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Roadrunner Reading Challenge
Challenge yourself to read new authors, subjects, and genres.
E-books
- The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante; Ann Goldstein (Translator)Call Number: EbookGiovanna's pretty face is changing, turning ugly, at least so her father thinks. Giovanna, he says, looks more like her Aunt Vittoria every day. But can it be true? Is she really changing? Is she turning into her Aunt Vittoria, a woman she hardly knows but whom her mother and father clearly despise? Surely there is a mirror somewhere in which she can see herself as she truly is. Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves from one to the other in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape.
- The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul TremblayCall Number: EbookSeven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen, but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what's going to happen is your fault." Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won't want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."
- Winnebago Nation by James B. TwitchellIn Winnebago Nation, popular critic James B. Twitchell takes a light-hearted look at the culture and industry behind the yearning to spend the night in one's car. For the young the roadtrip is a coming-of-age ceremony; for those later in life it is the realization of a lifelong desire to be spontaneous, nomadic, and free. Informed by his own experiences on the road, Twitchell recounts the RV's origins and evolution over the twentieth century; its rise, fall, and rebirth as a cultural icon; its growing mechanical complexity as it evolved from an estate wagon to a converted bus to a mobile home; and its role in bolstering and challenging conceptions of American identity. Mechanical yet dreamy, independent yet needful, solitary yet clubby, adventurous yet homebound, life in a mobile home is a distillation of the American character and an important embodiment of American exceptionalism, (Richie Rich and Hobo Hank spend time in essentially the same rig at the same campground, albeit for different reasons and in different levels of comfort.) The frontier may be tapped out but we still yearn for the exploratory life. Twitchell concludes with his thoughts on the future of RV communities and the possibility of mobile cities becoming a real part of the American landscape.
- Talking to Ourselves by Andres NeumanCall Number: E-bookSooner or later, we all face loss. Ten-year old Lito is sure that he can change the weather, if only he concentrates very hard. His seriously ill father Mario is anxious to create a life-long memory for the unsuspecting Lito, and takes him on a road-trip in a truck called Pedro. Together, they embark on a journey through strange landscapes which blur the borders of the Spanish-speaking world. In the meantime, Lito's mother Elena tries to find solace in books - and undertakes a precarious adventure of her own that will challenge her moral limits. Alternately narrated by the mother, father and son, Talking to Ourselves is a story about how we are transformed by loss, and how words, and sex, can serve as powerful modes of resistance. Each of these solitary, richly textured and strikingly unique voices forms a poignant communication - while none of them dares to tell the others the whole truth. A profound tribute to all those who have ever had to care for a loved one, told with Neuman's characteristic warmth, bittersweet humour and wide-ranging intellect.
Theme
The summer season seems to bring up lots of conversations about movies. After this month's reading challenge, you will be prepared to confidently answer those "but was the book better or the movie" questions. Your challenge this month is to read a book with a movie adaptation. This can include movies that are in production. There are examples below, as well as a much longer list on Wikipedia. If you aren't sure if we have the book, reach out to Blue Crew through the chat window for help.
Highlights
All of these books are examples of this month's theme. You are not limited to these titles and the Blue Crew would be happy to help you find many other options if you click on the chat window!
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik BackmanCall Number: DT and JPL: PT9877.12.A32 M3613 2014Now a major motion picture A Man Called Otto starring Tom Hanks! Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon--the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell." But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul.
- Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin KwanCall Number: JPL 2nd Floor, Popular Reading Collection PS3611.W36 C73 2014ISBN: 9780345803788Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, but Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country's most eligible bachelor.
- Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Illustrator)Call Number: PZ7.S4654 Won 2011 JPL Juv LitISBN: 9780545027892Set fifty years apart, two independent stories - Ben's told in words and Rose's in pictures - weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. Ever since his mom died, Ben feels lost. At home with her father, Rose feels alone. He is searching for someone, but he is not sure who. She is searching for something, but she is not sure what. When Ben finds a mysterious clue hidden in his mom's room, When a tempting opportunity presents itself to Rose, Both children risk everything to find what's missing.
- Ready Player One by Ernest ClineCall Number: JPL Popular CollectionISBN: 9781524763282It's the year 2045, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win.
- The Annotated Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; John MattesonCall Number: JPL 3rd Floor PS1017 .L5 2016Since its publication in 1868-69, Little Women, perhaps America's most beloved children's classic, has been handed down from mother to daughter for generations. It has been translated into more than fifty languages and inspired six films, four television shows, a Broadway musical, an opera, and a web series. This lavish, four-color edition features over 220 curated illustrations, including stills from the films, stunning art by Norman Rockwell, and iconic illustrations by children's-book illustrators Alice Barber Stevens, Frank T. Merrill, and Jessie Wilcox Smith.Renowned Alcott scholar John Matteson brings his expertise to the book, to the March family it creates, and to the Alcott family who inspired it all. Through numerous photographs taken in the Alcott family home expressly for this edition--elder daughter Anna's wedding dress, the Alcott sisters' theater costumes, sister May's art, and Abba Alcott's recipe book--readers discover the extraordinary links between the real and the fictional family.Matteson's annotations evoke the once-used objects and culture of a distant but still-relevant time, from the horse-drawn carriages to the art Alcott carefully placed in her story to references to persons little known today. His brilliant introductory essays examine Little Women's pivotal place in children's literature and tell the story of Alcott herself--a tale every bit as captivating as her fiction.
- The Goldfinch by Donna TarttCall Number: JPL 3rd Floor PS3570.A657 G65 2013WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE "The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art. As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love--and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. The Goldfinch is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.