In this episode, we're joined by librarians to talk about staff picks for the best books of 2021. We also chat about books we're looking forward to reading in 2022 and the value of reading broadly.
Recommended Reading
Check out all of KCLS' Best Books of 2021 on our Best Books page.
Find more books mentioned in this episode in the list below.
Listen
A transcript of this episode is available at the end of our show notes.
Contact
If you'd like to get in touch, send an email to deskset@kcls.org.
Credits
The Desk Set is brought to you by the King County Library System. The show is produced and hosted by Britta Barrett. Our theme song is "I Know What I Want" by Math and Physics Club. Other music provided by Chad Crouch, from the Free Music Archive.
Transcript
Britta Barrett:
You're listening to The Desk Set, a bookish podcast for reading broadly. I'm your host, Britta Barrett and in this episode, we're talking with librarians about the best books of 2021. Today, we're joined by librarians who work at libraries across KCLS. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us who you are and what you do?
Destinee Sutton:
My name is Destinee Sutton, and I am a Children's Librarian. I work at the White Center Library mostly, but you can also find me at Greenbridge and Burien sometimes.
Jenna Zarzycki:
So, my name is Jenna Zarzycki. I'm an Adult Services Librarian, primarily serving the Covington Library. Although like Destinee, you can find me at two different places, Black Diamond Library and the Enumclaw Library.
Rachel Adams:
And I'm Rachel Adams. I am a Teen Services Librarian and I work at the Des Moines branch. And in the next year, I will also be at the Valley View branch.
Britta Barrett:
Thank you all so much for being with us today. Would any of you like to explain how do we make our best books list?
Jenna Zarzycki:
Well, this year librarians and library staff across the system put in their suggestions and that was collected by our amazing collection folks who work with all of the books and the materials that you see in the library. And they did the hard work of narrowing that down and tallying it up and making sure that we have an awesome, thorough best books list.
Britta Barrett:
So, each of you have different specialties, you serve different audiences. Jenna, can we start by talking about some of the best books for adults this year?
Jenna Zarzycki:
Oh, you bet we can. You guys, so many amazing books came out this past year. So, I'm going to start with fiction. I have many favorite books, but some of the picks from this book list is Matrix by Lauren Groff. This is historical fiction. We follow Marie, who's an awkward, illegitimate, teenager living on the edge of Queen Eleanor [inaudible 00:02:19] 12th century. Not sure what to do with her, so they sent her to this totally failing nunnery in France, but instead of anguishing there, Marie takes the reigns of control and revitalizes this nunnery. And then that ripples out into everyone around her. Folks, amazing historical fiction writing. You will feel and smell and taste everything in the 12th century, as well as see the terribly hard work that Marie and her fellow nuns put in. Great female centered historical fiction and a powerful for good and for bad mystical woman, who's determined to be the captain of her fate. So, that's Matrix.
Britta Barrett:
All right. What else do you have for us?
Jenna Zarzycki:
Yeah. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. So, Wallace is a heartless lawyer, which is ironic considering that he does die within the first few pages from a heart condition. His soul spirit, core being whatever you want to call it, is gathered up by a reaper and taken to this very magical and interesting tea shop that is owned by a man named Hugo who is a ferryman. So, Hugo tells Wallace that this is a waystation. This is the point where his spirit can pause before he crosses over. Wallace is too upset to crossover, but he can't really leave either. So, the longer he spends at this tea shop, the more he grows to love and become a deeper, better person than he was in life. But when angry ghost throws off the vibe of this tea shop, a higher power tells Wallace that he has a week left to make his goodbyes before he must crossover.
Jenna Zarzycki:
This is funny, lovely, heartbreaking. It doesn't look away from the devastating loss of grief, but it also celebrates the incredible beauty of life, think of good place vibes in a low fantasy world. It's delightful.
Britta Barrett:
All right, what's next?
Jenna Zarzycki:
Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. So, a minor Royal is called upon to make a marriage of convenience to an important noble who is rumored to have murdered his first spouse. They try to work together to preserve the alliance between their planets and satisfy an intergalactic arbiter. So, this is the marriage of convenience, share the same bed, slightly angsty love story in the stars of my dreams. It was so satisfying to watch these two kind of uneasy allies form attachments and help each other, and then eventually become lovers and truth. It's gray, complex society in space. It's fascinating. And it's a heartwarming love story.
