We’re about a month away from the end of the Summer Reading Challenge here at The Library, and our staff members sure do love to read! I polled some of our Staff Super-Readers to see what books this Summer have captured their interest, to find out about their own reading routines, and to ask them their advice on becoming a Super-Reader myself!
Mark Hiester, one of our Library delivery drivers, particularly enjoyed Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter by Dan Ariley. Mark described his favorite Summer read as “an informative, interesting, and funny non-fiction about how we irrationally think about and make financial decisions.”
Julia Dones, PSA at Kline, is a self-described “fantasy and romance book lover” who has a penchant for Historical Romance. One of Julia’s favorite books in the genre is How to Catch a Duke by Grave Burrows, where a girl enlists the help of a Duke to fake her death, only to be offered a marriage of convenience in response to his falling for her personality. Another beloved title is How to Be a Wallflower by Eloisa James, where the female lead would rather live the life of a wallflower than give up her inheritance to a man. She buys herself an entirely new wardrobe, right down to the business that made the clothes, thus creating a rivalry between herself and the male lead, who himself wanted to purchase the business.
Austin Kahler, PSA at AFL, read The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian American historian of the Middle East and director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Austin says that Khalidi’s work is “by far the most detailed account” of the occupation of Palestine, “covering the time frame of 1917 – 2017 and the major conflicts/intifadas that occurred.” Austin highly recommends The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine for “anyone looking for a more in-depth view on the ongoing occupation of Palestine.”
Danielle Watkins, PSA at East Shore, loved reading Tales from the Gas Station Vol. 1 by Jack Townsend, the first volume in a hilarious series of horror novels about a haunted gas station, which was adapted from an award-winning creepypasta by the same name. Another of Danielle’s “must-reads” of the Summer is Black Boy Smile by D. Watkins, a “memoir in moments” about a young, gay, Black boy growing up in inner-city Baltimore.
Each one of our Staff Super-Readers recommend that anyone trying to ramp up their reading start off small, and to not get too down on yourself if you’re not able to meet your reading goals every single day. Danielle and Austin recommended starting out small, by reading ten minutes or ten pages a day. Julia suggested an even smaller goal to start – challenging oneself to read just one page at a time before moving on to another. Once you’ve met that challenge, you can set bigger goals, like reading 30 minutes at a time. Mark suggested that to start, make “bite sized” goals so that the pressure to read doesn’t get overwhelming. “Somewhat like developing an exercise routine,” he says, “don’t beat yourself up for missing a day, just try again the next.”
So, when do our Super-Readers carve out time for themselves to read? Well, that varies, just like reading taste! Mark and Julia both like to listen to audio books while they’re completing other tasks. Mark will put on an audiobook while washing dishes, mowing the grass, and while driving his delivery routes around the county. Julia described herself as a “read-a-holic,” listening to audiobooks in her free time before and after work, while she’s out shopping, or while taking a walk outside. Danielle and Austin are both nighttime readers, each of them setting aside time at the end of their day to cozy up with a good book before it’s time to go to bed. “Sometimes,” Austin says, “it’s the only thing that helps me fall asleep!”
Armed with these recommendations from our Super-Readers and their advice on how to keep up with your reading goals, this Library employee is ready to finish out the Summer Reading Club Strong! Personally, I have a hard time focusing on text for large periods of time, so I have a tendency to lean towards listening to audiobooks, myself. I love to work on craft projects while I read! I’m a big cross-stitcher, and Darcie Little Badger’s A Snake Falls to Earth completely captivated me through multiple projects in July.
To encourage myself to get back into “physical” reading, I’ve tried turning to graphic novels! There are so many incredible, nuanced stories that are told through the “sequential art” medium that often go unrecognized because of the format, but don’t let the idea that “comics are just for kids” fool you! One of my favorite graphic novels of the summer has been Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iran by Sarah Glidden, which follows the cartoonist and two reporters as they research potential stories on the effects of the Iraq War and the Middle East, specifically war refugees. That being said, I am a huge fan of your traditional “comic” stories, too. I’ve loved reading Kami Garcia’s and Gabriel Picolo’s take on the Teen Titans series – I cannot wait for Robin to come out in March 2023, just in time to wrap up this year’s Winter Reading Challenge!
What are some of your favorite reads from the Summer? Do you have any advice for readers trying to set and meet goals for themselves? We’d love to hear from you about how your Summer Reading Challenge is going!