full of Elephants, Cebo Campbell * The Spellshop (Spellshop #1) & The Enchanted Greenhouse (Spellshop #2), Sarah Beth Durst * Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde #1), Heather Fawcett * The Grace of Wild Things, Heather Fawcett * A Court of Thorns and Roses (book series), Sarah J. Maas * Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë * Sunrise on the Reaping, Susan Collins * People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry * Off-Campus (upcoming TV series based on the book series by Elle Kennedy) * Percy Jackson & the Olympians (TV series, based on the book series by Rick Riordan) * Bridgerton (TV series based on the book series by Julia Quinn) * Vagabond, Tim Curry * A Monsoon Rising (The Hurricane Wars #2) & The Shattered Tempest (The Hurricane Wars #3), Thea Guanzon * The Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) & Dead Beat (Alex Stern #3), Leigh Bardugo * Silo (TV series based on the books Wool, Shift & Dust by Hugh Howey) * American Girl & Dear America series * Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure, Lewis Hancox * Transitions: A Mother's Journey, Élodie Durand * Hypercapitalism: The Modern Economy, Its Values, and How to Change Them, Larry Gonick & Tim Kasser * Wish Monster: A Middle Grade Halloween Horror Tale About a Wish-Granting Creature and the Price of Bringing the Dead Back, J. A. White * Fourth Wing (Empyrean #1) & Iron Flame (Empyrean #2), Rebecca Yarros * Don’t Trust Fish, Neil Sharpson & Dan Santat * Flotsam, David Wiesner * Roxaboxen: A Picture Book About Childhood Imagination and the Transforming Magic of Boxes, Sticks, and Sand for Children, Alice McLerran & Barbara Cooney * The Wedding People, Alison Espach * Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby van Pelt * Untypical, Pete Wharmby * Silver Elite, Dani Francis * Three Days in June, Anne Tyler * Lessons in Magic and Disaster, Charlie Jane Anders * The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V. E. Schwab * Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V. E. Schwab