Albany Public Library discussion

Hi everyone and welcome to week 7 of the Summer Reading Challenge!

We are almost to the finish line! Make sure to continue to comment all of the books that you have been reading.

Here is this week's list

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gysai
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Book of Lost Friends By Lisa Wingate
Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
Black Bottom Saints by Alice Randall
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicenio
Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The City We Becameby NK Jemisin

Happy Reading!

I finished Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City yesterday--a very American story.

I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I am now reading The Nightingale

How many weeks is the reading program? I was thinking it was 10 weeks, like school break, but is it only 8?

Susan wrote: "How many weeks is the reading program? I was thinking it was 10 weeks, like school break, but is it only 8?"

Hi Susan. The Summer Reading Challenge is 8 weeks long.

I have logged all the books up to this point.

Congrats Diana! You have completed the Summer Reading Challenge.

Oh, neat! Just in time to visit the library to pick up a hold item... :)

Ooh, I wholeheartedly recommend The Vanishing Half to those who haven't yet read it.

Just finished Piranesi! Thank you for putting it in the Fantasy list - I didn't realize Susanna Clarke had a new book and I loved it

Hi Abi. I logged your book!

Yaaay I finished 3 more books since the last time:

The Nightingale
Darius the Great Is Not Okay
Project Hail Mary

All set Farzin. I have added your books!

I finished Axiom’s End yesterday! I really like Lindsay Ellis’ youtube videos, but was nervous her book would be a letdown. happy to report it wasn’t! am I allowed to keep participating even though I read 10? 😜

I finished two more books: Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher and While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory.

I have immersed myself in the women of America.

I finished non fiction book-"The Barbizon: the Hotel That Set Women Free." Love it! Grace Kelly, Barbara Chase Riboud, Sylvia Plath and more. The behind the scenes stories of these women's ticket to NYC by getting a summer guest editor position at Mademoiselle magazine.

As a follow up I am reading "Come Fly the World: the Jet Age story of the Women of Pan Am" by Julia Cooke. About the women who sought to see the world through the freedom of a career that took them out of america.

I just finished "Lorna Mott Comes Home" by Diane Johnson. The book is full of the unspoken thoughts of various family members who assume that by thinking a thing it will be manifest. I also love the images of San Francisco around 2008.

I'm listening to " The Rose Code" by Kate Quinn about the women of Bletchley Park and one of them has wound up in a straitjacket. Is it great writing? IDK, but it is a very entertaining ride to work that goes too fast!

@Abi, of course! We'll keep tracking them for you!

@Christine, you are at 10 books completed! Please stop into your local APL branch to pick up your prize APL tote bag!

@Jody, you are at 10 books completed! Please stop into your local APL branch to pick up your prize APL tote bag!

Hi, I read three more books this week. My Sinful Desire continued a series that was not as good as the first in the series. Bewilderness, Part One: Threshold was a good start to a SciFi series about opening a portal to other dimensions. I also read one of the comic books I received on Free Comic Book Day @ Bach branch: Star Wars The High Republic: The Edge of Balance. It was more a tease than a full story.

Finally followed the book list and read Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi last week. I also finished The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins.

I read 2 books by Julia Buckley. They are Death of a Wondering Wolf and Death on the night of Lost Lizards

I have added all the books above!

@Paul - please stop into your local APL branch to pick up your prize tote bag!

@Jane - you are at 9 books read!

@Catherine - you are also at 9 books read!

Thanks! Really great topics this summer!

I finished The Undocumented Americans and learned a lot about the immigrant experience I never knew. I learned that many undocumented Americans were subcontracted out to do clean up after 9/11 which was traumatic and dangerous for all involved. I learned that some undocumented Americans pay Social Security and taxes with a special ITIN number that has been in effect since 1996. Someone who claims sanctuary status isn't a fugitive on the run, but has to file papers as to document their whereabouts at sanctuary facilities. I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the undocumented American's experience through someone who has experienced it.