Albany Public Library discussion

Week 1 of June 30 - Judge a Book by Its Cover

Hello Everyone!

Welcome and thank you for joining us for this year’s Summer Reading Challenge! If you have already registered, you should have gotten and email back from us.

If you would still like to register, please email us at: albanyreads@albanypubliclibrary.org with the subject heading of GoodReads SRC 2025

(Just commenting does not register you, unfortunately.)

We need the following information:
- First and Last Name and GoodReads username (So we can match names to prizes.)
- Your preferred library branch for pick up (We still haven’t mastered quantum teleportation yet)
-Your library card number is always helpful as well!

Please introduce yourselves in the comments! Mention your favorite book and what you think of our summer reading theme of Art. It is encouraged to make friends here as well. We will introduce ourselves to you as well.

- I’m Grace, I work at the Delaware Branch. A few of my favorite genres are fantasy and suspense. On the theme of Art, I think that a pretty broad umbrella that lets you work with quite the field of possibilities. Fiber art is one of my favorite artistic expressions.

- Emily, I work at the Bach branch. I like horror and fantasy novels. I have been crocheting for about 16 years, so fiber arts are close to my heart. My favorite colors are purple and green.

Our starting theme this week is Judge a Book by its Cover! It's not what it sounds like I promise. We are encouraging you to read books with vibrant and colorful covers.



These are all books the library owns and you can order a physical copy to borrow through the library catalogue.

If you are keeping up with our challenge this week you need to read 125 minutes or 2 hours and 5 minutes minimum. You can easily knock that out of the way with any 2-3 hour long audiobook on Libby. GoodReads does not let us link to outside sources >.< In the meantime, tell us about what books you are currently reading and how you would judge the cover!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Hi friends!

I'm Elizabeth and my favorite genres are literary and historical fiction, with some speculative/dystopian/horror thrown in as well. I think art is a fun theme since there are so many different angles - I recently read Ling Ling Huang's Immaculate Conception which definitely uses a plot about artists to highlight themes of class, female friendship, trauma, vulnerability, and technology. Highly recommend!

I'm currently reading the short story collection Be Gay Do Crime, which certainly has a vibrant, tumblr-aesthetic cover! I picked it up because it includes stories by Mac Crane and Emily Austin, but most of the others I have read so far have also been amusing.

Hi there! I’m Jennifer, and this is my… I’m not even sure what number year participating in this group! I love many different genres - fantasy, allegorical/speculative fiction, and historical fiction are what I tend to gravitate to, but I love a good character-driven literary saga as well. My two favorite books of all time are Watership Down, by Richard Adams, and Roscoe, by local legend William Kennedy. (The book that changed my life - it made me fall in love with Albany and want to call it home.)

The summer theme this year dovetails nicely with this week’s topic as even though I primarily read on my Kindle I am still a sucker for beautiful cover art! In fact, two of my favorites so far from this year - Peng Shepherd’s All This and More, and Laurie Frankel’s Family Family - both had stunning cover art!

Hi, book friends! I'm always happy to have any incentive to read more! My book tastes are eclectic--literary fiction, mysteries, sci-fi, memoirs, and so on. I participate in a few APL book clubs.

Art seems like a fun theme. I have an art-school background, so that's a happy place for me.

Over the weekend, I finished a 16.5-hour audiobook, You Should Have Known .

Currently reading I Might Be In Trouble by Daniel Aleman, with its bubblegum pink cover it definitely has a vibrant one! (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)

Hello Everyone! My name is Alicia and my favorite novel is The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. I have been a fan of his since I was a young adult and watched A Walk To Remember. I enjoyed The Guardian because of the love story which is the norm for his books but also the twist in events throughout the book and of course adding in the Great Dane because I am an animal lover. However, i also enjoy some thrillers and mystery books as well.

I enjoy the summer reading program every year because it motivates me to read more. I love reading but it's finding the time to do it that's always the issue for me. This year, as we incorproate art, I think that is an interesting perspective for reading. I am currently reading Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveria and so far, enjoying this book. I look forward to exploring more throughout the summer!

Hi all! I'm Hannah, I work in Youth Services at Pine Hills, and this will be my second SRC with APL! (And yes this did mean that I spent all of yesterday entering information from sign-up slips from our big kickoff event on Friday. We had an amazing turnout!!) Can't really name a single favorite book overall, but my favorite thing I read for last year's SRC was probably The Tea Dragon Society Box Set, which was a cozy-fantasy middle grade graphic novel trilogy that was like fluffy cake for the eyes and warm tea for the soul. As for art, I used to draw a lot but am horribly out of practice. I did finally replace my ancient broken high school/college graphics tablet during my first year in Albany, but depressingly I haven't actually used it yet (it's a lot less plug-and-play than my old one!) I'm planning to start this year's themed week reads with Sea Legs: A Graphic Novel, whose cover grabbed me immediately when I saw it on Kirkus earlier this year!

Mirkat wrote: "Hi, book friends! I'm always happy to have any incentive to read more! My book tastes are eclectic--literary fiction, mysteries, sci-fi, memoirs, and so on. I participate in a few APL book clubs.

..."

That is so exciting, you have finished the summer reading challenge in one weekend! Please do stay and continue to comment and participate in the Albany Public library community and programs.

Grace wrote: "Week 1 of June 30 - Judge a Book by Its Cover

Hello Everyone!

