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Book Talk Bakersfield
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, as well as guests, to talk about what we’ve been reading, watching, and listening to. Get reading recommendations and more! Episodes release weekly on Mondays and can be watched on Facebook, or streamed as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and additional podcast directories. Subscribe to receive the episode booklists directly in your email inbox.
Follow Fahra and Jasmin’s progress toward their reading goals!
Our Romance With Romance Novels
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest and staff member Nerina to talk about the different kinds of Romance Novels.
Bizarro Fiction: Would You Read These?
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, as they learn about Bizarro Fiction and talk about what they have been reading, watching, and listening to.
Bridgerton Fever
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, to celebrate Family Literacy Week and talk about what they have been reading, watching, and listening to.
We’re Adding These to Our TBR
Join staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, as they judge books by their covers. Upcoming titles include January 2021 releases and catch up on what they have been reading, watching, and listening to.
Fitness Goals = Reading Goals
The Elfhame Obsession
Catch up with Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin to talk about their love for The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black and what they have been reading, watching, and listening to.
New Year, New Book Reading Goals!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, to talk about their reading goals for 2021 and what their favorite reads were for 2020.
Special Holiday Episode: The Librarians Among Us
Join Kern County Library staff members along with Fahra and Jasmin to talk about the new game Among Us and how digital games can be used to facilitate collaboration and can be extremely social especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Also find out the staff’s favorite Science Fiction recommendations to add to your TBR (To Be Read) List
Episode 36: GoodReads Awards 2020
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, to talk about the Goodreads 2020 Choice Awards and what they have been reading, watching, and listening to.
Episode 35: Author Talk with Libby Copeland
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Libby Copeland author of The Lost Family to talk about what we’re reading, watching, listening to, and how DNA testing and massive genealogy databases are upending our family trees.
Episode 34: Judge a Book By Its Cover – December 2020
Join staff members Fahra and Jasmin as they judge books by their covers. Upcoming titles include December 2020 releases and catch up on what they have been reading, watching and listening to.
Episode 33: All About YA Tropes
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest, co-worker, and YA Book Lover Nerina to talk about what we’re reading, watching, and listening to, as well as our favorite YA tropes.
Episode 32: Author Talk with Erik Talkin
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Erik Talkin author of Lulu and the Hunger Monster and CEO of The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County to talk about what we’re reading, watching, listening to and food literacy.
Episode 31: Artist Talk with Saida Woolf
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Saida Woolf author and artist of SoulStream to talk about what we’re reading, watching, and listening to, as well as finding a passion in storytelling.
Episode 30: The Spooky Episode
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest, Ariel, and staff member, Candace, to talk about our spooky paranormal experiences and hauntings in Bakersfield.
Episode 29: Judge a Book By Its Cover (November 2020)
Join staff members Fahra and Jasmin as they judge books by their covers. Upcoming titles include November 2020 releases and catch up on what they have been reading, watching and listening to.
Episode 28: Author Talk with Rana Tahir
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Rana Tahir, author of Choose Your Own Adventure Spies: Noor Inayat Khan, to talk about what we’re reading, watching, listening to and the nostalgia of the choose your own adventure novels.
Episode 27: Author Talk with Marlene Wagman-Geller
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Marlene Wagman-Geller author of Woman Who Launch to talk about what we’re reading, watching, and listening to. Join us for the One Book Project and get a list of all the titles to participate.
Episode 24: Author Talk with Lynne Kelly
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Lynne Kelly author of “Song for a Whale” (along with ASL Interpretation) to talk about what we’re reading, watching, listening to. Join us for Book Talk’s second One Book Project episode and get a list of all the titles to participate.
Episode 23: Judge a Book By Its Cover
Episode 22: It’s Library Card Sign-Up Month with Wonder Woman
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Wonder Woman (Nina Ha), in celebrating National Library Card Sign-Up Month. Find out what their all-time favorites books are and what they’ve been reading, watching, and listening to.
Episode 21: Author Talk with Brittney Morris
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Brittney Morris author of SLAY to talk about what we’re reading, watching, listening to and young women in STEAM. Join us for the Kern County Library’s kick off episode for the One Book Project and get a list of all the titles to participate.
Episode 20: Let’s Explore the eLibrary!
