Albany Public Library discussion

Hello all, and happy Monday!

This week we celebrate Summer Reading Challenge with some Beach Reads! Let us know what you've been reading this week!

The Wedding Party - Jasmine Guillory
The Right Swipe - Alisha Rai
How to Stop Time - Matt Haig
Meet Cute - Helena Hunting
The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion
The Hating Game Sally Thorne
What If It's Us - Becky Alberalli, Adam Silvera
Get a Life, Chloe Brown - Talia Hibbert
Writers & Lovers - Lily King
Intercepted - Alexa Martin
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
Well Met - Jen DeLuca
The Flatshare - Beth O'Leary
Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophia Kinsella
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Neanderthal Seeks Human - Penny Reid

All titles available on Hoopla or Overdrive! Happy reading!

I love Talia Hibbert's books! Highly recommended.

Kind of the opposite of beach reads--finished Under the Volcano over the weekend and started a book about the Donner Party :B

I unknowingly read a book on this week's theme today - The Life She Wants, which was an adequate light read.

Added both of your books!

I finished Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillan, Weregeeks Save Wisconsin by Kathy Lyons and I just finished The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson at lunch today!

Yesterday I finished The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride, which was interesting. Most of my knowledge of the Donner Party was previously from fiction or popular cultural myth.

I have added the books above!

@Diana, I also didn't have much knowledge of the Donner Party but listened to a podcast series about them last year and was shocked by the whole story! So interesting and frightening!

I just finished “Destination Wedding” by Diksha Basu. It a perfect frothy cocktail of a summer read. Last year I read her hysterical debut novel “the Windfall”. Great summer reads.

@Jody, I have recorded your book!

Finished Kendi's How to Be an Anti-Racist this last week.

I just finished Caraval by Stephanie Garbar. Engaging and imaginative!

Got your books! Great job!

I finished Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Just finished New Waves by Kevin Nguyen

Books are recorded!

I finished Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward and Becoming by Michelle Obama this week.

Another two "light and sweet reads" (ha!) for me:
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin and–what is officially the longest book I've ever read (743 pages!)–Wilson by A. Scott Berg. (I have to admit, was a bit leery taking on such a hefty work, but it was well worth the read, and an enjoyable one at that.)

Hello! Love seeing Jasmine Guillory here, her books are so good! Since last update (in week 3 I believe) I’ve finished:

Falling Angels - Tracy Chevalier
The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters - Nadiya Hussain
Black Coffee - Agatha Christie
Closed Casket - Sophie Hannah
She Who Is - Elizabeth Johnson

This week I finished Where the Crawdads Sing!

Completed Meet Cute this morning.

Mirkat wrote: "Completed Meet Cute this morning."
How did you like it? That was one I was looking at from this list, but The Rosie Project was in my branch. Unfortunately, my husband is now reading it, so I will have to wait.

Just finished The Bookshop on the Corner, which I would classify as a Light & Sweet Beach Read even though it takes place in cloudy and cool Scotland.

I just finished Ripe for the Picking by Ebony Jean McKenna and earlier read Sweet Summer Nights by Anne Kemp. Both are Australian authors. The first is set near Melbourne, Aus and the second in Maryland, USA. They both fit the beach reads category for this week, though Australian summer is in Dec. to Feb. 😉

My light and beachy reads are usually few and far between but I did manage one that qualifies Of Curses and Kisses but I didn't like this Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Otherwise, I did read a few amazing books that would work under some of the other themes from previous weeks like The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh and A Map to the Sun and I Was Their American Dream. All I would highly recommend.

Just finished Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which is definitely more of a Week 3 book!

Great work! I have added all of your books.

@Kelly, @Paige and @ Alicia P you have completed the APL Summer Reading Challenge!

Finished Writers & Lovers, which I really liked. But I don't know if I would call it a Light & Sweet Beach Read (except for the happy ending) because so much bad stuff happened to the main character.

For Week 6 (and 7), I read The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. The book plays around pre-communist Chinese history and north asian gods, focusing on a cohort of characters, lead by a young woman Rin, who are able to channel powers from the gods, and use these powers to prevent their nation from being ravaged by Western invaders. Second, in a trilogy, it took a while to get off the ground, but the second half was excellent.

Recorded your books!

Read The Rosie Project, which I must have gotten mixed up with another book and hadn't yet read because I thought it was about something different. Laughed several times. A good summer read.

I have added your books @ Susan