These Books Made Me

Prince George's County Memorial Library System

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at pgcmls.medium.com. read less
ArtsArts

Episodes

The Hunger Games
Jan 18 2024
The Hunger Games
Much like Katniss Everdeen, in this episode we are faced with some very tough choices. Four librarians enter the podcasting studio, only one will leave! Actually no librarian podcasters had to fight to the death during the making of this episode, though we did learn that Darlene would simply opt out of the Hunger Games, so I think we can safely assume she's not library Mockingjay. That's right, we're taking a trip down horrible child fatality memory lane this episode with Suzanne Collins's YA blockbuster, The Hunger Games. We learned a lot about weapons, wound care, and wingmen ('sup, Thresh) as we returned to Panem. We dissect the ambiguous morality of the citizens of the Capitol, rue the author's real struggle with names, and briefly debate Team Peeta vs. Team Gale (or in possibly Heather's worst hot take ever, Team Haymitch). These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/. We cover a lot of ground in this episode and used some books and articles as jumping off points. Here’s a brief list of some of them if you want to do your own further research:Suzanne Collins revisits the Games: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/books/suzanne-collins-talks-about-the-hunger-games-the-books-and-the-movies.htmlFeminism and The Hunger Games (note, this is a thesis and long but intriguing!): https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=etds
Hispanic Heritage Month: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Rerelease
Oct 15 2023
Hispanic Heritage Month: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Rerelease
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we're revisiting some of our favorite episodes! To close out HHM, here's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez. If you missed this episode the first time around, it's back with some bonus recommendations for readalikes. This episode we dive into Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the 1991 reverse chronology story of four sisters who flee to the United States from the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. As we look through Yolanda's eyes at the world of New York City and the Dominican Republic in the 60s, 70s, and 80s,  we dissect Alvarez's depiction of class, race, acculturation, and machismo.  We delve into the dynamics of sisterhood, boyfriends with ludicrous names, the ubiquity of certain aspects of adolescence, and  complicated families. We also learn that some of us are Sandies but some of us are Lauras. Finally, we are taking it to the streets, er... stacks, with our new Person in the Stacks segment and asking what tastes like home. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.
Blubber
Apr 6 2023
Blubber
We had such a good experience with Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. that we decided to go back to the Judy Blume well as a palate cleanser of sorts post-Sisterhood. Well, you know how it's really gross when you drink orange juice when you were expecting milk? That was sort of how using Blubber as a palate cleanser went. This book was just not what we remembered or what we were expecting. We explored the bullying hellscape that is Ms. Minnish's 5th grade classroom as we tried to suss out the message of the book. We talk about the Blume to horror pipeline, learn about Hawa's hatred of celery and mint, and share our own childhood memories but nothing quite compares to the nightmare that is poor Linda's life in this book. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles and videos about some of them if you want to do your own further research: Diet fads over time: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/diet-fitness/g15893190/popular-diet-the-year-you-were-born/Judy Blume on censorship: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/11/judy-blume-interview-forever-writer-children-young-adults
A Wrinkle in Time
Mar 23 2023
A Wrinkle in Time
We're no strangers to books with religious overtones or stories meant to impart a moral lesson, but this episode's journey to Camazotz with Madeleine L'Engle's classic work A Wrinkle in Time is definitely the most overtly religious book we've tackled.  Jesus, Charles Wallace... or Jesus= Charles Wallace? We're not entirely sure. We're also not entirely sure if our extreme irritation with a 5 year old makes us terrible people. This book is a straight up romp where plot is concerned, but we lose the signal a bit with what the author is saying about gender roles, the nature of evil, faith, physics, and the world. We're discussing all things Who, Which and Whatsit, tesseracts, pulsating brains, and soft fluffy beasts to try to figure it out though! These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles and videos about some of them if you want to do your own further research:The enduring impact of the book: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/remarkable-influence-wrinkle-in-time-180967509/A remarkable journey: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/09/rereading-madeleine-l-engle.htmlSci-fi or no?: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/66705/how-wrinkle-time-changed-sci-fi-forever
The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy
Mar 9 2023
The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy
