Albany Public Library discussion

Ahoy! And welcome to week…FIVE. This week's theme is Exploring the Seven Seas. The ocean is bigger, deeper and wider than the selection of Reading recommendations we have for you this week. Hopefully you survived Shark week because this week is Ocean Week!

These might not be beach reads, but do you know how much about eels we don’t know?



My favorite of this list is Tress of the Emerald Sea. It's a very cozy read with an unusual sea, but you don’t need to go far to find strange things in our seas. Please tell us more about how your summer challenge is going so far!

Adventurous Reading!

It has nothing to do with the sea but has the ocean on the cover! The Summer Pact I love reading Emily Giffin's works and am enjoying this newest one.

For Exploring the Seven Seas, my partner and I are reading together The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron. I don't normally seek adventure novels, but so far this has been quite the story!

Today, I finished Dial A for Aunties . Tangentially related to this week's theme because most of the action takes place on an island in the Pacific ocean, in California.

I finished gallant by V E Schwab - 3 stars

I am currently on my 9th book .
I started the only good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
I’m only a couple pages in but it seems promising

I finally finished The Violin Conspiracy from the suggestions during music week! I really enjoyed it! I’m going to try and find a water related book to read next 😊

Recent books I’ve read with this theme:

*Into the water Paula Hawkins
*28 summers by Elin Hilderbrand
*Freckled by T. W. Neal
*the only one left by Riley sager
*We were liars by E. Lockhart
*The light between oceans by M.L. Stedman
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For the reading challenge I’ve added two more books: Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult and Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Today I finished The Woman in Me by Britney Spears. Just a bit late for the "music" theme!

Still haven't decided on an aquatic book, but wanted to add a couple other things I've read in the meantime: Heartstopper: Volume Two (in addition to the usual accolades this series has for positive and super-adorable M/M teen relationships, I also highly recommend it for anyone who's read/watched too many romances that have left you screaming "PLEASE JUST *TALK* TO EACH OTHER" at every misunderstanding between the couple: Nick and Charlie actually communicate with each other and it's soooo satisfying) and Yes, I'm Hot in This: The Hilarious Truth about Life in a Hijab (very funny! If you've read Huda Fahmy's YA titles and enjoy her sense of humor, there's lots more to be found here. Although worth noting that it's a compilation of themed standalone comics instead of a single central narrative).

I finished It Had to Be You by Eliza Jane Brazier. I didn’t care for it at all.

I just finished Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality, which is a far cry from seafaring books. But I will be going to Nova Scotia later this year to visit many of my fishermen relatives, so my look at some of these title to prepare.

I finally finished The God of the Woods. It was excellent, but not quite as compelling as it could have been.

Jaybee wrote: "I finally finished The God of the Woods. It was excellent, but not quite as compelling as it could have been."

I felt the same! I enjoyed it enough, but there were too many POVs. It was straddling between too heavy for a thriller and too light for literary fiction. Still glad I read it!

Just finished the Astonishing Color of After. I didn’t love it initially but it grew on me. Not sure where I am with the challenge.

My last week’s book (Woman in Cabin 10) would’ve fit this theme better haha.

I FINALLY finished Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, which I chose specifically for the Week 3 theme but kinda dragged on (it gets better at about the 60% mark!) - I normally love Brooks but this one was a miss for me, sadly.

Now I have a backlog of vacation reads that I stocked up on pre-vacation I need to get through before I can add to my Library holds! Just started The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose (Sequel to The Maid!) as a nice palate cleanser- light and fun. :)

Staying ashore for now, so I’ve started Paul Auster’s NY trilogy at book #1. Interesting to read your reviews of God of the Woods because it is on my list after seeing the author speak at Northshire recently

Sort of related-- I read two middle grade books: Bridge to Bat City... so a bridge over water but the bridge has bats under it-- loosely based on the events that brought the bats to Austin, Texas. It wasn't the best, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. The other is Shiny Misfits: A Graphic Novel featuring Bay Ann who wants to be famous but things are always coming up short even though she's super competitive. There is an own voices element because Bay Ann has cerebral palsy as does the author. While it's not the point of the book, it's embedded in the story to show the range of ability that those with cerebral palsy have.

Read another book published decades ago this week, The All of It. I enjoyed the physical aspect of these old books. Bindings and pages were certainly stronger then!

Wound up reading The Sea in You. It was okay? I think I ultimately enjoyed it more for the "girl with low self-esteem learns that she deserves better" element than as a Little Mermaid retelling, but the teaching and use of sign language as a work-around the for the "mermaid loses her voice" thing was a really great touch.

I have completed my 10th book of the challenge! Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.

My other 9 books were:

Salvation of a Saint
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide
The Cheat Sheet
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
The Black Kids
Bitter House
All the Sinners Bleed
Dial A for Aunties
The Woman in Me

I finished The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot this weekend. Although there were sad spots, it was much more upbeat than you would think for a book set in a hospital with a terminally ill teenager (Lenni) as a main character.

For my 4th and 5th books in the summer reading challenge I finished:

1. Think Twice by Harlan Coben

2. Still See Yoi Everywbere by Lisa Gardner

Working on my 6th book which should be done with tomorrow. 😊

For my last post a min ago book 2 should read “Still See You Eveeywhere” by Lisa Gardner.

Bonus book (#11) completed today: None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell. Started with the audio (which has multiple narrators) and switched to the ebook at a little past the hallway point, because I felt the need to get to "what happened" faster!

I have finished _Let the Great World Spin_ by Colum McCann . Wonderful

I finished four books this week. I Finally Finished Return to Ala Moana Beach by Toni Kenyon. It is a military romance set at a beach. The angst took me more time to get through. It sort of fits this week's topic. I also finished The Proposal by Adriana Locke (was fine), Sweet Spot by Stella Rhys (gotta stay with last name with the Welsh spelling), and Entropy by Gerald M. Kilby (the second of two parts, good). I think I am on track. I think I have finished the challenge!

I finished The Mystery Guest and started One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid last night - it *kinda* fits the theme, since the FMC’s husband was lost at sea! I’ve been tearing through it and will likely finish it in the next day or two. Making up for lost time! I’ll be at 1500 pages once I finish this (I technically already AM there but I’m not “counting” it til I finish this book) and this is book 5/10. I don’t think I’ll make 10 books but will be blowing past the page count goal!

You are all amazing! I see we have a few completers or are just around the corner 😁

Don't worry if you are not close, we have 3 more weeks left! 🎉

Please email at albanyreads@albanypubliclibrary.org if you have completed, and we will get the branches to have your shirts ready for pickup!

Hannah wrote: "You are all amazing! I see we have a few completers or are just around the corner 😁

Don't worry if you are not close, we have 3 more weeks left! 🎉

Please email at albanyreads@albanypubliclibrary...."
Oh, gosh, I will have to go back and count. No point doing that until the end. What is the last day to email your completion?

Thank you.