Professional Book Nerds

On today's episode, Adam chats with Kate Moore, author of the incredible book The Radium Girls. This work of nonfiction recounts the story of the women who worked with Radium-based paint, ingesting poison every single day, and their fight to make sure the tragedies they endured never happened again.  Kate discussed the massive amount of research she did to bring this story to life and also shared her experiences as a ghost writer and editor. Take a listen and then borrow, purchase and recommend this book. It's astonishing. Say Hello!  Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read, ger personalized recommendations

We're back with round two of our Book Riot Read Harder Challenge suggestions! Completing this challenge is a lot of fun and can help broaden your literary scope but it can be tough to find books that fit the categories. That's where we come in! In ep. 82 we did five different categories and today we have 5 more for you. Below are links to all the books we discuss. Take a listen!   Read a Debut Novel This is Where it ends by Marieke Nijkamp Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa Ready Player One by Ernest Cline American War by Omar El Akkad White Teeth by Zadie Smith No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware Start up by Doree Shafrir   Read a book published between 1900 & 1950 The Old Man The Sea by Ernest Hemingway The Sun Also Rise by Ernest Hemingway Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Aga

It's Children's Book Week and we are celebrating with a three-in-one author interview episode featuring authors Pat Mora, Cynthia Leitich-Smith, and Don Tate.  Interviews were recorded at the Virginia Hamilton Conference, April 6-7, 2017.   Say Hello!  Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read, ger personalized recommendations, and learn about the hottest books coming out that we can't wait to dive into.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May is just around the corner which means it's time for Adam and Jill to offer up their top picks for books coming out in May 2017! Books Mentioned In This Episode:  We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare by Gabourey Sidibe The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve Into the Water by Paula Hawkins Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane Theft by Finding by David Sedaris Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron Astrophysics for People In a Hurry by Neil Degrasse Tyson The Radium Girls by Kate Moore Dating-ish by Penny Reid Flame In the Mist by Renee Ahdieh New Boy by Tracy Chevalier The Leavers by Lisa Ko Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker Men Without Stories by Haruki Murakami Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession by Alison Weir Where The Lost Girls Go by R.J. Noonan   Say Hello!  Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com Music "Buddy" provided royalt

In today's episode, Adam speaks with Scottish author Denzil Meyrick. Denzil's book, Whisky From Small Glasses was selected as our Together We Read Digital Book Club choice for our U.K. libraries. Together We Read is a Digital Book Club being featured through participating libraries in the United Kingdom from 11 – 25 May 2017. The club connects readers all across the United Kingdom with the same eBook, at the same time. Denzil discusses how he went from being on the police force to writing crime novels as well as the importance of setting in his books, why you need to visit Scotland and so much more. Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com   Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com   Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public librari

On Today's episode, Jill & Adam sit down with John Scalzi, one of the most prolific and success Science Fiction Writers of our time. John provides an introduction to his new book, The Collapsing Empire, and then explains what makes a good Sci-Fi story in his mind. John even provides some great "gateway" books for newcomers to the genre while also offering some graduate level options for Sci-Fi veterans. John offers up some secrets to his writing process, where he sees this latest series going and then tells an incredible story about a fake story he wrote that every wishes he'd turn into a full length novel.    Say Hello!  Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDrive for libraries and find us on Twitter @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com Music "Buddy" provided royalty free form www.bensound.com  Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds, we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available thro

  On today's episode, Adam and Jill are joined by Christina, who tells us all about the titles included in this year's Summer Read program. OverDrive Summer Read is an annual program designed to encourage K-12 students to keep reading all year long. The titles selected can supplement other summer reading programs and will offer free, simultaneous access to students from June 7th - August 7th.  More information can be found at http://resources.overdrive.com/summer-read/ Books mentioned in this episode: The Wild World of Buck Bray: The Miss Grizzly Cubs by Judy Young Tig Ripley: Rock 'n' Roll Rebel by Ginger Rue Happy Birthday, Spongebob! by JP Chanda Pandas on the Eastside by Gabrielle Predergast Meet Shimmer and Shine by Nickelodeon Publishing Mikey's Monster by Nickelodeon Publishing Ray of Sunlight by Brynn Stein Instant Winner by Gary Soto Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin The Pigeon Man by Joel Edward Stein Audacious by Gabrielle Predergast At the Edge of the World by Kari Jones   Say Hello!

