Albany Public Library discussion

Hi everyone and welcome to week 5 of the Summer Reading Challenge! We have already surpassed the midpoint of this challenge. Congratulations! Make sure to continue to comment all of the books that you have been reading during the dog days of summer.

Wag your tails for this week's picks listed below all about animals.

Fiction:
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
A Dog's Purpose by Bruce Cameron
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Cat Out of Hell Lynne Truss

Non-Fiction:
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
The Second-Chance Dog: A Love Story by Jon Katz
Good Dog. Stay. by Anna Quindlen
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
Off the Leash: A Year at the Dog Park by Matthew Gilbert

Graphic Novels:
Coyote Doggirl by Lisa Hanawalt
Man-Eaters, Vol. 1 by Chelsea Cain
My Dirty Dumb Eyes by Lisa Hanawalt

Over the weekend I finished The Delicate Prey and Other Stories, which was a new-to-me author. Very unsettling and strange collection.

This morning I finished The Secret, Book[,] & Scone Society. Yes, I went ahead and fixed that title by adding in the missing Oxford comma. I can't wait to discuss the book in Mystery Club next month!

Just finished Dial A for Aunties, which was HILARIOUS.

Also, wanted to add an animal-themed book rec: Perestroika in Paris was a refreshing spring read this year. Not quite a fable, not quite real, wholly magical.

I finished Blanche on the Lam and Meet Me in Paradise.

If audiobooks count, I've listened to Trail of Echoes and Skies of Ash, which are books in the Elouise Norton mystery series.

I stayed up way too late last night reading Razorblade Tears. After a dry spell, I'm reading like a maniac.

I just finished Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It was amazing. Beautifully written. Science about plants along with Indigenous wisdom on how to live in relationship with the Earth.

Read The Secret, Book & Scone Society, the title we will discuss at APL's August Mystery Book Club meeting.

I’m reading the Newcomers by Mary Kay Andrews. There are sharks on the cover. After finishing White Ivy, I need a palette cleanser. Also listening to The Barbizon because I recently found out that my grandmother was a Katherine Gibbs Girl and the Barbizon was a women’s residential hotel popular with students at that Secretarial College.

Jody wrote: "I’m reading the Newcomers by Mary Kay Andrews. There are sharks on the cover. After finishing White Ivy, I need a palette cleanser. Also listening to The Barbizon because I recently found out that ..."The Barbizon sound interesting!

This week I finished For the Wolf, which was a delicious dark fairy tale-infused fantasy.

This week I finished Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton and The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine.

I finished one book this week that meets the theme. It is from another NZ author Hanks and a Hitman: (A Humorous & Heart-warming Cozy Mystery). It is the third in a series of mysteries with two black cats who spend plenty of time in the companion's yarn shoppe. I also finished a first in a series My Sinful Nights that was interesting. I am now working on the second in the series.

Abi wrote: "Just finished Dial A for Aunties, which was HILARIOUS."

Hi Abi! Congrats! You have completed the Summer Reading Challenge. Stop by your local branch to pick up your prize. Great job!

All books above this comment have been logged! Great job everyone!

Last week I read

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck (for the them tails and tales)

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

@Diane Brown, I have logged your books, and you are at 10 books completed! Please stop by your local APL branch to pick up your prize APL tote bag!

For week 5 I read Chanur’s Venture by CJ Cherryh, book two of the Chanur series. Not as enjoyable as the first, but highly recommend the author and her work in sci-fi.

I finished reading The Wife Upstairs
Now, I am reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I have read HP before but I haven't read the books since I was a kid. Big HP fan!

I have logged the books above! Great job!

I should have included: Leopard is a Neutral: A Really Useful Style Guide by Erica Davies. Mwaaahaaa animal theme!

Not the greatest of fashion advice, but some good nuggets of wisdom about going against what you have been told all your life about what you "should" wear for your body type.

I logged your book! Great job!

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight is a rollercoaster ride plunging the reader into what the protests last summer may have looked like through the eyes of two teenagers, one white and the other black. The narrative begins with two classmates who were essentially strangers who then become friends who protect and save each other's lives. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a very nuanced point of view of last summer's protests.

I just finished Cat Out of Hell and it was pure lunacy: a very fun read. I always enjoy books that have an unreliable narrator and this one didn't disappoint. I don't know if the author hates cats or just doesn't like them; it's definitely one of the two.

ED wrote: "I just finished Cat Out of Hell and it was pure lunacy: a very fun read. I always enjoy books that have an unreliable narrator and this one didn't disappoint. I don't know if the au..." Ha, ha. This makes me want to read the book. Although we just got a cat for the first time ever (husband and daughter claim they will be taking care of him), so maybe not the best timing.