Albany Public Library discussion

Hello, this is the last week of the Summer Reading Challange and so it is our last themed reading suggestions week. Next week, we will be posting a wrap up. You still have some time to keep reading, so if you are getting close, read on your coffee break, before bed, or even at the pool! This week’s suggested reading theme is Level Up. That can mean a lot of things, maybe read a book about gaming or learn a new skill or get self-help advice. The sky’s the limit!

How has this challenge helped you level up? Examples: I read more consistently, I read a cookbook and am trying out a new recipe, or I can brag to all my friends that I got a prize from the library for reading (and because I am awesome!)

Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity
Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age
Eat Your Age: The Definitive Health and Fitness Companion with a Personalized Touch, Embrace a Healthier Lifestyle Today!
We All Live Here
How to Love Better: The Path to Deeper Connection Through Growth, Kindness, and Compassion
The Celebrants
Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe
Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman
The Imposters
Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
Ready Player One

This week, you are aiming to wrap up your 1000 minutes. Thats 16 hours and 40 minutes you have spent reading this summer!!! Let us know how many minutes you read so far.

I’m at over 4000 min and counting! 2 of my 9 (and counting) books this summer have been hardbacks, so my minutes are a SUPER rough estimate based on my other books and their lengths. Kindle tells me my reading speed so I’ve been able to get a pretty accurate count!

I’m hoping I finish my current book - The Heiress, by Rachel Hawkins - before the end of the week so I’ll have 10 books total!

I am currently listening to The Girl in His Shadow and reading The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective. Then I just got notification that Too Old for This came in for me. Sometimes it seems like it's feast or famine with my library books! Truth be told, I'd like to pass on The Girld in His Shadow, but it's for my book club so I'm stuck hoping it gets more engaging.

Once again I wound up with two similarly-themed titles for this one and couldn't decide which to count: Himawari House and my first Dan Santat book, A First Time for Everything. In addition to the Level Up/coming-of-age theme of the week, they're also both about Asian Americans exploring and learning more about themselves while in another country. On the other hand the life stages are very different, with A First Time for Everything being Dan's summer between middle and high school, and the girls of Himawari House being college- and graduate-age. A First Time for Everything is also more about experiences and fun, while Himawari House is more slow-paced and introspective. They're both great and fit their respective age ranges really well.

I also finally worked out my Explore activity: time to read some Gregory Maguire at last! At first I considered the logical first choice of Wicked, but the audiobook was 20 hours long and I just didn't feel up to that. Although the other problem was that most of his other audiobooks available through UHLS has surprisingly low Goodreads scores. I wound up going with Hiddensee and actually vibed pretty well with its mix of contemplative historical fiction with a fairytale opening and discussion about myth and folklore and the nature of childhood. I didn't think it was anything spectacular, but the negative scores here still really surprised me (for reference: I have over 50 pages worth of books in my Goodreads library and if you sort them by rating from lowest to highest, Hiddensee is on the first page). Looking through the reviews it seems like a lot of the disappointment came from established Nutcracker fans who went in with high expectations, which is unfortunate.

In previous years I recall more folks participating in the weekly threads. Have most people finished the challenge?