We’re still receiving terrific reviews from our 2017 Adult Summer Challenge participants. Take these, for example:

Tracy G. (Canton Branch) on A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab: Read this riveting fantasy novel on my honeymoon and it swept me away to another world, just as I had hoped! Great for teens and adults alike.

Alexandra P. (Central Library) on Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay: Gay’s writing is always brave, bold, and powerful but never more than in Hunger. Her honesty and vulnerability make the reader want to be more honest and vulnerable themselves.

 Jamie P. (Edmondson Avenue Branch) on The Sellout by Paul Beatty: I don’t usually read social satire, but this book is an amazing rip through race in America — hard to find a more complex and important subject to spend time with… to spend time laughing with and at (and at yourself)… because some things are so tangled and fraught that you have to get out a good laugh before you get your back up to working on making it better.

Bob M. (Govans Branch) on Trajectory by Richard Russo: Russo’s best writing since Nobody’s Fool. This book contains four short stories (really novellas) that reflect upon life in middle age. One of our best living American male writers, writing at his highest level. Very funny and poignant, highly recommended.

Terry S. (Light Street Branch) on Route 66 A.D. by Tony Perrottet: A witty and wonderful trip with the author and his pregnant wife as they retrace the steps of ancient Roman tourists around the Mediterranean, while comparing notes from the ancients’ writing with modern experience.  (Spoiler alert: Little has changed.)

Tracy D. (Staff) on Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan: This book will make you feel every person you’ve ever known, those ghosts you loved that have never left. I felt really sad, because fate, but really hopeful, because reflection, while reading this book. Though home follows you, you can never go back. “I felt darkness because I had been deep in the hollers, and I knew glory because I had stood on top of the beautiful mountaintops. More mountaintops please. More mountaintops.”

Dominic F. (Central Library) on Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge: A must-read for anyone approaching 50 or retirement, especially men. How to exercise and the science of why it’s necessary are explained in fun and interesting style. This book could change your life. Sounds hokey, but it could.

Lu Ann M. (Washington Village Branch) on Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich: Evanovich never fails to deliver–Stephanie Plum, a bond-enforcement agent in New Jersey, and her cohorts serve up adventure and humor.  I try to read these at home, because people tend to look at you like you’re crazy when you are by yourself and laughing out loud.  Can’t wait until #23.

For a chance to win fabulous prizes, submit an entry to the Adult Summer Challenge here.