03.2021 Book Recommendation // TREASURE ISLAND!!! by Sara Levine

Mikayla recommends... Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine.

During the last year, I have really struggled with reading books. I know, I know, I'm a librarian! Reading is what I do, and it stressed me out that something I love so much had become such a chore for me. I tried to be patient with myself and ease back in, so I decided that I'd try exclusively reading books less than 250 pages in length, in order to ease myself back into it. And in doing that, I found my love of reading rekindled in the form of the book Treasure Island!!! by Sara Levine.

Treasure Island!!! follows a protagonist who finds herself increasingly unhappy with her adventureless life and series of dead-end jobs. After reading Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of rollicking adventure, Treasure Island, she resolves to redesign her life according to the story's Core Values: boldness, resolution, independence, and horn-blowing. It's such a fun tale, told by an utterly unique voice.

02.2020 Life Recommendation // Try a Reading Challenge

Read more, read better, read harder -- are you up for a challenge in 2020? I set a goal for myself to read more this year (I read 9 books in January alone!) and have been thinking about taking on another challenge to expand my horizons of what I read. Book blogger GirlXOXO published a masterlist of different reading challenges you can try out here. I recommend Book Riot's "Read Harder" Challenge or PopSugar's Reading Challenge if you want to go out of your comfort zone and try some new authors or genres, or the Beat the Backlist Challenge if you have a mountain-high TBR pile like I do and just want to get through that before reading anything else!

Staff recommendation published in Crafton Public Library's monthly newsletter.

08.2019 Podcast & Book Recommendation // My Favorite Murder

Since its original release in 2016, the true-crime podcast My Favorite Murder has amassed a cult following. Every week, comedians Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff treat their listeners (lovingly dubbed "murderinos") to a delightful concoction of light-hearted personal banter; frank life advice delivered in snappy, bite-sized quips (like, "pepper spray first, apologize later"); as well as the nominal reason for the podcast—swapping morbid tales of murder. The two women have always been honest about their own checkered pasts on the show, but recently they published a dual memoir titled Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide. While the book features decidedly less murder than the podcast, what it does provide is a poignant look into Karen and Georgia's personal lives, the reasons behind their true crime fascination, and the life events that have lead them to where they are today.

Staff recommendation published in Crafton Public Library's monthly newsletter.