Episode 19: The BIG YA Episode
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, with library lovers all the way on the other side of the U.S. of A! Erin and Courtney join us from New Hampshire to talk all things YA. Check out one of our many favorites in our Big YA Episode!
Episode 18: ShePOWER, Titles About Race, & More!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Arleana Waller with ShePOWER Leadership Academy to talk about what we’re reading and watching, empowering women to become leaders, the importance of the 2020 Census, and information about the Library’s curbside services.
Episode 17: Summer Reading’s NOT Over!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, to talk about what we’re reading and watching, how the Kern County Library’s Summer Reading Challenge is extended through August this year, and information about the Library’s curbside services.
Backpack Giveaways, Reading with Children, and More!
Catch up with Staff Members, Jasmin and Fahra, as they talk with the Director of Child Support Services in Kern County, Elizabeth Chavez. Find out about their upcoming backpack distribution and why it’s so important to read to kids at an early age!
Pandemic Reads, Reading for Your Health, & More!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, with Matt Constantine, Director of the Kern County Department of Public Health to talk about what we’re reading and watching, the importance of reading for public health, pandemic reads, and information about the Library’s curbside services.
The Kern Recovers Program, The Baby-Sitters Club, Hamilton, and More!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, with Scott Couture, of Kern County Department Employers’ Training Resource to talk about what we’re reading and watching, the Kern Recovers Program and PPE distribution, and information about the Library’s curbside services.
Continuing Curbside Services, Lunch Grab-N-Go, and More!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, as well as Regional Librarian Shalyn, to talk about what we’re reading and watching, how curbside services are going at library branches, and grab-n-go lunches.
Curbside Services Begin at Kern County Library!
Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, to talk about what we’re reading and watching and the launch of curbside services at select Kern County Library locations.
Russo’s Books, Reading During COVID-19, and More!
Book Cover Art, Podcasts, & More!
Join Fahra and Jasmin to talk about what we’ve been reading and watching, about how cover art on books affects what we choose to read, and on Fahra’s newest favorite podcast. Check out a list of what we talked about with catalog links! Access at kerncountylibrary.org.
Book Cafe
Looking for interaction and social connections? Are you maxed out on Netflix? Want to virtually meet new friends and discuss books and ideas with like-minded bibliophiles? The Book Cafe is open and offers five interest groups: Non-Fiction, General Fiction, Cozy Reads, Young Adult, and Children’s. Sign up individually or with friends. Even Great Uncle Albert who lives in Montana can join in the fun. All you need is an internet connection to listen in and discuss!
Non-Fiction
April 26 @5pm – Our History is the Future, by Nick Estes
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How two centuries of Indigenous resistance created the movement proclaiming “Water is life”. In 2016, a small protest encampment at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, initially established to block construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, grew to be the largest Indigenous protest movement in the twenty-first century.
Register for Zoom AccessNon-Fiction
March 29 @5pm – Caste The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson
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In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
Register for Zoom AccessNon-Fiction
February 22 @5pm – Vanguard, by Martha S. Jones
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The epic history of African American women’s pursuit of political power — and how it transformed America. In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white women’s movement did not win the vote for most black women. Securing their rights required a movement of their own.
Register for Zoom AccessNon-Fiction
January 25 @5pm – Polio an American Story, by David M. Oshinsky
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Non-Fiction
December 14 @5pm – Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi
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Non-Fiction
November 5 @3pm – All They Will Call You: The Telling of the Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon, by Tim Hernandez
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Non-Fiction
October 26 @5pm – Drawing the Vote, by Tommy Jenkins
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November 13 @ 5pm – There There, by Tommy Orange
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Fiction
October 9, 2020 @5pm – The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James
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Fiction
September 11, 2020 @ 5pm – Changing Planes, by Ursula Le Guin
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February 17 @ 5pm – When Crickets Cry, by Charles Martin
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It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl’s pretty yellow dress can’t quite hide the ugly scar on her chest. Her latest customer, a bearded stranger, drains his cup and heads to his car, his mind on a boat he’s restoring at a nearby lake. The stranger understands more about the scar than he wants to admit. And the beat-up bread truck careening around the corner with its radio blaring is about to change the trajectory of both their lives.