Britta Barrett:
Love that. Do you have any more genre picks for us?
Jenna Zarzycki:
Yes, I do. So, I've got two more genre picks. I am a genre reader by the way, but this is kind of all over the place for me. I've got Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. This is the story of Klara, robot, artificial friend, who is bought as a companion for severely ill teen Josie. She observes and processes the people around her, and she slowly comes to understand great truths about technology, love and then humanity itself. So, the one thing that I want to emphasize with this book is Klara's perspective. You've got this very deeply, innocent, curious, wondering individual who just looks out and thinks about the world that she's in. And it's a tough one. It's a dark dystopian tinged future that she's in, but Klara views the scene with such innocence that it cuts through the absurdities and lies and sees deeply to the heart of things. It's so good.
Britta Barrett:
Absolutely. Ishiguro's another book, it's in a similar vein called Never Let Me Go, that's one of my personal favorites.
Jenna Zarzycki:
The last fiction book that I just want to touch on is While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams. So, this is her thriller debut. We follow brilliant law clerk, Avery, who is clerking for Supreme court, Justice Howard Wynn. When Justice Wynn succumbed to an illness and slips into a coma, he has left very spars little clues about a larger conspiracy. And it's up to Avery as his, the person who has a power of attorney and his guardian to solve them. So, Stacey Abrams was a published author before she became the kind of political justice juggernaut that we know her as today. And man, that expertise is brought to the fore, hang onto your socks. This is the political thriller for people who don't like to read political thrillers, it's epic, you'll love Avery. And it's obvious that Stacey Abrams has a deep understanding of the way that our political system works. It's great.
Britta Barrett:
But you've got some nonfiction picks for us too, don't you?
Jenna Zarzycki:
I do. One of my favorite listens as opposed to reads was called The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. So, unbeknownst to me, he has a podcast of the same name. So, listeners of that podcast, they won't really find anything new here, but to me it was just a total revelation. So, since for our listeners, I had to look up what Anthropocene means. It's basically the age of humans in a time when we are affecting so many things around us. So, what John Green does is that he takes just a slew of things from the Anthropocene and when I say slew, I mean, scratch and sniff stickers, the Hall of Presidents at Disneyland and Canada geese, and he rates them on an algorithm friendly scale of one to five stars. And then he writes essay justifying that writing. It's funny, it's sad. It really makes you think. And it gives you a smidge more of hope. Like I said, the book is great, but man, this was meant to be listened to on audio.
Britta Barrett:
All right, what else do we have?
Jenna Zarzycki:
So, we've got an interesting graphic novel called Seek You by Kristen, I think it's, Radtke. So, this is a scientific exploration of loneliness in America through interesting graphic essays. So, the author touches on everything from the invention of the laugh track, to the experiments with human touch, to blogging websites, to kind of the lone cowboy kind of trope and interspersed with that are the author's memories and experiences with loneliness herself. It's eloquent, it's beautifully crisply illustrated, and it's a fascinating look at isolation and all the many kind of places that touches in America today.
Britta Barrett:
Any more nonfiction that we should talk about?
Jenna Zarzycki:
I've got two more and I'll try to go nice and quick, because I definitely want to hear what Rachel and Destinee have up their sleeves, but we've got Fuzz by Mary Roach. Fascinating, usually like hysterical and humorous Roach looks at all sorts of human wildlife conflict and how we as humans would much prefer that nature adhere to our laws. But, the truth of it is, is that nature operates under its own laws. It's everything from baron leopard managers to danger tree folks, to people who work as human elephant conflict counselors, which I didn't know that that was a career one could go for, but folks it's classic Mary Roach. If you've read any of her stuff, it's curious, it's thorough with some great insights on humanity. And then the final piece of nonfiction that I wanted to shout out was Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. Every once in a while, working in the library system with so many readers, you get to see this book grow and be talked about, and everybody who reads this like, "Oh my gosh, this is such a spectacular book."
