Skip to Main Content

Checked In: A Davenport Library Podcast

Each month, librarians from the Davenport Public Library in Iowa will dive into a variety of topics and connect listeners to the many great resources the Library and City of Davenport have to offer. Listen in for book suggestions, interviews, and more!

36. Romance Tropes We Love to Hate

Spunky Old Broads

My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

Marlow Murder Club series by Robert Thorogood

Thursday Murder Club Series by Richard Osman

Mrs. Plansky series by Spencer Quinn

Agnes Sharp Murder Mysteries by Leonie Swann

Don't Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino  

Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich

Summertime Punchline by Betty Corrello 

Favorite/Important Reads by Black Authors

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Deacon King Kong by James McBride

Erasure by Percival Everett

James by Percival Everett

Homegoing by Yaa Gyas

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

An American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls by Dr. Monique Morris

Becoming by Michelle Obama

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

American Football Reads (and Watches!)

I was a non-blonde cheerleader by Kieran Scott

author Mike Lupica

When the Men Were Gone by Marjorie Herrera Lewis

Remember the Titans (movie)

The Blind Side (movie and book)

Rudy (movie)

Friday Night Lights (movie and book)

Little Giants (movie)

We are Marshall (movie)

The Longest Yard (movie)

The Waterboy (movie)

Radio (movie)

Concussion (movie)

Kicking & Screaming (movie)

The Sacred Acre: The Ed Thomas story by Mark Tabb

Love, Zac : small-town football and the life and death of an American boy by Reid Forgrave

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

Librarian Wrap

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Being Henry by Henry Winkler, narrated by Henry & Stacey Winkler

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, narrated by Megan Hilty

The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood, narrated by Sofia Oxenham

A Dish Best Served Hot by Natalie Caña

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey, narrated by Leeanna Walsman

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

The Jane Austen Society

The Wild Robot

Drop Dead Sisters

Just Another Missing Girl by Gillian McAllister

Battle Royal by Lucy Parker

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman behind the Legend by John E. Miller

Inspired: slaying giants, walking on water, and loving the Bible again by Rachel Held Evans

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

The children on the hill by Jennifer McMahon

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, narrated by Michael Crouch 

Girl Forgotten by April Henry 

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, narrated by Ocean Vuong

Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry (book 1 in By the Book Mystery series) 

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, narrated by Lucy Scott

Honey Mead Murder by Dahlia Donovan (book 1 in Honey Bear Cosy Mysteries series) 

Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala, narrated by Danice Cabanela (book 5 in Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series) 

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, narrated by Jeanette Illidge & Tapiwa Mugweni 

On Spine of Death by Tamara Berry (book 2 in By the Book Mystery series) 

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, narrated by Tai Sammons 

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore (book 2 in the Dream Harbor series) 

Funny Story by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 

The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch, narrated by Ellis Evans 

Murder at an Irish Wedding by Carlene O’Connor (book 2 in Irish Village Mystery series) 

End of Story by AJ Finn, narrated by Helen Laser