Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat about our May reading challenge, Short Story Collections. We discuss life, the universe, and of course baseball. Let us know how many letters a woodchuck could write if a woodchuck could write letters.

Books we discuss include:

• “Haunted Maine” by Charles Stanfield
• “Something Rich and Strange” by Ron Rash (“Three AM and the Stars Were Out”)
• “The Illustrated Man” by Ray Bradbury (“The Veldt”)
• “The Amazing Mr. Morality” by Jacob M. Appel (“Burrowing in Exile”)
• “One More Thing” by B.J. Novak (“The Rematch”)
• “Classic American Short Stories” by Various (“The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain)
• “The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories” by Penelope Lively
• “Life Ceremony” by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (“The Hatchling”)
• “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks
• “Normal Rules Don’t Apply” by Kate Atkinson (“The Void”)
• “When a Stranger Comes To Town” Anthology by Mystery Writers of America (“A Six Letter Word for Neighbor” by Lisa Unger)
• “Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks” by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Alexander Nabaum
• “The Brooklyn Nine” by Alan Gratz

On this special edition of Russell Reads with the Rach(a)els, Russell and Rachel get the opportunity to sit down with National Bestselling Author Alencia Johnson to discuss "Flip the Tables; The Everyday Disruptor's Guide to Finding Courage and Making Change," now available for purchase or at your Danville Public Library.

For more information, visit www.alenciajohnson.com.

Click the link to view the library's copy of Flip the Tables

Russell, Rachel, and Rachael chat with our guest Susanne Bell, Senior Program Officer at Danville Regional Foundation, about setting realistic reading goals, recommending the right book, and a horrifying movie adaptation of one of our favorite childhood classics.
Susanne created a wonderful reference for the books she shared with us.

Childhood reads:

• “Make Way for Ducklings” by author and illustrator Robert McCloskey
• “Three Little Kittens” by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen
• “Anne of Green Gables” or anything by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• “Ozma of Oz” by L. Frank Baum

Novels:

• “Excellent Women” by Barbara Pym
• “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler
• “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi
• “Should We Stay or Should We Go” by Lionel Shriver

Short Story Collections:

• “Light Action in the Caribbean” by Barry Lopez (especially “Construction of the Rachel”)
• “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• “Fidelity” by Wendell Berry (especially “Pray Without Ceasing”)

Other titles we discuss:

• “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
• "Commonwealth” by Anne Tyler
• “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce
• “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” by Sherman Alexie