Drinks in the Library

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism is a 2025 memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook. This book offers an explosive, first-hand look at the internal culture and decision-making practices at the highest levels of the tech giant.

Lauren Comito is a cape wearing, sword swinging, activist librarian in NYC. Lauren is currently the Neighborhood Library Supervisor at the Leonard
Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library and Executive Director of Urban Librarians Unite. She is committed to creating space for communities to connect and grow, whether in her neighborhood or among library workers.

I will be with Lauren in person on October 15 for the Urban Librarians Unite Romantasy gala in Brooklyn NY! Get your tickets now for a night celebrating libraries, librarians, and the important work that we do!

Our drink for this episode was an Old Fashioned, as Lauren said when we were planning: The book is one of those nightmare bureaucracy memoirs where you probably need a damn drink but don't want to drink it too fast? Well said. Cheers!
Old-Fashioned
Ingredients
2 oz bourbon or rye whiskey
1 sugar cube (or 1/4 oz simple syrup)
2–3 dashes Angostura bitters
1 teaspoon water (if using a sugar cube)
Ice
Orange peel and cocktail cherry for garnish
Directions
Place the sugar cube, bitters, and water in an Old-Fashioned glass. Muddle until the sugar dissolves. If using simple syrup, stir with the bitters instead.
Add the whiskey and stir to combine.
Add a large ice cube and stir until chilled.
Express the orange peel over the glass, then garnish with the peel and a cocktail cherry.

Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a sci-fi novel set in a post-scarcity future where death is curable and social status is run by a reputation metric called "whuffie". The protagonist, a centenarian named Jules, lives his dream managing classic attractions at Walt Disney World. When a rival faction stages a hostile takeover and figuratively and literally "kills" his project by modernizing the Hall of Presidents, Jules goes to war to protect the park's traditional artistic purity

Phillip Hilliker is a creatively restless writer and illustrator with credits spanning many fields and genres. He has contributed to role-playing games such as Shadowrun and White Wolf’s World of Darkness, written voiceover scripts for too many whiteboard explanatory videos. He is a current board member of James River Writers and has served as their membership coordinator as well. Currently he’s employed by a puzzle company to draw primarily sports-centric projects. You can find him on social media: @philhilliker

Our drink this week is a Piña Colada, which as you’ll hear ties back a bit to the Magic Kingdom!

Piña Colada
Ingredients
2 oz white rum
2 oz pineapple juice
2 oz cream of coconut
1 cup ice
Pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry, for garnish
Directions
Add rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and ice to a blender.
Blend until smooth and creamy.
Pour into a chilled glass.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi follows 75-year-old John Perry, who joins the Colonial Defense Forces in exchange for a chance to explore the stars and a new, younger body. Recruited into an interstellar war, Perry discovers that the universe is far more dangerous and morally complicated than he expected. Blending sharp humor, military science fiction, and big questions about aging, identity, and sacrifice, the novel offers a fast-paced and thought-provoking adventure.

Donna Barba Higuera is an award-winning author who masterfully blends folklore with her lived experiences to create captivating stories for young readers. Growing up in the dust-filled oil fields of Central California, she spent her life weaving tales that sparked her imagination.

Now residing in the Pacific Northwest with her family and a lively menagerie of pets, Donna is the acclaimed author of picture books like El Cucuy Is Scared, Too! and The Yellow Handkerchief. Her middle-grade novels have garnered significant recognition: Lupe Wong Won't Dance received the Sid Fleischman Award for Humor and a Pura Belpré Honor, while her second novel, The Last Cuentista, was awarded both the John Newbery Medal and the Pura Belpré Award. The Last Cuentista was also named a Best Book of the Year by The Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and TIME. Her newest book Xolo reimagines the Aztec myth of the origin of man-and man's best friend. 

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.

Man of War Cocktail
Ingredients
1½ oz bourbon
½ oz orange liqueur
½ oz sweet vermouth
½ oz fresh lemon juice
Orange twist, for garnish

Directions
Add bourbon, orange liqueur, sweet vermouth, and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake well.
Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
• 4. Garnish with an orange twist.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is a book in which generations of readers have journeyed with Milo to the Lands Beyond in this beloved classic. Enriched by Jules Feiffer's splendid illustrations, the wit, wisdom, and wordplay of Norton Juster's offbeat fantasy are as beguiling as ever. For Milo, everything's a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he's got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. 

Rebecca N. Thompson, MD, MSc, is a family medicine and public health physician from Portland, Oregon, who specializes in women's and children's health. Throughout her career, she has sought opportunities to use written and spoken words to help build community and to make complex medical topics more accessible and more engaging for a wide range of audiences. Her critically acclaimed book, Held Together: A Shared Memoir of Motherhood, Medicine, and Imperfect Love (HarperCollins 2025), is the result of her decade-long collaboration with a remarkable group of women to share their most intimate true stories about personal relationships, professional identities, and health and healing across generations. Dr. Thompson trained at Harvard, Stanford, and Oregon Health & Science University and is always learning from her most influential teachers—her patients, colleagues, family, and friends. In her free time, she enjoys wandering through green spaces, reading in cozy nooks, playing unreasonably complicated board games, repurposing found objects, and accompanying her husband and children on all-weather adventures near and far.

Our drink this week is a Capri Sun, always a good time and a great pairing for a classic children’s book.

On Wednesday October 14th I will be MCing the Urban Librarians Unite Gala in Brooklyn NY, if you are in that area and would like to spend the night celebrating an organization that supports libraries, grab a ticket and join us! More info here: https://urbanlibrariansunite.org/romantasy-gala-2026/

What if every relationship you've ever had left behind a version of yourself? In A Life in Men by Gina Frangello, Mary's life is forever shaped by her complicated friendship with Nix, her charismatic, free-spirit best friend, and the rift that ultimately divided them forever. Both intimate and emotionally honest, this book is a powerful novel about love, identity, grief, and the people who change us forever.
As the Founder and CEO of Kathleen Schmidt Public Relations, Kathleen is a well-respected voice in book publishing with in-depth experience in all aspects of the industry, including as a publicist, literary agent, acquisitions editor, and ghostwriter. 
Her career encompasses 30 years of creating and directing impactful and strategic global media, marketing, and branding campaigns for politicians, A-List celebrities, athletes, and high-profile personalities. 
Her fast-growing Substack newsletter, Publishing Confidential, shares her wealth of inside knowledge that she hopes will help demystify the book industry. She recently announced a book deal, expanding on her knowledge and experience in the publishing industry, it will be coming out in 2027. Married with two children, she resides in New Jersey.