Last month I found myself in a bit of a reading slump. Life was busy and many of my library holds were taking their time coming in (yes, they came in all at once so I had some catching up to do!). I had a great time reading through a wide variety of genres in the past month, and I am super excited to share my favorites with you! Below you will find suggestions for genres in fantasy, non fiction, historical fiction, and thriller/horror. I am an eclectic reader! Dear reader, I hope you find something on this list that brings you as much delight as these reads brought to me.
Continue reading “Abbie’s Recent Reads (November 2025)”Author: abbiebourelle
My Comfort Musicals
I love musicals. I could write pages upon pages about all the musicals that I would rank as my favorites. For the purposes of this post, I am focusing on my favorite comfort musicals. These are musicals that I like to watch when I am feeling down or when I want all those warm cozy feelings. Dear reader, I hope that the following titles will help you if you need those warm cozy feelings as well.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame may be a Disney movie, but it is a dark Disney movie. It is a tale of a villain driven to violence by his lust for a woman. It is the tale of a lonely, kind, and deformed orphan boy raised by a monster of a man. It is the tale of a woman from a minority group who seeks justice and a fairer world. It is the tale of a soldier who questions his orders and chooses to stand up for what is right. While the Disney movie is great, the Broadway performance is even better. (This can be found on youtube and the soundtrack can be requested via interlibrary loan through Wiscat. If you are not a Disney fan, check out the Broadway version.) The Broadway musical version sticks closer to author Victor Hugo’s original work. While the Disney version takes out or glosses over some scenes from the book that would be a downer or inappropriate for children, the Broadway musical includes them. I will provide a link below to request the Broadway soundtrack CD from Wiscat. I highly recommend it.
The music for The Hunchback of Notre Dame is phenomenal. Latin chanting permeates the work. My favorite songs include Out There, God Help the Outcasts, Hellfire, In a Place of Miracles, and Someday. The song Out There is Quasimodo’s main theme. The song has amazing range hitting some pretty high notes for a male part. Out There really encompasses the deep yearning that Quasi has to escape his bell tower and be like “ordinary men”. All he wants is his one day in the sun. In his own words, “Just one day and then I’ll be content with my share.”
The song God Help the Outcasts is Esmeralda’s solo. Esmeralda has been chased by the soldiers into Notre Dame cathedral due to the fact that she is Romani. In addition, Frollo (Archduke or Judge depending on the version of the tale) has decreed that she is a witch and needs to be taken into custody. (He really just wants to get with her as he has become seduced by her dancing.) Though Esmeralda finds herself in dire straights, she does not pray for herself. While those around her in the cathedral pray to be blessed for their own benefit, Esmeralda asks God to help the helpless, the poor, and the oppressed. “I ask for nothing, I can get by,” she sings. At the end of the song she adds, “I thought we all were children of God.” Esmeralda has always been a character I look up to and try to emulate. This message is so important in a world where so many are poor, oppressed, and downtrodden. I have always deeply believed that it is important to help each other and to care about our fellow humans.
Hellfire is the villain Frollo’s song. Some, including myself, consider Hellfire to be the best villain song that has ever come out of a Disney movie. Frollo is a frightening villain for the fact that he is so real. He is a powerful but evil man. His larger goal is to commit genocide and wipe out a whole ethnic group. His personal goal is to take Esmeralda against her will as he feels lust for her. The song Hellfire features Frollo battling with his faith. It begins with echoes of Ave Maria before turning into the song Hellfire. Frollo sings about being “a righteous man”. He asks the Virgin Mary why he is feeling the way he is. “Tell me Maria why I see her dancing there, why her smoldering eyes still scorch my soul.” Finally, he decides that he is incapable of suppressing these desires and instead of accepting that his intentions are wrong he blames his feelings on the devil. “It’s not my fault! If in God’s plan, he made the devil so much stronger than a man!” No, Frollo can’t deal with his feelings like a normal person. He jumps to the conclusion that he needs to, “Destroy Esmeralda and let her taste the fires of hell or else let her be mine and mine alone.” Yeah, Frollo decides that if he can’t have her he will just burn down all of Paris until he finds her and then burn her at stake too if she refuses his advances. Besides the fact that Frollo is certifiably crazy, the song is a great study of someone battling with their dark desires. In great artistic flair the phrase “Mea Culpa” is repeated often in the Latin chanting throughout this song. Mea Culpa is Latin for “My fault”. Though Frollo is trying to direct the blame on anything or anyone other than himself, he knows somewhere deep down that his actions are his fault alone.
