We never got around to our A month reading challenge so this month we are doing both A and B.

“A” Month Reading Challenge: Attend a talk, reading or open mic night — virtual is more than encouraged! — for an Author about whom you know nothing.

We had never been to the Highland Park Library so when we saw that an author would be there, talking about his book “Deadly Dallas: History of Unfortunate Incidents & Grisly Fatalities”, we were intrigued.

This was like no library we’ve ever been to. You couldn’t tell that it was a library from the outside. When we arrived at our destination this is what we saw:

We entered, walked down a long hall and the library itself looked almost like a lovely old bookshop. The hall we were directed to seemed like one in which the someone would give judicial testimony. Quite unusual.

We really enjoyed the talk given by Rusty Williams. We had no idea of the many ways in which everyday life in the late 1800s in Dallas were deadly, from elevators which no one had operated previously to the fact that one was more likely to get run over in the streets in those days than someone in the present driving the length of the Dallas North Tollway in reverse! So glad the ABC Life inspired us to hear this amusing and very interesting talk.

“B” Month Reading Challenge: Discover a new Book podcast

Barbara: I sampled three book podcasts. Sampled, because I didn’t care for any of them. The first was Beaks and Geeks. I have no idea how that title relates to the blog but it was an interview with an author. I’ve concluded that listening to an author I don’t know talk about a book I haven’t read is not at all appealing to me. So, I moved on to the second, Banging Book Club. This was hosted by two women who I’m guessing are in their early 20s and they were talking to a young author but all through the portion of the podcast I listened to the three of them were giggling. I’m sure no one wants to hear my friends and me giggling so on I moved again. The third and final podcast I sampled was Backlisted but it was too dry. My conclusion: I’d much rather read the book and then discuss it with my friends or book club members than sit through a podcast.

Laura: I approached this challenge with trepidation, already a bit biased against book podcasts after talking to Barbara. Well, I totally agree with her views. Book podcasts are not my thing. The first podcast I sampled was Sarah’s Bookshelves Podcast. I really enjoy her blog so I was disappointed that I was bored and disinterested in the episode I listened to. Then I tried So Many Damn Books. The moderator immediately did a commercial for Bomba socks! Really? My third and final try was somewhat successful. It was Simon Mayo’s Books of the Year. The episode was talking to Jonathan Freedland about his book The Escape Artist. They got right into discussing the book so at least you were listening to what you tuned into hear! I realize there are many out there who love book podcasts so the lack of my listenership will not be missed.

Follow up to our last post: In keeping with our vow of B Begone! Barbara has already donated 17 Blouses and 8 Belts and tossed a great number of unused Beauty products. Laura has bagged 4 pairs of Blue Jeans, 7 Beauty products, 10 Books and 1 Bayonet (just kidding).