I love reading. I have already surpassed the minimum minutes for reading this week. I read a few books from the In Death series by JD Robb. They just get better. The first one I read was called Payback In Death. I fell in love with the series. I cannot wait for the newest title to be released. I already used 5 hours of reading time.

I also read Tomes & Teas series by Rebecca Thorne. I read the first 2 books in the series. They have very vibrant colorful covers.
I miss -typed my reading time. It should be 8.5 hours. Which equals 510 minutes. Time flies when reading.

Can't Spell Treason without Tea by Rebecca Thorne is very good.
The cover has many colors. It depicts 2 women sitting in front of a fireplace. This is inside a tea/bookstore, that they created.
The artwork is very nice and fitting for the theme.

Grace wrote: "That is so exciting, you have finished the summer reading challenge in one weekend! Please do stay and continue to comment and participate in the Albany Public library community and programs"

Wow, I didn't even realize! I enjoyed the book so much, I sought out another by same author. This morning, I finished The Latecomer , a 16 hr 19 minute audiobook.

Hi Everyone,
I love a good reading challenge! My favorite genre is historical fiction but I dabble in non-fiction as I am always eager to learn something new! My favorite book is A Wild and Heavenly place by Robin Oliviera. She also wrote Winter Sisters and My Name is Mary Sutter, both set in Albany.
I’m interested in the theme of art. Admittedly, I’ve never been much of an artist so maybe this will inspire me.

Hi all! I'm Rose, I love doing summer reading :) my favorite genres are horror (especially vampires!) and historical nonfiction/women's or queer history. one of my favorite books is Sunshine by Robin McKinley.

my husband is an artist, and I requested a biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner because of the art theme :)

Hi! I’m reading Dream Count by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, audiobook ElDorado Drive by Megan Abbott, Forever Barbie by M. I. Lord and an assortment of craft books.
I enjoy reading books about journeys, textile art books, quirky main characters and nutty families, historical or contemporary fiction about India, China, and Korea, Westerns, and historical mysteries. I’m an adult services librarian at East Greenbush Community Library; my aspirational pile of TBR is always very high.

Rose wrote: "Hi all! I'm Rose, I love doing summer reading :) my favorite genres are horror (especially vampires!) and historical nonfiction/women's or queer history. one of my favorite books is Sunshine by Rob..."

I'm not usually big into vampires, but I recently read Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab and totally loved it. Toxic lesbian vampires ftw.

Elizabeth, I am waiting impatiently for that one to come in on hold (the Kindle version)! Can’t wait to read it!

Hi all! This is my second year doing summer reading in this group.

I love to read. I just finished What You are Looking For is in the Library. I loved it so much I bought it, and as a result saw the cover for the first time, since I read it via a kindle library loan.

I also recently loved The God of the Woods. Great plot, great writing, takes place upstate NY.
Great cover, with mysterious pink paint at the covers, which made me wonder when I saw it, since I knew it would show up somehow in the story.

Hi everyone, I read a great book of poetry last week with a colorful cover. Promises of Gold by José Olivarez. He also did a reading last week at Hilltown Commons which made it even more special!

I enjoy reading mysteries, Fantasy, cozy mysteries, Sci-fi and others.
I have an advance copy of The Last Sundancer by Kevin Mansoor. I love it. It is due to be published soon. Keep an eye out for it, if you are a fantasy fan.

Hi everyone! I’m Siai-Anne (pronounced like Cheyenne) and I love reading before bed or during lunch walks at work. I can’t pick a favorite book, but i love horror, diverse representation, and the occassional smutty book hahaha. Hoping to stick with the challenge this year (last year was my first!) :)

Hi I’m Liz, my reading habits are over the place so it is hard to narrow down to one favorite book. One of the things I like about the summer reading posts is picking up ideas about books to try.

I just read Spent by Alison Bechdel which seems promising from the Art theme perspective since it’s a graphic novel, plus it has a nice bright cover. So, yay! Happy reading, everyone!

hi! I'm catching up on the posts but I've been reading along!

I'm Jess and I'm a fan of literary fiction, sci-fi, and cozy mysteries, among lots of others. My favorite book at the moment is Project Hail Mary.

Week 1 I was reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman. I don't think it follows the theme exactly, but the story itself revolves around a piece of art, so I think the connection is there!

Hi everyone, my name is Brittany. I don’t have a favorite book but my top 3 genres are Fantasy, Mystery & Romance.

I feel like writing is a way to express yourself artistically as well. Creating stories, constructing and rearranging until everything is right. Then finally the art on the covers that pulls a reader in. It’s an artful process to me.

On June 30th I was in the middle of a buddy read, The book being Fated to the wolf prince by April L Moon.

Kate wrote: "Currently reading I Might Be In Trouble by Daniel Aleman, with its bubblegum pink cover it definitely has a vibrant one! (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)"

I read that one! At first I was skeptical because I didn't want to read an entire book about someone's hard partying ways, but it got more interesting very quickly.

Hello, I’m extremely late to the party this summer as I’ve had a couple of crazy months. But I really want to see what others are reading, so I’m joining in now.

My name is Jennifer and I like mysteries the best, but also read general fiction, fantasy, romance, and the occasional autobiography. I love getting ARCs from Netgalley and much of my summer reading has been those books. I mostly read on my kindle, but I listen to audiobooks as well.

I make cards with rubber stamps and die cuts so I am particularly drawn to paper art.