In a Place of Miracles is only performed in the Broadway version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Why I love this one so much is the touching scene where Phoebus and Esmeralda confess their love for each other in a beautiful duet. Quasimodo and Phoebus found The Court of Miracles and warned the Romani (gypsies as they are called in the story) that Frollo knows where they are hiding and is on his way to wipe them out. Phoebus asks Esmeralda to let him leave with her and her people. The song turns into a trio with the addition of Quasimodo’s perspective. While Phoebus and Esmeralda sing about their feelings in song, Quasimodo realizes that he will never get the girl in the end. He reprises lyrics from an earlier song, “no face as hideous as my face was ever meant for heaven’s light.” The effect of all three amazing performers singing at once hits the soul a certain way. The effect is happy and sad at the same time. Clopin, leader of the Romani, also comes in at the end of the song with, “Romanis again must roam. Could there be a country kinder to our race? In a place of miracles.” Over the top of the “in a place of miracles” line Quasimodo sings out, “where’s my place of miracles?” The whole effect is very touching. Seeing Clopin get serious for once also shows that the plight of these people is very dire. They do not have a home and are chased wherever they go. The song is just completely lovely though sad and really hits a certain way.
The song Someday is actually put into the end credits of the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre dame. While still being a thought provoking song to listen to, it does not hit the same way compared with how it is performed in the Broadway musical. In the Broadway version the duet Someday takes place when Esmeralda and Phoebus are in prison. They both know that Esmeralda is set to be executed at dawn. These are their final hours together. Esmeralda sings about believing that there would be a day where justice would be real and the world would be a better place. Knowing she is going to die she sings, “I die believing still it will come when I am gone.” My favorite lines from the song are “Someday life will be fairer, need will be rarer, greed will not pay.” As I share Esmeralda’s dream for the future, this song touches me deeply. It is also sung and performed in such an emotional way. You can listen to this version on CD, but if you want to watch the performers sing it, again check out the full version on Youtube.
Sad dark musicals are comforting to me. I do not know why. I have been obsessing about The Hunchback of Notre Dame since I was three. I made my mother put the VHS in again and again when we rented it. As an adult I have it on blu-ray on my favorites shelf.
Click HERE to request The Hunchback of Notre Dame Broadway Musical CD! (Note: search exactly: The Hunchback of Notre Dame Studio Cast Recording)
Click HERE to request Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame!
Continue reading “My Comfort Musicals”My Childhood Favorites
Recently a coworker and I had a conversation about books that we had read and enjoyed as children. We realized we read a lot of the same books as kids and had fun recounting our favorites. The 90s and 2000s were the days of wonderfully long scholastic paperback book series. Many times these series had to be read in order, but often it did not matter if you missed out on a few volumes. In those days you grabbed whatever was in stock or ordered it using the old easicat system. I still remember the thrill and the smell of going into the Plymouth Library as a child and making my way to the rotating shelves filled with these volumes. I would stock up on any book that caught my fancy or reread any of the old ones that I had enjoyed. I usually left with quite the stack. I had forgotten about some of these books until my coworker and I had this conversation. Other books in this post you will find are still popular today. Dear reader, I hope you enjoy by blast from the past! Maybe this post will transport you back to your own childhood or introduce you to something still in our system that you may enjoy yourself!
Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osbourne
The very first Magic Tree House Book, Dinosaurs Before Dark, was published in 1992. Currently there are 130 books in the series and that number is still climbing! This series will always be special to me as it was the first chapter book series I read as a child and probably responsible for my continuous love of history. I still remember getting so into Pirates Past Noon in first grade that I did not even hear the teacher call us to the rug for story hour! She had to come check on me. I was so into the story I did not hear the rest of the class even move!