Jenna Zarzycki:
And that was Crying in H Mart for us this year. So, Michelle Zauner, children of immigrants trying to balance her Korean American heritage. Although she loves her mother, they also have quite a contentious relationship and, but they could always kind of touch base through food, fast forward to when her mother gets cancer and then unfortunately passes away when Michelle Zauner's in her twenties. And so, the way in which Michelle looks back, remembers and tries to connect with her mother, even after she's gone is through food. So don't read it hungry, but it's just lyrical and touching a fantastic memoir.
Britta Barrett:
That was one of my absolute favorites of the year. And some of our listeners may know Michelle more by her band name, Japanese Breakfast, not only did she write an incredible memoir/collection of essays, but super talented musician as well. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of those. Next to teens. Rachel, do you want to share some of the young adult picks that we have on our list this year?
Rachel Adams:
Like Jenna, I have lots of books that were my favorites on the list, but I'm going to start off with ACE of spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. So, I like to first off ask if you like the movie, Get Out when I recommend this book, because if you like the movie Get Out, then I would highly recommend this book. If you did not like that movie, then you might want to skip this one. It's about two teens. Their names are Chiamaka and Devon, and they are the only black students at their elite prep school. And they handle the daily microaggressions that they face and the stress of being at this school in very different ways. So, Chiamaka becomes an overachiever and she assimilates into the culture of the school where Devon tries to stay off the radar and not draw attention to himself.
Rachel Adams:
When the both of the students Chiamaka and Devon start receiving threatening text messages that are also threatening to expose secrets that both of them have, they decide to pair up to try and figure out who this evil texter is and bring them down. In the process, they reveal dark secrets about other students at their school and dark secrets about the school in general. There is so much going on in this thriller, besides just two teens trying to catch a bad guy. There are issues like systemic racism, class distinction, homophobia, and bullying discussed in this thriller to really create a fascinating and fast pace teen thriller. And I think really the author is also trying to look at the real life horror and harm of institutionalized racism in education. So, really this author is diving deep into the thriller genre, which is awesome.
Britta Barrett:
What else is on the list?
Rachel Adams:
The next book I have is The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. This is a science fiction book that starts off with a boy named Ambrose, waking up on a spaceship and he thinks he is all alone on the spaceship, but then he quickly discovers that he's not that there is another teen boy named Kodiak, who's also on the spaceship and both of these teens don't remember a lot about how they ended up on the spaceship, but they do have a memory that they're supposed to be on a mission to save Ambrose's sister who is marooned on a distant planet. So, they start preparing the ship and they start planning the rescue mission. And in the process of doing all this, the two boys end up falling in love with each other. And, as they're about to move on these feelings they have for each other, the operating system of the spaceship starts to act very strangely and puts them in very dangerous situations.
Rachel Adams:
And they quickly realize that this isn't just a regular old rescue mission in space, that there is a lot more going on. So, I can't talk too much more about the plot without giving anything else away. Because there are so many twists and turns in this book, but I will say that the sarcastic humor of Ambrose, the amazingly tender love story between the two teens, and the message of hope that this book ends with, are some of the reasons why I adored this book. And I have to say the ending really stuck with me. And I have thought about the ending months and months in the future after reading this book. And if you think about the ending of a book months later, then that's a sign of a really good book.
Rachel Adams:
The next book I have is Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo and this is a beautifully heartbreaking book written in prose. It's about Nima who's a first-generation Muslim girl who feels very disconnected from her life. Her father passed away and his death was the impetus for her mother and her to immigrate to the United States and his death really deeply affected Nima. So, a lot of the book is written in these daydream styles of Nima envisioning what her life would be if her father hadn't passed away. And if they hadn't moved to the United States and these passages in the book are super beautiful. They're very sensual. They're very magical. They're full of light. And they contrast with the other poems where she writes about her current life in the United States where she's being bullied for being a Muslim. And they, just the two, the very obvious distinctions about how she envisions what her life would be like if her father hadn't died versus what her life is now is what makes this book so powerful.
Rachel Adams:
I also think that Nima's journey of trying to find her own way and her own voice while also recognizing her connection to her family's past experiences is really an important message and is often not talked about in teen books. I have one more.
Britta Barrett:
Let's hear it.
Rachel Adams:
One of my favorite nonfiction books from the list is From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo. This is a very timely and relevant book and it accounts the life of Vincent Chin and his 1982 killing and then the subsequent Asian American movement it sparked. So, the book is written in a very approachable narrative nonfiction style, which I think is great for teens. It is also meticulously researched. Yoo has included court transcripts and interviews and news articles to really help tell Vincent's story and get the reader to know him.
Rachel Adams:
The book does a great job of also connecting how Vincent's murder galvanized the movement. So, she talks about how his death led to protests in the Asian American community, led to reform and how hate crimes are documented. And she also talks about how it led to the first federal civil rights trial involving a hate crime against Asian Americans. So, I think that Vincent's story is super important to know about. And I have to confess that I didn't know anything about it until reading this book and just picked it up, which is just telling his story needs to be told and it's amazing that it hasn't been told until now. And I think that the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans over the past two years makes this book even more important. And we need to know stories like Vincent's and they need to be shared.
Britta Barrett:
And next up we're going to move on to books for younger readers. Destinee, do you want to share some of the best children's books of the year?
Destinee Sutton:
Yes. I would like to start with my favorite book of the year, Milo Imagines the World. And so this is a picture book written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson. This is the duo that made Last Stop on Market Street, which won the Newbery Medal a few years ago. So, not surprising. They are a powerhouse literary couple. I love everything that they do. Milo Imagines The World might be better than Last Stop on Market Street. It is so good. It is book that really sticks in your heart. I've read it with my daughter many, many times. The premise is actually similar to Last Stop on Market Street. You have a little boy taking public transportation, but this time it's a subway and he's noticing things about his world and he's doing something that a lot of us do. He is imagining things about people based on how they look and just how they look.
Destinee Sutton:
He thinks he knows something about them. And over the course of the book, you see that, appearances can be deceiving and it's very powerful the way that Milo particularly focuses on a very well dressed little boy and thinks that they must be so different, but it turns out they're going to the same place. And I think it's impactful for kids when they get to that end. And they're like, ah, and another thing that's so amazing about this book is that in a truly great picture book, the words and the story, the pictures and the words I mean are equal partners in telling the story. So, you couldn't just have the pictures and you couldn't just have the words. You really need both to make a picture book soar. And I think Matt and Christian do such an amazing job of both parts doing something important to make a beautiful hole. So that's, Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña, Christian Robinson.
Britta Barrett:
Yeah, that sounds great. What's your next pick?
Destinee Sutton:
Okay. The next one I want to talk about is a chapter book for middle grade readers and it's called Too Bright to See. This one is by Kyle Lukoff, who shout out he was an elementary school librarian for many years. So, Too Bright to See is a ghost story. And I don't usually like ghost stories, but this is not a typical ghost story. It's not meant to just be thrilling and chilling. It's much, much deeper. And it's actually very tricky to talk about because you want kids or any readers, even me to go into it without expectation. And to just experience the story. There's even an author's note at the very end where the author says, now I understand it might be tricky to talk about this with kids.
Destinee Sutton:
And he says, it's his hope that kids do go into it, not knowing too much, but what I will say about it is, the best books, again this is true of Milo Imagines the World too, they leave a lot of space for interpretation. There's not just one way the story can be interpreted and this book will raise questions for kids. And I think it will surprise a lot of readers, for ghost story lovers, but also for kids who like very real stories about dramatic experiences that people have finding themselves because in the end, this is more of a coming age, a coming of age story than a ghost story, but it's both. And that is Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff.
Destinee Sutton:
Another picture book, this one's called Wishes and it's by Muon Thi Van and it is illustrated by Victo Ngai. So, this is a story with very few words and gorgeous illustrations about a refugee experience.
Destinee Sutton:
And it's a very specific experience that actually comes from the author's own childhood. So, she was born in Vietnam and her family had to flee when she was just two years old. So, she put this story together based on interviewing her family members and also her experience being part of the Vietnamese diaspora in the US. And one thing about this book that really impresses me is that the words of the book are about these inanimate objects that you see in the pictures like, "The night wished it was quieter. The bag wished it was deeper." So it's putting these human feelings in inanimate objects and you can see in the pictures, the gorgeous illustrations, the emotions on the family's faces, you can see how rough the sea is, even though the sea wished it was calmer. And it's not until the very end when there is such a sweet payoff when for the first time you hear the wishes of the human, like the girl in the story. And it's really beautiful. It's that the girl doesn't need to make wishes anymore, because she's somewhere safe.