It's National Library Week! As a library company, OverDrive knows the importance of libraries and as podcast hosts, we often ask our guest authors for their thoughts and memories about the importance of libraries as well.  For this episode, we pulled together some of our favorite quotes from past guests. They talk about getting their first library card, the book that changed their life, the importance of reading, and so much more. Episode numbers are listened next to each author if you'd like to hear the full interview.    Authors in this episode: Jodi Picoult (Episode #64) Jewell Parker Rhodes (Episode #22) Kwame Alexander (Episode #97) Brad Meltzer (Episode #26) Marie Benedict (Episode #52) Sunil Yapa (Episode #8) Matthew Quick (Episode #18) Marieke Nijkamp (Episode #4) James Patterson (Episode #28) Min Jin Lee (Episode #87) Omar el Akkad (Episode #107)   Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professio

On today's episode, Adam interviews Omar El Akaad about his debut novel American War, which tells the story of a second American Civil War taking place 100 years in the future. Omar has spent his professional life covering news in places like Iraq, Egypt and Guantanamo Bay and uses his incredible view of the world to shape this book. In our intro Adam chats with his brother Jason who also works at OverDrive. Yep, that's right, Adam's has a brother who works with him that has never been on the podcast because Adam is a dumb-dumb. They discuss the books Jason reads with his daughter and his affinity for audiobooks with their trademark witty banter... A trademark listeners would know about had Adam brought Jason on any time in the first 106 episodes... Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com   Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com   Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds:

On today's episode, Adam interviews Lesley Crewe, whose book, Amazing Grace, was chosen as the Together We Read national digital book club selection for Canada. From April 13-27, library card holders of Canadian libraries can borrow the eBook of Amazing Grace without any wait lists or holds and then join our discussion board at https://togetherweread.com. Lesley and Adam chat about her home in Cape Brenton, Nova Scotia where many of her stories are located as well as her love of wildlife and why she makes sure Cape Brenton is a part of her books. Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com   Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com   Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read,

On today's episode, Adam & Jill chat with George Saunders, bestselling authors and one of TIME's 100 most influential people in the world. George is renowned for his collections of short stories and his first full length novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, recently debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list.  George explained where the idea for this novel came from, why Lincoln remains such an important character even today, how the incredible audiobook came to be and why absurdity fits so well into his stories. Take a listen!  Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com   Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com   Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read, get personalized

 April is right around the corner which means it's time for Adam and Jill to talk about all of the forthcoming books they are excited in read!   Books mentioned in this episode: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by JK Rowling, read by Eddie Redmayne The Secrets of My Life by Caitlyn Jenner If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio Burntown by Jennifer MacMahon Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann Every Body Yoga by Jessamyn Stanley Marlena by Julie Bunton Geekerella by Ashley Poston When You Find Out the World Is Against You by Kelly Oxford Nevertheless by Alec Baldwin American War by Omar El Akkad My Cubs: A Love Story by Scott Simon Startup by Doree Shafrir Just Lucky I Guess by Carol Channing Borne by Jeff Vandermeer Twist in Time by Julie McElwain Tell me how this ends well by David Samuel Levinson Devil on the Cross by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o   Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at pro

On today's episode, Adam is left all by his lonesome for a sleep-deprived introduction where he talks about a local theater production he saw the night before and begs you to give us a 5-star rating before getting into the actual important part of the show, an interview with the awesome Brad Ricca. Brad is the author of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, the incredible true story of Grace Humiston, America's first ever District Attorney, as well as Super Boys, the story behind the creation of Superman.  Adam and Brad nerd out over comics and movies at a local library while breaking down researching lost stories and showing off some Cleveland pride. Take a listen and then be sure to borrow his books on OverDrive! (shameless plug). Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com   Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com   Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds an

Take a trip back through time with today's episode where Adam and Jill discuss some of their favorite historical fiction picks! We not only help give a definition of what makes a book historical fiction, but we also discuss multiple timeline novels and "time slip" historical fiction.  Books mentioned in this episode: American Girl series Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory The Captive Queen by Alison Weir The King's Obsession by Alison Weir  Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis The Address by Fiona Davis The Hours by Michael Cunningham The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Darkness Knows by Cheryl Honigford Homicide for the Holidays by Cheryl Honigford A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 11/22/63 by Stephen King Time and Again by Jack Finney A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson Outlander by Diana Gaboldon The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin The Aviat