The Magic Tree House books are for young readers just starting out into the world of chapter books. The reading is easy and there are still pictures. The series follows brother and sister, Jack and Annie, as they use a magical treehouse to travel through time. They are able to point to a picture in any book within the tree house and wish to go there. Sometimes they are sent on specific missions by Morgan Le Faye, the famous sorcerous from Arthurian Myth. Jack is the scientist of the duo. He is always writing notes in his notebook and reading facts from the various guidebooks that he brings along. This series was the foundation for some of the many random facts and knowledge now rattling around in my brain. Annie, on the other hand, is the dreamer. She trusts unconditionally. She believes in magic and sees the wonder in every moment. She will talk to any animal that they come across and know in her soul that the creature understands. As a child I was totally Annie. Rereading this series as an adult, I find myself to have become more like Jack but desperately clinging to the vestiges of Annie that are still within me. I am trying to nurture that inner Annie inside of myself, I think we all could learn a lot from her. I am currently climbing back into the magic tree house and tagging along with Jack and Annie through their historic adventures. I am looking forward to reliving these childhood adventures and discovering new ones that were published later. Dear reader, I hope you enjoy the ride as well whether coming back or embarking on your first time!
Click HERE to request any of The Magic Tree House books!
Continue reading “My Childhood Favorites”Thrills and Chills: My July Thriller and Horror Reads
I have found that while I read a bit from just about every genre under the sun, I tend to go through what I like to call “genre phases”. Last year I was in quite the science fiction phase and the bulk of my reading was focused in that genre. This summer has seen me in quite the horror and thriller phase. Like a ravenous undead beast I have found myself devouring whatever dark tome I can get my hands on. The following recommendations are books that I have digested over the month of July. Please, enjoy the menu!
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
S.A. Barnes is a wonderful author that skillfully blends the genres of science fiction and horror. In this particular novel we find ourselves with a scrappy crew of astronauts who work at the outer edges of explored space repairing communication relays. They are due to return to the company soon and be shipped off to different assignments. Before that can happen, they follow a strange distress beacon to a discovery that embroils our crew in a decades long unsolved mystery.
The Aurora was one of a kind. No ship was built like it before or since. It was supposed to be the Titanic – but in space: a state of the art cruise vessel for the rich and famous. It disappeared years ago and no one alive knows what happened to it. Hoping that the find will bring them fame and fortune, our crew boards the Aurora. The scene aboard is one of blood and violence. What happened on the Aurora that drove the passengers to their doom? Are there survivors lurking on this ghost ship? Read Dead Silence and prepare for a wild ride full of jump scares and horror worthy of a big screen movie. This is exactly what I want when I pick up a horror novel!
Click HERE to request Dead Silence!
Continue reading “Thrills and Chills: My July Thriller and Horror Reads”Abbie’s Recent Reads for July
Dear readers, welcome back and thank you for letting me share with you the books that I have been enjoying. As usual, I delight in a diverse range of genres. This month’s reads come from the genres of non fiction, fantasy, and horror. I greatly enjoyed reading these titles and I hope one of these catches your eye!
FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
A shout out to my fellow librarian, Aubrey, for recommending this title is in order. Thank you Aubrey! If you are looking for a book that stays with you long after the closing page, this one is it! It has been a week or so since I finished this book, but I still find myself thinking about it. Dear reader, this book is a work of fiction, but it could very easily be set in the real world present day. FantasticLand is a theme park in Florida built by an eccentric billionaire. What sets FantasticLand apart is that it is designed to be many mini theme parks in one. There are different sections of the park. All are designed to be their own unique world. There are places like The Pirate Cove, The Fairy Prairie, and so on. Everything is great until a super hurricane hits. In theory, the staff that stay behind to care for the park should be fine. There is enough food and water for everyone. Dear reader, if that were the case we would not have a story. What results is something that resembles a slasher movie as the young people trapped in the park turn on each other. Each faction fights for dominance as supplies dwindle. The sordid tale is told from the point of view of interviews with those who made it out alive. Only the survivors can tell the tale of what REALLY happened inside FantasticLand. What keeps me thinking about this book is that this is no ordinary slasher. It poses psychological questions about the effects of phone addiction on our young population. Yes, it is a fiction, but it makes one wonder.
Click HERE to request FantasticLand!
Continue reading “Abbie’s Recent Reads for July”Reading Down Rabbit Holes
Part I: Are Ghosts Real? Exploring the Supernatural
Dear reader have you ever heard the phrase “I went down a rabbit hole.”? Usually this is spoken when one looks up a fact that they do not know and are inevitably sucked deeper and deeper into a topic pulled along by their curiosity. They usually emerge from this “rabbit hole” filled with a wealth of random knowledge about this particular topic. Lately I have found myself pulled “down the rabbit hole” by the books I have been reading. One book recommends another and that book recommends yet another book on the topic I have been reading. Join me as I take you down the rabbit hole and share with you my strange journey through these books on topics of my interest.
Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey
I may have blogged about this title before as I first read this book last year. At that time I had no idea it would tie into the other books in my journey. Ghostland tells the story of famous American hauntings while exploring the real and true history behind the stories. This book features such famed paranormal places as the Winchester House, Alcatraz Prison, and the cemeteries of New Orleans to name just a few. Besides exploring the true histories of these haunted locations Colin Dickey asks some hard psychological questions. Why do we tell ghost stories? What makes a location haunted? Why is this haunting more famous than that haunting? What does the tale tell us about our values or guilt as a society? In exploring America’s tales of the paranormal, Dickey forces us to look within ourselves to discover truths about human nature, our society, and historical truths we may be too scared to face.
This was a very different read than other books on the paranormal that I have read. I would recommend this book to both believers and skeptics alike as it sheds light on the true origins of our ghost stories whether you believe in them or not.
Click HERE to request Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places
Continue reading “Reading Down Rabbit Holes”
Let’s Celebrate National Parks!
It is that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer and most of us just want to be outside. I grew up in Dundee Wisconsin surrounded by the vast Kettle Moraine State Forest. I would spend hours as a child running through the meadows, climbing rocks and trees, and exploring the woods. When I was very little my grandfather would babysit me at his office at the Ice Age Center. He was a naturalist there. He and Grandma made sure that my cousins and I had the chance to travel and explore many of the national parks where Grandpa had worked in his younger years. Each summer they took us somewhere new. I was blessed to be able to see The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, Mesa Verde, and The South Dakota Badlands. Our grandparents also took us east to Niagara Falls, Gettysburg, The Finger Lakes of upper New York, and Washington D.C. As an adult it is more difficult to travel to these places as life is busy. This time of year I get out and explore the many beautiful natural areas closer to home. Though I am unable to travel to the national parks whenever I may like, I do still carry a deep appreciation for our country’s protected wilderness areas. These national parks deserve to be celebrated and protected for all future generations to enjoy. Dear reader, please join me on a literary tour and celebration of our national parks through the books I have selected below.
Continue reading “Let’s Celebrate National Parks!”Abbie’s Recent Reads
Dear Readers, welcome to another installment of Abbie’s Recent Reads! Over the last few months the main genres I have been reading have been Nonfiction and Horror. The Nonfiction reads have ranged from the true crime genre, ballet, to Polar exploration. Prepare for a wild ride through time, space, and the globe as I share some of my recommended books I have read recently!
The Stowaway by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
I will read any book I can find on Antarctic Exploration or North Pole Exploration. While awaiting my hold of Madhouse at the End of the Earth on Libby, The Stowaway was recommended to me as a similar read to enjoy while I waited. (I am still awaiting my hold of Madhouse at the End of the Earth to come in.) I am really glad I read this one. As I have read many books on Polar exploration, I have always wondered what it would be like to be along with the explorers on their grand adventures. Apparently a lot of other people at the time of these explorations were thinking the same thing! The Stowaway is the true story of Billy Gawronski, an ordinary teenage son of Polish immigrants living in New York. In the 1920’s Billy has grown up on adventure stories and dreams of going off on one of his own. He becomes obsessed with Captain Byrd and the expedition being planned to explore the Antarctic. Billy’s father and mother do not approve of their son’s dreams as Billy is expected to take over the family upholstery business. Billy feels he has no choice. If he wants any chance at adventure he is going to have to stowaway on Captain Byrd’s ship! The plot sounds like something out of a kid’s adventure novel, but this is a TRUE story! I took great delight in following Billy through his adventures and cheering him on along the way. As I followed Billy’s story I found myself asking on more than one occasion “could I be that brave and daring?” I greatly recommend this for anyone who loves reading about history, exploration, and scrappy underdog characters.