Destinee Sutton:
And oh my gosh, I get choked off just talking about it. It's a really, really, it's a really beautiful book. And this book is like Jenna was saying about Crying In H Mart, it's super popular. Word of mouth has been strong with this book and it has a lot of holds on it. But I also wanted to pitch Muon Thi Van's first book In a Village by the Sea, and that is a another beautifully written picture book that we have many copies available. So, while you're waiting for Wishes, I also recommend In a Village by the Sea by Muon Thi Van.
Destinee Sutton:
And so for our last one, I have, We Wait for the Sun and this is by Dovey Johnson Roundtree. This is a non-fiction book, a non-fiction picture book that... Now normally if you take a famous author like Dovey Johnson Roundtree, who's a civil rights attorney, you might expect that this book would be about her whole life, an easy biography, but it's really just one snapshot of her life, where her grandma would wake her up and they would go berry picking right before the dawn. And it is about little Dovey being afraid to be the dark woods. But her grandma's saying like, "Wait for it." And in the pictures, the colors are gorgeous. Everybody loves the sunrise because the colors are unforgettable, maybe the most beautiful thing on the planet. And in this picture as the night changes from pitch black to purple to orange and boom, there's the sun rising.
Destinee Sutton:
I don't know how much kids will understand this. I think they will, especially after multiple readings, but it is this beautiful metaphor about how sometimes we're in the dark and we're scared, but you know, we trust the person that we're with and we are headed towards that light. And when it comes, it changes everything. And we see everything around us differently. There is a lot of back matter in this book with more information about Dovey Johnson Roundtree, but just for that one little true story about her life, it is a wonderful example of how powerful little anecdotes about people's lives are to help you understand their perspective. And that's called, We Wait for the Sun.
Britta Barrett:
That sounds like a perfect pick in these dark days of winter that we're experiencing. Thank you all so much for sharing some of your favorites. Are there any books that you're looking forward to that are coming out next year or quick little shout outs you wanted to give to books that were maybe published towards the end of the year that didn't make our best books list?
Jenna Zarzycki:
Oh, I'm going to jump right in because I have been chomping at the bit. I am so regretful that I did not push this book harder, but there's this fantastic book called A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark. It is a fantastical alternate history. We are early 1900s Cairo, Egypt because Cairo has been the source of a lot of creatures from another dimension coming onto our plane and magic and technology kind of reinvigorating the world. And we follow Fatima who is a young female investigator for this, like supernatural police force. And she's trying to solve a series of murders around the city. Great on audio, fabulous read. So, one book that I'm really looking forward to and actually through the magic of advanced reader copies have already read and super enjoyed is called The Maid by Nita Prose, I believe it's the debut book, but we follow Molly who is a maid at this very swanky town in New York.
Jenna Zarzycki:
Molly has recently lost her grandma who helped her approach and understand the world because Molly is somewhere on the spectrum. She doesn't quite get the emotions of other people, but she absolutely loves being a maid and returning the rooms to perfection. However, one of the rooms is decidedly not perfect when Molly finds the body of one of their more distinguished guests in the room, as opposed to just a mess. So, Molly gets swept up in this mystery, absolutely charming protagonist that people who likes The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, who loved that interesting and unique perspective would totally dig the maid. There's already some holds on it. So place your holds ASAP. And I hope you dig it.
Rachel Adams:
I've some books that I am really looking forward to in 2022, especially in the first couple months in teen fiction. So, one of them is It Will End Like This by Kyra Leigh. It comes out in January and it's being billed as a modern take on the Lizzie Borden story. And it follows two sisters whose mother dies under mysterious circumstances. And then their dad ends up dating their mother's personal assistant, which looks pretty suspicious. And then the two sisters basically work together to try to figure out what really happened to their mother. Reviews are saying that it's full of twists and turns. I am a huge psychological thriller fan. I love psychological thrillers. I love twists. I also am a sucker for any book that involves sisterhood or sisters working together especially is awesome. But even if they don't get along and there's some sisterhood relationship stuff going on, I'm a sucker for it. So really this book sounds like it takes all of my must-read boxes. So, that one I'm really looking forward to.
