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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.
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.Â
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
October 26 @5pm – Drawing the Vote, by Tommy Jenkins
Checkout Coinciding with the 2020 US presidential election, Drawing the Vote, an original graphic novel, looks at the history of voting rights in the United States and how it affects the way we vote today. Throughout the book, the author, Tommy Jenkins, identifies events and trends that led to the unprecedented results of the 2016 presidential election that left America political parties more estranged than ever.
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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A fictional narrative that pieces together the stories of the victims and witnesses of a plane crash that occurred on January 28, 1948 in the Diablo Range near Fresno, California, which killed 32 people, among them 28 Mexican deportees, and inspired a song by Woody Guthrie
Fiction
September 11, 2020 @ 5pm – Changing Planes, by Ursula Le Guin
Checkout The misery of waiting for a connecting flight at an airport leads to the accidental discovery of alighting on other planes — not airplanes but planes of existence. Ursula Le Guin’s deadpan premise frames a series of travel accounts by the tourist-narrator who describes bizarre societies and cultures that sometimes mirror our now, and sometimes open puzzling doors into the alien
Fiction
October 9, 2020 @5pm – The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James
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When a governess is hired to care for two children at a British country estate, she begins to sense an otherworldly presence around the grounds. Are they really ghosts she’s seeing? Or, is something more sinister at work
Register for Zoom AccessFiction
November 13 @ 5pm – There There, by Tommy Orange
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This chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.
Cosy Reads
September 16, 2020 @ 5pm – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
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The story of the Nolan family, including daughter Francie, and life in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn during the early part of the 20th century
Cosy Reads
October 21, 2020 @ 5pm – Bookshop of Yesterday, by Amy Meyerson
Checkout A woman inherits a beloved bookstore and sets forth on a journey of self-discovery in this poignant debut about family, forgiveness and a love of a reading. Bighearted and trenchantly observant, The Bookshop of Yesterdays is a lyrical story of family, love, and the healing power of community. It’s a letter to reading and bookstores, and a testament to how our histories shape who we become.
Cosy Reads
November 18, 2020 @ 5pm – Nothing with Strings, by Bailey White
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For more than a decade, Bailey White has delivered a story each Thanksgiving to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered listeners. Long awaited by her many fans, Nothing With Strings is the entire collection of these Thanksgiving stories, published together for the first time. With grace and charm, White writes about an almost-gone little town where a spoon player is a guardian angel, an old woman fears that John James Audubon is living in her attic, and a homely governess wins a baby bull in a raffle and loses her heart.
Cosy Reads
December 16 @ 5pm – Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery, by Jenny Colgan
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Though Polly is busy keeping up with the demands of the season, she still makes time for her beekeeper boyfriend, Huckle. She’s especially happy to be celebrating the holiday this year with him, and can’t wait to cuddle up in front of the fireplace with a cup of eggnog on Christmas Eve. But holiday bliss soon gives way to panic when a storm cuts the village off from the mainland. Now it will take all of the villagers to work together in order to ensure everyone has a happy holiday.
Children’s
September 22, 2020 @ 3pm – Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly
Checkout Explores the previously uncelebrated but pivotal contributions of NASA’s African American women mathematicians to America’s space program, describing how Jim Crow laws segregated them despite their groundbreaking successes
Register for Zoom AccessChildren’s
October 27 @ 3pm – The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
Checkout Book Book on CD Large Print eBook eBook #2  eAudiobook  eAudiobook #2
After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.
Register for Zoom AccessChildren’s
November 17 @ 3pm – Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson
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Hilary Westfield has always dreamed of being a pirate. She can tread water for thirty-seven minutes. She can tie a knot faster than a fleet of sailors, and she already owns a rather pointy sword. There’s only one problem: The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates refuses to let any girl join their ranks of scourges and scallywags. But Hilary is not the kind of girl to take no for an answer. To escape a life of petticoats and politeness at her stuffy finishing school, Hilary sets out in search of her own seaworthy adventure, where she gets swept up in a madcap quest involving a map without an X, a magical treasure that likely doesn’t exist, a talking gargoyle, a crew of misfit scallywags, and the most treacherous — and unexpected — villain on the High Seas.
Children’s
December 15 @ 3pm – Winterhouse, by Ben Guterson
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Orphan Elizabeth Somer’s malevolent aunt and uncle ship her off to the ominous Winterhouse Hotel, owned by the peculiar Norbridge Falls. Upon arrival, Elizabeth quickly discovers that Winterhouse has many charms — most notably it’s massive library. It’s not long before she locates a magical book of puzzles that will unlock a mystery involving Norbridge and his sinister family. But the deeper she delves into the hotel’s secrets, the more Elizabeth starts to realize that she is somehow connected to Winterhouse. As fate would have it, Elizabeth is the only person who can break the hotel’s curse and solve the mystery. But will it be at the cost of losing the people she has come to care for, and even Winterhouse itself?
Young Adult
October 13 @ 5pm – B*Witch, by Paige Mckenzie & Nancy Ohlin
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New girl and secret witchl Iris just wants to get through her first day of school without a panic attack. The last thing she expects is to be taken in by a coven of three witches-soft-spoken Greta, thoughtful and musical Ridley, and fiery and spirited Binx. They may be the first witches Iris has met IRL, but their coven is not alone in their small northwestern town.
Register for Zoom AccessYoung Adult
November 10 @ 5pm – Yes No Maybe So, by Aisha Saeed & Becky Albertalli
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Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural crush of the century is another thing entirely.
Young Adult
December 8 @ 5pm – The Afterlife of Holly Chase, by Cynthia Hand
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On Christmas Eve five years ago, seventeen-year-old Holly Chase was visited by three Ghosts who showed her how selfish and spoiled she’d become. They tried to convince her to mend her ways. She didn’t. And then she died. Now she’s stuck working for the top-secret company Project Scrooge—as their latest Ghost of Christmas Past. So far, Holly’s afterlife has been miserable. But this year’s Scrooge is different. This year’s Scrooge might change everything…
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, 2020Â –Â 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.
