JMRL’s summer challenge is underway and here are a few adult book recommendations for the first challenge sheet. Finish any five challenges and bring your sheet into any of the branches for a prize! And for personalized book recommendations, fill out this form.
Read a love story:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts, pain, death, brave men, cowardly men, strong men, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passions, and of course, Westley and Buttercup. The novel is set in 1941, is rich both in character and satire, and is framed as a retelling of a centuries-old story.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose. Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after a motorcycle accident. Will has always lived a huge life and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Sadness is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher
A young man is preparing to serve in the Israeli army while also trying to reconcile his close relationship to two Palestinian siblings with his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country. Jonathan wrestles with the question of what it means to be proud of your heritage and loyal to your people, while also feeling love for those outside of your own tribal family.
Read something thrilling:
The Collector by John Fowles
Ferdinand is a lonely and awkward young man who works in city hall and has always loved collecting butterflies. But, he becomes obsessed with a young college art student, Miranda, and he decides to add her to his beautiful collection, against her wishes. This psychological thriller is narrated by both Ferdinand and Miranda.
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules–a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders–a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman–have stirred up a hornet’s nest of resentment.
The Persian Gamble by Joel Rosenberg
Former U.S. Secret Service agent Marcus Ryker finds himself facing an impossible task. Not only does he have to elude detection and capture by Russian special forces, but he must also convince his own government to grant safe harbor to the one man responsible for the global mayhem-Russian double agent and assassin Oleg Kraskin.
Try a story with speech bubbles:
The Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle
Guy Delisle’s newest travelogue revolves around a year he spent in Burma (also known as Myanmar) with his wife, an administrator for Médecins Sans Frontières, and young son. Delisle gives an informative look at a country that uses concealment and isolation as social control in this memoir.
Cousin Joseph by Jules Feiffer
The story opens in the midst of the Great Depression. Big Sam sees himself as a righteous, truth-seeking patriot, defending the American way, against a rising tide of left-wing unionism, strikes, and disruption that plague his home town. At the same time he makes monthly, secret overnight trips on behalf of Cousin Joseph, a mysterious man on the phone he has never laid eyes on, to pay off Hollywood producers to ensure that they will film only upbeat films that idealize a mythic America.
A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi
Who hasn’t dreamt of going back to childhood? But who has actually made the journey? Hiroshi Nakahara is a forty-something salaryman returning to Tokyo from an intense business trip. He is tired and somewhat hungover as he boards his train at Kyoto’s enormous station. He awakens to discover he is traveling back to the town of his upbringing, not Tokyo.