This is now officially an Ann M. Martin stan podcast. Ok, maybe not since our loyalties are divided between the many great authors we've revisited, but we are firmly team Ann. This episode we embark on our long-awaited journey into The Baby-Sitters Club. We are beginning at the only possible starting point: Kristy Thomas. We are tackling Kristy's Great Idea and Kristy's Big Day. Are you a Claudia or a Mary Anne? Maybe we were all just Claudia all along. These books explore feminism, demonstrate the value of a solid business plan, and offer some really weird takes on juvenile diabetes. We learn how many adults it takes to make an appetizer, discuss deadbeat dads and decorum, and unexpectedly uncover a potential bombshell about the CEO of a hot cocoa conglomerate during our Person in the Stacks segments.These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles and videos about some of them if you want to do your own further research:Feminism in the BSC:  https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-feminist-legacy-of-the-baby-sitters-clubRepresentation in the BSC: https://bookriot.com/queer-history-of-the-baby-sitters-club/All those original covers: https://the-niche.blog/2020/09/09/all-131-baby-sitters-club-book-covers-ranked-by-gayness/
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Feb 23 2023
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
These Books Made Me... kind of upset to be honest. This week we're tackling local-at-one-point author Ann Brashares and her homage to pretty much everything that was wrong about the late 90s, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This episode has everything: a book with casual racism in the second paragraph, really dodgy hygiene practices, flirting with your stepbrother, a love story that takes place internationally because it would have been illegal in the US, a heartbreaking cancer death, and more body image issues than Seventeen magazine. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We cover a lot of ground in this episode and used some books and articles as jumping off points. Here’s a brief list of some of them if you want to do your own further research:It was tough having a body in the late 90s! https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-millennial-vernacular-of-fatphobiaThe OG Traveling Pants:https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/04/the-worlds-oldest-pants-are-a-3000-year-old-engineering-marvel/Please wash your pants (especially jeans you share with your friends for a whole summer)!https://www.vice.com/en/article/pg5b3n/how-many-days-can-you-wear-the-same-pair-of-underwear
Anne of Green Gables Part 2
Feb 2 2023
Anne of Green Gables Part 2
We're back with part 2 of Anne of Green Gables, because we, like Anne, can talk the hind leg off a mule. Anne's a capital R Romantic and obsessed with beauty. She sees it everywhere from the Lake of Shining Waters to the fashion of the day. Speaking of the fashion a la mode, we delve a little deeper into the trends and beauty standards of Anne's (and Lucy Maud Montgomery's) time. Once again we ponder whether the 1985 Sullivan rendition might have improved the story a bit by abandoning the bank failure storyline and having (spoiler) Matthew die in the harness as it were. We're all a little traumatized by film Matthew's death and at least one of us is still heartbroken over Jonathan Crombie's death. All of us are quite torn about which adult in Anne's life would make the best adoptive parent and we chat with some library users about their own adventures with runaway imaginations. We learn which character from the book we each are too. Will this quiz be a perfect graveyard of buried hopes?These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We cover a lot of ground in this episode and used some books and articles as jumping off points. Here’s a brief list of some of them if you want to do your own further research:Don't internalize beauty norms, Anne!  https://misfortuneofknowing.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/dear-anne-shirley-redheads-can-wear-pink-2/ She's always a woman to me... https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=gsw_pubPassing that Bechdel test with flying colors: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1522&context=theses
Anne of Green Gables Pt. 1
Jan 19 2023
Anne of Green Gables Pt. 1
This podcast crew has so much in common with the heroine of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic, Anne of Green Gables. We too prattle on incessantly, have ill-advised adventures in hair dyeing, and we're big in Japan... one might say we're kindred spirits. In this episode we take a turn down the White Way of Delight and visit Avonlea as we return to a book that's an absolute mashed potatoes of a book for some of us. We discuss place as character, try to decipher Rachel Lynde's interesting brand of feminism, rhapsodize over the magic of childhood, and delve into the stigma faced by both orphans and redheads in the 19th century. We adore LMM's vivid landscape descriptions and economical writing, but we wonder if the 1985 Sullivan adaptation didn't improve Anne's puffed sleeve dress a bit by making it blue instead of... brown?!?These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/. We cover a lot of ground in this episode and used some books and articles as jumping off points. Here’s a brief list of some of them if you want to do your own further research:Make it Fashion! (Anne edition) https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1880-1889/You're sick? How Romantic! https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/handed-down/fever-dreamsThe Edwardian era: https://www.anneofgreengables.com/blog-posts/the-edwardian-era-and-anne-of-green-gablesBarnardo's Boys: https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2015/06/19/a-timeline-of-barnardos-and-other-child-emigration-programs.html
Pride & Prejudice: Part 1
Dec 15 2022
Pride & Prejudice: Part 1
This episode we are taking a leisurely stroll through the gentle hills of Hertfordshire and the genteel romances of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  We're talking classics, love-hate relationships, £5,000 bachelors, loveless marriages, Mr. Bennet's zingers, and the cost of living index in Regency period England.  Our most subplot-laden book yet produces our most complicated plot summary and we marvel at how Jane Austen kept all of these threads together without major editorial help. We have so much to say about Lizzie and Darcy and this very important book that we are breaking this episode into two parts. Just as you can love both Colin Firth and Matthew MacFayden's Mr. Darcy, so too can you love episodes 1 and 2 of our very chatty dance with Pride and Prejudice. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit out blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We cover a lot of ground in this episode. If you'd like to learn more about some of the topics we touch on, here's some links you might enjoy:The crunchiest economic explanation of money in Pride and Prejudice we could find! https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/The complicated Cassandra Austen: https://lithub.com/cassandra-austen-literary-arsonist-or-a-heroine-in-her-own-right/
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock
Dec 1 2022
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock
This episode finds us in the ambiguously located town of River Heights with teen sleuth, Nancy Drew. The Nancy series has mega intergenerational nostalgia vibes for a lot of us —that row of yellow spines on a shelf transports many of us straight back to childhood. But revisiting our Nancy-love by starting with book 1, The Secret of the Old Clock, produces some mixed emotions. Where are Bess and George? Why is Nancy blonde, wasn't she Titian-haired? While we may have been fuzzy on some of the details, Nancy's escapades are still a pretty wild romp. She's saving babies with massive head injuries, chasing a violent gang of thieves, helping little old ladies, and benefitting from all sorts of violations of attorney-client privilege. This book has everything... missing wills, two tragic boating accidents, a ripped evening gown, and a Euclidean lever. This episode has everything too... more sound effects, The Stratemeyer Syndicate, legal opinions, and a major spoiler for our next episode. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit out blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.Midred Benson: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/adventurous-writer-who-brought-Nancy-Drew-to-life-180969479/Changes from the 30s to the 50s revision: https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/nancy-drew
Heaven
Nov 17 2022
Heaven
If the foundation is a lie, is anything real? This episode we look at identity, trust, and family as we dive into Angela Johnson's award winning book, Heaven. Marley's world is turned upside down when she learns that nothing is what it seems and her (spoiler alert) uncle is really her dad and the people who raised her are really her aunt and uncle.  All in all, it's a real doozy of a revelation for anyone, much less a child. In this episode we try to figure out what the heck is going on with Shuggy Maple and bemoan some pretty poor editing when it comes to Shuggy's mom's name. We are perplexed by Uncle Jack and wonder whether he has taken hobocore a little too far. We ponder why on earth a 14 year old girl is allowed to go daytripping with a 20 year old man and try to figure out a seemingly dodgy child support situation. We also really wish people still wrote love letters —the pen and paper kind, not the slide into my DMs kind. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles and videos about some of them if you want to do your own further research:Kinship adoptions: https://adoptioncouncil.org/publications/the-hidden-hurdles-and-benefits-of-kinship-care-and-adoption/Angela Johnson interview: https://www.ohiochannel.org/video/an-interview-with-ohio-author-angela-johnson
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Oct 6 2022
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
We are back for season 3 with a coming of age story told in reverse. This episode we dive into Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the 1991 reverse chronology story of four sisters who flee to the United States from the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. As we look through Yolanda's eyes at the world of New York City and the Dominican Republic in the 60s, 70s, and 80s,  we dissect Alvarez's depiction of class, race, acculturation, and machismo.  We delve into the dynamics of sisterhood, boyfriends with ludicrous names, the ubiquity of certain aspects of adolescence, and  complicated families. We also learn that some of us are Sandies but some of us are Lauras. Finally, we are taking it to the streets, er... stacks, with our new Person in the Stacks segment and asking what tastes like home. These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at TheseBooksMadeMe@pgcmls.info. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles about some of them if you want to do your own further research:Rafael Trujillo: https://www.biography.com/dictator/rafael-trujilloThe Parsley Massacre: https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/10/07/555871670/80-years-on-dominicans-and-haitians-revisit-painful-memories-of-parsley-massacreWhich Garcia Girl are you?  https://www.buzzfeed.com/thesebooksmademe/which-garcia-girl-are-you-78z2e2u4rp