Register for Zoom AccessCosy Reads
January 20 @ 5pm – The Dinner List, by Rebecca Serle
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Cosy Reads
December 16 @ 5pm – Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery, by Jenny Colgan
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Cosy Reads
November 18, 2020 @ 5pm – Nothing with Strings, by Bailey White
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Cosy Reads
October 21, 2020 @ 5pm – Bookshop of Yesterday, by Amy Meyerson
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September 16, 2020 @ 5pm – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
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Children’s
February 23 @5pm – The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt
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The Underneath is a children’s book by Kathi Appelt. It tells the story of an abandoned cat who goes to live with a maltreated hound dog underneath a crooked old house in a bayou on the border between Louisiana and Texas.
Register for Zoom AccessChildren’s
December 15 @ 3pm – Winterhouse, by Ben Guterson
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Children’s
November 17 @ 3pm – Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson
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Children’s
October 27 @ 3pm – The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
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Children’s
September 22, 2020 @ 3pm – Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly
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December 8 @ 5pm – The Afterlife of Holly Chase, by Cynthia Hand
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Young Adult
November 10 @ 5pm – Yes No Maybe So, by Aisha Saeed & Becky Albertalli
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Young Adult
October 13 @ 5pm – B*Witch, by Paige Mckenzie & Nancy Ohlin
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The Global Book Club
Join OverDrive in their “Big Library Read” that connects readers around the world with the same eBook at the same time without any waitlists or holds. Joining is easy and FREE. Access the current title through OverDrive. Many Big Library Reads culminate with digital author events. Learn more about the current title.
November 2-16, 2020 – Reverie, by Ryan La Sala
Inception meets The Magicians in this wildly imaginative story about what happens when the secret world people hide within themselves comes to light.
All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember anything since an accident robbed him of his memories a few weeks ago. And the world feels different — reality itself seems different. So when three of his classmates claim to be his friends and the only people who can tell him what’s truly going on, he doesn’t know what to believe or who he can trust. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere — the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery — Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident, and only he can stop their world from unraveling.
The Global Book Club
Discover Hoopla’s suggested book club reads and resources. Every quarter, Hoopla releases Spotlight Selections which include a discussion guide and exclusive author interview to help you get the most out of your book club. With Hoopla, there’s no holds and no waiting, so it’s super easy to get started with a group of your friends to start your very own book club! Check out the current Spotlight Selection.
Even More Book Clubs, Talks, and Groups
There are many publisher book clubs and title suggestions, free online book groups, and celebrity book clubs. Here are a list of official groups you may be interested in accessing.
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House provides assorted title suggestions, as well as discussion guides to kick off your book club. Access their suggestions.
Simon and Schuster Book Club Favorites
Simon and Schuster chooses a book monthly for discussion, includes a reading group discussion guide, and a Facebook Live Discussion. Simon and Schuster also includes recommended titles for your own book clubs. Access their club and suggestions.
Oprah’s Book Club
Oprah founded the first celebrity book club, starting as a segment on on her popular talk show. Oprah posts selections on her website, as well as on her GoodReads group.
Our Shared Shelf with Emma Watson
Emma Watson shares all her feminist reads and selects a book every two months. She starts an open discussion for every read on her GoodReads group.
Reese’s Book Club with Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon unites a community that celebrates female storytelling. A book is chosen each month and Reese posts video blogs sharing her thoughts on the read while her fans can share their thoughts on the club’s social media platforms.
SJP Picks with Sarah Jessica Parker
SJP Picks is a place where Sarah Jessica Parker shares her love of reading and discussing good books with readers everywhere. There is no limitation on a particular genre. The read often includes reviews, author interviews, and more.
Between Two Books with Florence + The Machine
Dedicated to Florence Welch’s love of reading, this club includes Florence (and sometimes special guests too!) recommending a book every few months. The club includes events for readers to discuss the stories, meet fellow members, and ask questions of Florence and her friends.
Belletrist with Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts and bestie Karah Preiss pick their favorite reads, share their treasured bookstores, and interview their favorite authors for their book club, which encourages members to discover and celebrate their favorite book monthly. This club has a celebrity following of its own!
Andrew Luck Book Club
NFL star Andrew Luck’s Book Club offers picks for “Rookies” (kids) and “Veterans” (older readers) and believes in building a team through reading. Discover Andrew’s current picks.
