Drinks in the Library

Our book this week is North Woods by Daniel Mason. When two young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to growing apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A lovelorn painter, a sinister con man, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle: As the inhabitants confront the wonder and mystery around them, they begin to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.

Sarah Sawyer is an English teacher at a boarding school in western Massachusetts, where she finds endless humor and inspiration in her colleagues and students. She has held both the Joseph C. Mesics Instructorship and the Henry and Judith Zachs Faculty Chair. Sawyer is a graduate of Amherst College and the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English, and she lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts, with her family. The Undercurrent is her first novel.

Stone Fence Cocktail
Ingredients
2 oz bourbon, rye whiskey, or dark rum
1 dash Angostura bitters
4 to 5 oz chilled hard apple cider (to top)
Fresh mint sprig or apple slice (for garnish)

Instructions
Fill a Collins or highball glass with ice.
Pour the bourbon (or your spirit of choice) and the Angostura bitters over the ice.
Top the glass with chilled hard apple cider.
Stir very gently with a bar spoon to combine.
Garnish with a mint sprig or an apple slice.

In Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters, Vicky Bliss, an assistant curator at Munich's National Museum, may not be an Egypt expert, but her Ph.D. in crime-solving comes in handy when an intelligence agency recruits her for a luxurious Nile cruise. Amidst the backdrop of the majestic Sphinx Vicky must navigate her personal frustrations and the deadly charms of a cunning criminal hiding in plain sight.

Colleen Gleason, who also writes as Colleen Cambridge, is an award-winning, USAToday and NYT bestselling author. She’s written more than fifty novels in a variety of genres, but her current favorite to pen is historical-set mystery, usually featuring a famous person for the amateur detective’s sidekick, mentor, or friend. Her books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and have been bestsellers in several foreign markets. 
 
An avid gardener, amateur mixologist, and vegetarian gourmet, Colleen lives in the Midwest United States with her family and two dogs, and is always working on her next book.

Her latest book, Death Down the Aisle comes out October 27, 2026! 

Our drink this week is one of Colleen’s signature drinks, the French Bluet Martini!

Ingredients
1 oz Gin
1 oz Crème de violette
0.5 oz Vodka
0.5 oz Lillet Blanc
Ice cubes

Instructions
Add the gin, crème de violette, vodka, and Lillet Blanc into a mixing glass or cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Stir (do not shake) until drink is chilled.
Fine-strain the mixture into a chilled martini or coupe glass.
• 4. Serve immediately

Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.

C.B. Bernard is the author of two novels—Ordinary Bear, winner of the Barry Award for Best First Mystery or Crime Novel, and Small Animals Caught in Traps—as well as the Oregon Book Award nonfiction finalist Chasing Alaska: A Portrait of the Last Frontier Then and Now. He’s lived in nine states, built a boat, walked tens of thousands of miles with his dogs, and written about everything from fly fishing to wolves to maritime piracy. For much of his adult life he called Alaska and Oregon home, but can now be found on the Rhode Island coast with his wife Kim and their dog Nessie with his feet in the ocean and his head in the clouds.

Drink this week is a Smoked Maple Whiskey - you can make this if you have a smoker - if you are like me and don’t, find some smoked maple syrup instead!

🥃 Smoked Maple Whiskey
Ingredients
2 oz bourbon or whiskey
½ oz smoked maple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Large ice cube
Orange peel, for garnish
Instructions
Add the bourbon, smoked maple syrup, and bitters to a rocks glass.
Stir to combine.
Add a large ice cube and stir gently.
Garnish with an orange peel.

An episode so good I’m re-airing it!

If you have listened to the podcast for awhile, you have probably heard me reference the book Here For it: Or, How To Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas. It is a favorite of mine and had a big impact on me when I read it the first time in June of 2020, so I was SO excited when my friend and returning guest Izzie Call read it, loved it as well, and wanted to come on and talk about it with me. 

My guest this week is the always delightful Izzie Call. Izzie works as a museum educator for the VMFA coordinating projects related to the permanent collections and special exhibition displays including digital components, labels, and web resources. Izzie is a lifelong, passionate educator and feels most at home speaking about art with those who have an interest in learning.

Also, thank you to Eric Thomas for sharing his favorite drink with me when in a moment of bravado (delusion?) I reached out to him on IG. It is a Cosmopolitan and he said he is bringing it back as a recession indicator!

Cosmo Recipe 
1 oz cranberry juice
0.5 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice 
1 oz triple sec (I use Cointreau)
1.5-2 oz vodka 

Shake hard with ice, pour into martini glass, garnish with orange or lime, and enjoy!

The Only Good Indians is a 2020 horror novel by Stephen Graham Jones about four Blackfeet men haunted by a disturbing, deadly event that took place in their youth. Years later, they find themselves tracked by an entity bent on revenge, totally helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way. The companion book to this novel, Off the Reservation, is coming out October 13, 2026 - don’t miss it!

Becky Spratford is a Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All and RA Horror for All, writes reviews for Booklist and a Horror review column for Library Journal. Becky has been an elected Library Trustee and a former Board member for both the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with Horror readers. Becky is the author of three text books for library workers and the editor of the Bram Stoker Award winning Why I Love Horror. Becky was named one of the Chicago Tribune’s Chicagoans of the Year in 2025. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serving as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Libraries Committee. You can follow Becky on Bluesky @raforall.bsky.social.

We paired this book with a bottle of Coors beer to reflect the opening scene in a bar in the Midwest!

Tickets are on sale for the Urban Librarians Unite Gala on Wednesday October 14th - which I will be MCing in Brooklyn, NY! I hope to see you there in a night to support libraries and our staff.