Dear Constant Reader,
As summer is wrapping up, so did the Boston Public Library Summer Reading Challenge. It’s in the form of a bingo board, so you can aim to fill out lines or go for all the squares (guess which one I did…). You had between June 1st and August 31st to fill out and turn in your card. There wasn’t any kind of prize, just a sense of personal satisfaction.
On the standard card there are 25 squares: 12 for books, 6 for activities, and 6 for explorations (plus the center “free for all”). I am all about the books! (but I did the others too) Here are the book categories and what I read to fulfill them:
Indigenous Author: And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot
Under 200 Pages: Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion
Book with a Purple Cover: The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrews
Author of Color: Misfortune Cookie by Vivian Chen
Banned or Challenged Book: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
New England Author: Kitchen Yarns by Ann Hood
First in a Series: Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manasala
Main Character Over 60: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
LGBTQ+ Author: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Award Winner: Savor by Fatima Ali
Children’s Chapter Book: The House that Whispers by Lin Thompson
Disabled or Neurodivergent Author: Floppy by Alyssa Graybeal
A bunch of these books filled multiple categories (e.g. Fun Home is also an LGBTQ+ Author and Award Winner) so there was a bit of a game to decide what went where.
This year there was also the “Read More” bingo card, which was all books, for those who didn’t want to “Experience a piece of art” or “Read outside your home” or other experiential challenges. Of course, I wanted to try this one too. The first twelve categories overlapped with the standard card.
Indigenous Author: New Native Kitchen by Chef Freddie Bitsoie & James O. Fraioli
Under 200 Pages: The Labyrinth’s Archivist by Day Al-Mohamed
Book with a Purple Cover: The Honor of Your Presence by Dave Eggers
Author of Color: Parable of the Sower by Octavis Butler
Banned or Challenged Book: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
New England Author: The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
First in a Series: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
Main Character Over 60: The Dinner Lady Detectives by Hannah Hendy
LGBTQ+ Author: Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead
Award Winner: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Children’s Chapter Book: The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson
Disabled or Neurodivergent Author: Please Do Not Touch This Exhibit by Jen Campbell
These categories were unique to the Read More challenge:
Book Published in the 1920s: Passing by Nella Larsen
Book with a One-Word Title: Shutter by Ramona Emerson
Debut Author: The September House by Carissa Orlando
Book About Social Justice: The Age of Grievance by Frank Bruni
Book in Translation: The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo
Young Adult Book: Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell
Poetry Collection: i shimmer sometimes too by Porsha Olayiwola
Genre You Don’t Often Read: Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Memoir: Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
Classic Book: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Unreliable Narrator: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Book About a Road Trip: Trip of the Tongue by Elizabeth Little
It was only when I went to the wrap-up party at the Central Branch, that I learned I could have used some of the books I read for the first card for the second. You couldn’t use the same book more than once per card, not once only. Oh well…
I’m pretty impressed with myself — 36 books in 92 days. There were plenty of recommendations from the BPL for the 12 categories of the first card, which I used, but for the additional ones on the Read More card, I got recs from friends or just stumbled into stuff. Like, I was reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle for Under 200 Pages, when I suddenly realized the narrator was unreliable. Genre You Don’t Often Read was a challenge, as I’m pretty genre agnostic. Book About a Road Trip also surprisingly hard for me to find, until I walked into one of the library branches and saw a display on just that subject.
My personal rule with these challenges is no re-reads*. I end up reading a lot of books I never would have otherwise picked up and some which I always meant to read. You can tell from my choices that I’m quite fond of mysteries, horror, and food writing and that I tend toward books written by women.
Someone asked me what my favorite book was and I just can’t winnow it down because I enjoyed many of them for different reasons. The best I can do is a Top 10:
The Age of Grievance
The Cabin at the End of the World
The Complete Persepolis
Daring Greatly
Dust Tracks on a Road
Fun Home
Killers of a Certain Age
Parable of the Sower
The September House
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Did you read anything good over the summer? What books would you recommend for some of these categories?
*Technically Heart of Darkness should have been a reread as it was assigned in my AP English class. I never even opened the book. Don’t tell my mom… I mean, I guess it’s okay since I scored high enough on the AP test to get out of some college requirements and also won the high school English prize. But I’ve always felt a little guilty.
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