On today’s episode Jill returns from jury duty and regales us with an exciting recap of sitting in a room for three days. Our heroes then discuss St. Patrick’s Day excitement (even though the holiday has come and gone). The main portion of this episode is a conversation Adam had with children’s author and illustrator Elise Parsley who is known for her bestselling “If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don’t! series of gorgeous picture books. Elise shares her background in design as well as how she’ll borrow ideas from the children she meets with at schools before discussing how she spent thousands of hours promoting literacy while studying full time in college. Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com    Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com    Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at O

100 episodes! That's a big round number. On this, our first episode in the triple digits, Jill and Adam chat with Barry Lyga, best selling author of harrowing Young Adult books including I Hunt Killers and Boy Toy. His latest novel, BANG, comes out on April 18th. This heartbreaking novel tells the story of Sebastian who, at the age of 4, accidentally shoots and kills his infant daughter with his father's gun. Ten years later, Sebastian is still grappling with this tragedy and doesn't know how to make things better. This conversation isn't ALL heavy. We also talk pizza, comics, podcasting and much more. Join us as we enter the realm of the 100's, aging gracefully like a fine wine. Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com  Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDriv

On today’s episode, Adam sits down with author and advice columnist Carol Weston. Carol’s new book, Speed of Life, comes out in April and she chats with Adam about how the book came to be, dealing with emotional loss as a teenager and what it’s like providing advice to teens for most of her life. They also discuss the autobiographical nature of Speed of Life, Carol’s writing process and much more! Episode was recorded in January 2017 during ALA Midwinter conference in Atlanta, GA Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com    Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com    Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read, get personalized recommendations, and learn about the hott

For college basketball fans, this month is the time for March Madness but we decided to switch it up by doing an episode titled March Sadness. These are the books that make us cry, sob, weep, bawl .... you get the picture. Basically, these are the books that make us FEEL ALL THE FEELS.  Share your own favorite tearjerkers by emailing us at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com or find us on Twitter at @ProBookNerds   Books Mentioned In This Episode Speed of Life by Carol Weston The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Night by Elie Wiesel George by Alex Gino The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness The Dog Stars by Peter Heller The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson  The Road by Cormac McCarthy Bad Feminist by Roxane G

on today's episode, Adam sits down with Newbery Medal winner and bestseller Kwame Alexander. Kwame was in town promoting his latest book, The Playbook, which is a set of rules for children to use to be successful in life. Kwame and Adam chatted about the power of poetry and their shared background surrounded by books as well as Kwame's international literacy programs.   Say Hello! Find OverDrive on Facebook at OverDriveforLibraries and Twitter at @ProBookNerds. Email us directly at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com    Music "Buddy" provided royalty free from www.bensound.com  Podcast Overview We're not just book nerds: we're professional book nerds and the staff librarians who work at OverDrive, the leading app for eBooks and audiobooks available through public libraries and schools. Hear about the best books we've read, get personalized recommendations, and learn about the hottest books coming out that we can't wait to dive into. For more great reads, find OverDrive on Facebook and Twitter. Learn m

It's a new month! That means it's time to talk about all the forthcoming books we are excited to read. Together, Adam and Jill have a mix of young adult and adult fiction, non-fiction, and everything in between!  Let us know your March picks by emailing us at professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com or find us on Twitter @ProBookNerds    Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor   Blood Rose Rebellion by Rosalyn Eves   A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi (book 2 of The Star-Touched Queen series)   Hunted by Meagan Spooner   As Old as Time by Liz Braswell   The Widow's House by Carol Goodman   The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti   The Wanderers by Meg Howrey   A Colony In a Nation by Chris Hayes   The Illusionist's Apprentice by Kristy Cambron   Celine by Peter Heller   The Girl From Rawblood by Catriona Ward   Ill Will by Dan Chaon   Exit West by Mohsin Hamid   The Hollywood Daughter by Kate Alcott   The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck   The Roanoke Girls by Amy