Rachel Adams:
And then the other one that I'm looking forward to is called Sunny G's Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon, it comes out in February and honestly I was bought just by the title. I think the title is awesome. I love the phrase, rash decisions. I think teenagehood is full of rash decisions and this book follows Sunny. His brother has died and to deal with the grief of his brother dying, he decides that he's going to make a series of very rash decisions. Some of which seem like they're going to have some major consequences. His religion is Sikh. He's a Sikh. And so, it sounds like some of the decisions he makes are going to be about his religion, but the other one involves him going to prom and then he meets a girl at the prom and then they go on a string of crazy rash decisions during prom night.
Rachel Adams:
I think Sunny sounds like a super sarcastic, flawed in all the right ways kind of character. And I really can't wait to see how his story unfolds. So, those are my two.
Britta Barrett:
Perfect DM.
Rachel Adams:
Yeah. Yeah, totally. It's like, sounds like a book full of hope which, we all need in the new year, is a book full of hope.
Britta Barrett:
Well, thank you. Those all sound great. How about you Destinee? Anything you're looking forward to?
Destinee Sutton:
Well, my seven year old is, is ecstatic that there's going to be a new princess in black with a mermaid in February. We are ogling the cover online. It's not in the catalog yet, because it's not out until February, but I do have a few that are in the catalog that can place holds on. The first one is a new Amos McGee, so A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Erin Stead and her husband Philip Stead was a Caldecott winner I think 10 years ago. And they wrote a new Amos McGee story. It's called Amos McGee Misses the Bus. So, I'm super excited for that one to come in.
Destinee Sutton:
And then the National Ambassador for Children's Literature, Jason Reynolds, who is an absolute superstar in the kid lit world. He has a new graphic novel with Raul the Third who's also an absolute rock star in the kid lit world. So, that is a very exciting pairing. Their book's called Stuntboy and it is out, but the library hasn't received it yet. It's still like on order. So, no one's gotten their hands on a library copy yet. So, that's a good one to place a hold on. And then another power duo is Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez. They wrote The Day You Begin, just this beautiful picture book and they have a new one coming out in January called The Year We Learned to Fly. So, I'm also super excited to see that one.
Britta Barrett:
And then final question. Do you have any of your own personal reading goals for next year? Something that you're going to try to work on in your reading or something you're excited to explore?
Destinee Sutton:
My goal has been for the last few years to read more books by authors of color, more books by women of color and more books that broaden my worldview because it's really easy to just stay in my little niche. Like I could read Anne of Green Gables a hundred times, but I have really enjoyed and benefited from being intentional about choosing books by people whose perspectives are super different from my own. And I want to keep doing that
Jenna Zarzycki:
Echoing destiny that just reading broadly and being thoughtful about your reading more broadly is such a fantastic mind and heart opener. And it just really makes you more empathetic with everything around you. Also shout out to amazing amount of world literature. So translated work from authors from a slew of different countries, man, that has been fantastic to start reading books from, for all ages from different countries and getting a glimpse into kind of different cultures through the magic of reading and seeing those worlds. So, absolutely. Yes.
Rachel Adams:
And I am going to be the third to say that I think my goal this year is to really push myself to read outside of the genres that I always read. So, I've made it very clear and evident that I'm a super big thriller fan, but I don't read a lot out of science fiction or fantasy or nonfiction. And I think that next year, I really want to really push myself to read outside of my comfort genre. I host a romance book club once a month through KCLS and it has really pushed me to read more romance books and I've become a romance fan because of it. And I never knew there were so many different types of romance books. So, that also shows that joining a book club helps you push yourself and also reading outside of your comfort zone pushes you and you never know what you're going to discover. In fact, you'll probably discover a new book or a new author that you really enjoy.
Britta Barrett:
And if listeners are also interested in challenging themselves to read more broadly in the new year, we hope you'll join us in taking the 10 to Try reading challenge. We will be announcing next year's category soon, and you'll be able to find those on our website kcls.org. And there, you can also check out the best books list, find online programs to attend and so much more. We will be sure to put links to all the books we talked about today in the podcast show notes. Thanks again to all the librarians who joined us to share their reading recommendations and also to you for being a listener, happy holidays and happy reading.
