Tag: Misha Popp

Checked In: A Davenport Public Library Podcast December 2024 Wrap

- Brittany Leave a comment

All three Davenport Public Library locations are closed today and tomorrow in observance of Christmas, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not here for you! In addition to using our online digital resources while we’re closed, you can listen to Checked In: A Davenport Public Library Podcast online. In this blog post, I will give you helpful links to area resources, Library resources, and links to the books discussed in our December episode!

Celebrate Humbug Day on December 21st

Humbug Day is a day to vent stress before Christmas by channeling your inner Ebenezer Scrooge. The hosts compiled a list of some of their favorite curmudgeons!

Beth’s Favorites:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Brittany’s Favorites:
The Long Game by Elena Armas
Bruce Series by Ryan T. Higgins
Crankenstein Series by Samantha Berger and Dan Santat
Goodnight Already by Jory John

Stephanie’s Favorites:
Assistant to the Villain & Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Family Search

The Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, which means The Library has access to more genealogy resources to help make more family discoveries. There are only a few hundred affiliate libraries in the country. This designation means our community has greater and more convenient access to the wealth of genealogical resources through FamilySearch. This popular web service has over 6 billion searchable names and 2 billion images of historical genealogical records, plus the helpful assistance of knowledgeable employees.

Festivus: An Airing of Grievances – 2024 Reads Edition

In honor of Festivus on December 23rd, Beth, Brittany, and Stephanie aired their grievances book style for a second year! Below are titles that frustrated them the most! Feel free to hate read with them in the coming year! Or, simply love them! We won’t judge!

Beth’s Grievances:
The Black Belt Librarian by Warren Graham
Just My Type: A Book About Fonts by Simon Garfield
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver

Brittany’s Grievances: 
One Hundred Moments of Us by Jon Rance
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica

Stephanie’s Grievances:
The Aurora Teagarden Series by Charlaine Harris

Ancestry Library Edition

Ancestry Library has over 1.2 billion records in over 3,000 databases. Ancestry Library is a must-have resource for anyone doing genealogical research. Ancestry Library is an in-house only resource, so you do need to be in one of our buildings to access the databases and records. Another thing to keep in mind is that Ancestry Library does not let you build your own family tree and save it. If you find a record that is important to you, you can email it to yourself.

The Gift of a Reading Recommendation!

To celebrate the holidays, your Checked In hosts exchanged the gift of a reading recommendation. We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well while working together here at The Library, so we’re going to make personalized recommendations to each other! The titles are below!

 Beth’s Recommendations:
To Stephanie: Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies by Tara Schuster
To Brittany: I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Brittany’s Recommendations:
To Beth: The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
To Stephanie: The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

Stephanie’s Recommendations:
To Brittany: The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
To Beth: The Less People Know About Us by Axton Beth-Hamilton

Looking for Your Next Read?

Library patrons can get reading recommendations from library staff any time of the year! There are options for everyone to help discover your next great read!

 

Wintry Romances

Beth and Stephanie welcomed our amazing editor, Claire onto the pod to talk about favorite wintry romances! Below are the titles discussed in the segment.

Stephanie’s List:
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
A Winter in New York by Josie Silver
Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey
The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox
A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Beth’s List:
Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

Brittany’s List:
Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot

Claire’s List:
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison

What Our Hosts Read In November

Beth’s Reads:
Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Stephanie’s Reads:
All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris, narrated by Therese Plummer
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Under the Oak Tree: The Comic adapted by namu, illustrated by P., and original story by Suji Kim
The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, narrated by Allison Hirato
Cover Story by Susan Rigetti, narrated by Carlotta Brentan
Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris, narrated by Therese Plummer
The Last to Pie by Misha Popp
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Hometown Betrayal: A Tragic Story of Secrecy and Sexual Abuse in Mormon Country by Emily Benedek
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, narrated by Emilia Fox

Brittany’s Reads:
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter, narrated by Angel Pean
Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot

If you would like to listen to our episode, it can be found wherever you get your podcasts. If you prefer listening on the web, it can be found here!

We love hearing from our listeners, please feel free to comment on this blog post, on our socials, or email us at checked.in@davenportlibrary.com.

Cozy Mystery Reads: Pies Before Guys Mystery series by Misha Popp

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“Like there are these things that matter on a large grand scale, the kind of things Melly cares about, like stopping fascism and curing climate change, and that’s obviously super important, but then there are the little individual things, like a woman who’s getting hit at home or a girl whose rapist gets a free pass for being popular. Do you go for the big sweeping save-the-world changes that will help the most people, or do you chip away at the little problems, fixing one and another and another until you have this huge snowball of good deeds built up?”
― Misha Popp, Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is the first book in the Pies Before Guys Mystery series. The description drew me in and I knew I needed to read it: a woman seeks vengeance on men who have wronged women by baking pies laced with deadly magic. Best part: there are recipes listed at the end of the book!

Daisy Ellery comes from a long line of magic women. Each woman’s magic manifests in different ways though: her grandmother sewed her magic into beautiful dresses, her mother opened a beauty salon where she used her magic to help cut women’s hair, and Daisy bakes her magic into pies. For years Daisy has believed that the family’s magic twisted and changed for the worse when it came to her. After all, her mother and grandmother used their magic for good, while Daisy’s magic mostly manifests for revenge.

Daisy’s first murder by pie was an accident. She has been on the move ever since, but has still found ways to deliver magic through baking. Daisy travels with her dog Zoe around the country in her refurbished RV baking vengeance into her pastries. Daisy delivers them to men who have done wrong to women in the towns wherever she chooses to stop.

Daisy currently parks her Pies Before Guys van outside a local diner, where she bakes pies for Frank, the diner owner. One day, Frank tells Daisy that someone has been prowling around her van. Daisy later discovers a letter stuck to her door. Her prowler knows about her secret murder pie business and is threatening to out her unless Daisy bakes pies for his own list of targets.

Daisy feels violated. Who dares blackmail her? This person obviously has no idea who or what they are dealing with, but without identifying who has it out for her, Daisy is left floundering. She decides to take whatever action she can: using her databases to research past abusive men, investing in security equipment, and staying aware of her surroundings.

When Daisy learns of a statewide pie contest that has the ability to help her promote Pies Before Guys everywhere, she decides to take the leap and enter. This contest, and the prize money, could change her life for the better as long as her blackmailer doesn’t get to her first.

Pies Before Guys Mystery series

  1. Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies (2022)
  2. A Good Day to Pie (2023)