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The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien is a timeless adventure novel, tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. Can a simple hobbit resist the corrupting power of the One Ring and succeed where great warriors have failed?

My guest this week is Salaam Bhatti, a public-interest lawyer, husband, and father of two boys, and is running as a Democrat for Congress to fight for families across Virginia’s 1st District.

Salaam is a child of immigrants who came to America to pursue the American dream. While at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, he led bipartisan efforts to expand SNAP food assistance for 25,000+ families, helped secure free school meals for tens of thousands of children, and increased cash assistance for families by historic amounts. You can find out more about him at salaamforva.com

Evenstar Elixer

Ingredients

• 2 oz tart cherry juice
• 1 oz white grape juice
• ½ oz fresh lemon juice
• ½ oz rosemary simple syrup (or honey syrup for a warmer flavor)
• 2–3 oz sparkling water
• Ice

Directions

1. Fill a glass with ice.
2. Add the tart cherry juice, white grape juice, lemon juice, and rosemary syrup.
3. Stir well.
4. Top with sparkling water.

• 5. Garnish with the rosemary sprig and cherries.

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. This is the wildly fun and fast moving plot from the book Starter Villain by John Scalzi which I discuss with this week’s guest, Allie Speakmon!

Allie is a book reviewer and content creator based in the New Braunfels, Texas area. She runs @speakingof.books across Instagram, TikTok, and her website speakingof.org where she reviews mysteries, thrillers, romantasy, and contemporary fiction with honest takes and a full glass of wine. She's a project manager by day, a mom of 3 under 4 including twins, and a self-proclaimed Type C reader who reads by vibes and ignores her TBR pile. She's been in the bookstagram community for 9 years, reads 100+ books a year, and recently founded The Quarterly Bookclub in New Braunfels for busy women who love books but think monthly is too much commitment.

Villain Spritz

Ingredients

• 1½ oz vodka
• ¾ oz elderflower liqueur
• ½ oz honey syrup
• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
• 4–5 fresh blackberries, muddled
• Prosecco or club soda, to top
• Mint sprig and fresh blackberries

Directions

1. Add the blackberries to a cocktail shaker and muddle gently.
2. Add the vodka, elderflower liqueur honey syrup, lemon juice, and ice.
3. Shake well until chilled.
4. Fill a rocks glass with fresh ice and strain the cocktail over the ice.
5. Top with a splash of Prosecco.

• 6. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a few fresh blackberries.

To support Drinks in the Library and listen to ad-free episode and additional bonus content, subscribe on Patreon

Hannah Coulter is Wendell Berry's seventh novel and his first to employ the voice of a woman character in its telling. Hannah, the now-elderly narrator, recounts the love she has for the land and for her community. She remembers each of her two husbands, and all places and community connections threatened by twentieth-century technologies.

Lacey Keigley is a mother, writer, educator and the author of her memoir: Nevertheless: Essays on Divorce, Single Parenting & Hope in which Lacey bends her trademark wit and style to the uncommon commonalities of daily life in a new normal, flinging back the curtains and inviting readers to witness the chaos, blessings, burdens, and hilarity of her world.

At the heart of each lyrical essay is one harrowing question.

When life doesn't turn out as planned-what then?

You can find her on Facebook and on Instagram @SoEveryDay, and on substack: substack.com/@soeveryday

We sipped on a sweet tea during this episode as a tribute to Wendell Berry, his southern roots, as well as our own!

Every book has two stories: the one it tells, and the one it hides.

If you ’re enjoying our show we think you might like the Secret Life of Books — a weekly podcast by Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole that uncovers the hidden stories behind classic books: Who made it? What were their motives, their scandals? And, above all, what secrets lie behind the iconic books you thought you knew? And if you need some reading motivation, they have a Book Club for Secret Life of Books members that offers exclusive bonus episodes, reading notes, and helpful yet hilarious comments, as they chapter by chapter. Their next Book Club read is Charles Dickens’ Bleak House! So go and check out the Secret Life of Books. The first episode in their Book Club is out now, and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts!