
29 episodes

The Desk Set King County Library System
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- Books
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4.5 • 53 Ratings
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A bookish podcast for reading broadly.
Librarians interview authors, share reading suggestions and explore literary topics through lively conversations. Each episode is based on reading challenge categories, which encourage listeners to expand their reading horizons.
You can find show notes, including a list of books discussed in each episode and transcripts at kcls.org/deskset.
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Fake It Til You Make It
Authors Rachel Lynn Solomon and Gabrielle Korn join us as guests to chat about their new books. Rachel talks about her adult debut The Ex Talk, a romantic comedy set at a Seattle public radio station. In the book, Shay and Dominic fake a past relationship as a pretense for the podcast they host together. Then, Gabrielle talks about her memoir Everybody (Else) Is Perfect. The book shares her experiences working in women's media, recovering from an eating disorder, street harassment, queer identity, and overcoming imposter syndrome as the youngest Editor-in-Chief at NYLON.
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Reading and Reflecting in 2021
We interview Jenny Odell, the author of How to Do Nothing and chat about reading in 2021. We talk about new books we're excited to read and discuss our personal reading goals. We also reveal this year's library reading challenge categories. Then, Jenny Odell shares how persuasive design keeps our attention in digital spaces. She talks about connecting offline, reflecting on values, and redefining productivity.
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The Best Books of 2020
Librarians share the best books of the year. In this episode, we're joined by KCLS staff members Vicki Huggins and Rachel Adams. We also chat about how reading was different in 2020, whether or not we met our reading goals, and more.
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Long-distance Book Club
We talk with Sarah Gailey, author of Upright Women Wanted. Then, Emily chats with two friends about Tana French's new novel.
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Feed Drop: Cristina Henríquez
Cristina Henríquez, author of The Book of Unknown Americans, joins us for a conversation about immigrant experiences, writing a novel with multiple voices to avoid the "single story," research for writing historical fiction, and the National Book Awards judging process.
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Feed drop: Nancy Pearl
In this bonus listen, we're sharing a recording of a live event. Emily talked to super librarian Nancy Pearl about her new book, The Writer's Library, what she learned talking to writers about their reading lives, her pandemic reads, and more.
Customer Reviews
Comfortably Books!
Listening to the Desk Set is like snuggling up by the fire with a blanket, a cup of hot cocoa, and good friends on a rainy night discussing books!
Reading Broadly Indeed!
The Desk Set is a fun and informative trip through a variety of different literary genres, many of which I wouldn't consider adding to my normal reading queue. Whether I'm hearing about the art of book translation or the reasons that pie and whiskey make authors more friendly, I really enjoyed getting to explore this way.
Thanks, KCLS