Click HERE to request The Stowaway!
Continue reading “Abbie’s Recent Reads”Adventures Through Cookbooks
One of my favorite sections in the whole entire library is the cookbook section. I get super excited whenever anyone stops by the desk and asks where the cookbooks are. At home I enjoy watching all the food shows on Discovery Plus and experimenting in my own kitchen. One of my favorite kind of cookbooks to play with in the kitchen are the themed cookbooks. In recent years there has been an uptick in cookbooks based off of TV shows or movies. There are even cookbooks based off of videogame worlds! I am only going to cover the ones I have actually cooked from in this post, but will include a bonus list of other titles we own at Mead Public Library at the end!
Tasting History by Max Miller
This themed cookbook is not based off of some fantastical made up world, but pulls recipes from our very own human history. Some readers may recognize Max Miller from his youtube show also titled Tasting History where he cooks up good eats from times long past. This book contains selected recipes all assembled in one volume. The cookbook is broken into chapters ranging from the ancient past to just a few decades ago. Max Miller takes you from recipes written on ancient Babylonian tablets to good old cafeteria pizza from the 90s. If you cannot get enough of the recipes in this book and are curious to embark on more culinary time travel-check out the website https://www.tastinghistory.com/ where there are many more recipes featured.
My featured recipe from this volume is straight off a Babylonian clay tablet and helpfully translated for us by Max Miller: Babylonian stew of lamb. I have always been a history buff. One of my bachelors degrees is in history. I feel like eating what the people of the past ate brings us a step closer to understanding who they were and how they lived. The author also includes a historical lesson with every recipe so that you can better understand the food you are eating. For this recipe I also found the video on his website so I could watch what he did before attempting as I was a bit nervous.
In addition to watching the video and reading through the history lesson (learning about the flat tailed sheep was interesting) I prepared by looking online as to where I could order Persian shallots. We do not have anything like them in America which is a shame. They have a very nice spicy taste as if they are a cross between a radish, garlic, and onion. I ended up ordering them from Amazon (a fellow reader of Tasting History left a review that made me feel confident in my choice of purchase.) I then went shopping to assemble the rest of my ingredients. I decided on a mix of beef and lamb even though the recipe calls for lamb. The author says you can substitute if you wish. Leeks also feature prominently in this recipe (I did unfortunately not take my husband on this shop so I missed out on his leek puns).
The cook. This stew is traditionally served with rinatsu (a crouton like cookie or bread prepared with olive oil). You are to serve this as a crouton over the stew and mix some of it in ground for texture. The crumbled portion is needed for the stew. However, it is optional if you want to eat your stew with the rinatsu croutons on top. (My husband liked them more than I). I was nervous about the taste as there is no seasoning in the recipe. Surprisingly, the Persian shallots more than made up for it! Their flavor sure packs a punch and hits all the right notes on your tongue. I wish they were available at my regular shops. All you need to do is soak them in water to rehydrate them for 30 minutes or so as they come dried. I then stuck them into the food processor to mince them down. The rest of the cook was rather straightforward and just a matter of following the directions. If you have made soup before the cook will seem a familiar dance. All in all this ancient recipe was a fun learning experience and a rather tasty meal. I can now say I have eaten like an ancient Babylonian! My husband also gave a thumbs up on this recipe which is saying a lot as he can be rather picky!
Click HERE to request Tasting History!
Continue reading “Adventures Through Cookbooks”Kids Read Science Fiction!
Lately I have been in a nostalgia mood and have been rereading through a series from my childhood: Animorphs. Revisiting science fiction books from my own childhood has engaged my curiosity to explore what kids are reading these days. Dear reader, though I speak of “kids books” I must point out that anyone at any age or stage in their life is welcome to enjoy and find pleasure in these pages. Not only do kids’ science fiction books contain heart pounding action (when done right) they also contain a humor that even as adults we can still enjoy. For this post I have chosen a couple books that I find nostalgic and will introduce you some of the new science fiction available on the shelves in the kids’ section. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Kids Read Science Fiction!”
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