Read, White, & Blue + Book Clubs = Challenge Success

Read, White, & Blue + Book Clubs = Challenge Success

Read, White, & Blue -Voices of America is AAPLD's special reading challenge to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday. Open to AAPLD cardholders 18 and over, the challenge invites you to read books from 13 all-American categories between now and July 31, 2026. Visit Adult Services at the Main Library or Eastgate Branch to sign up.

Did you know that many upcoming AAPLD book club reads fit Read, White, & Blue categories? Click on the book title to register for the meeting when the book will be discussed. If you attended a book club meeting in March, your book may also fit a Read, White & Blue category. Ask your group leader if you're not sure.

Whether you're a book club enthusiast, or simply book club curious, AAPLD's variety of book clubs make it easy to find one that fits your schedule and what you love to read. Register today!

Stranger Than Fiction, 1st Tuesday of the month, 6:30 p.m., Eastgate: Historical Figures (Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker).

Spinecrackers, 1st Friday of the month, 10:00 a.m., Main Library: Regions and Geography (Where The Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe), Historical Turning Points (The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater), Historical Figures (The Girl From Greenwich Street by Lauren Willig).

Forever Young, 2nd Monday of the month, 6:30 p.m., Eastgate: American Dream (Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay) and The Pursuit of Happiness (A Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis).

Unicorns and Spaceships, 2nd Tuesday of the Month, 6:30 p.m. Eastgate: We The People (When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill)

Friends of Fiction, 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7:00 p.m., Main Library: The Pursuit of Happiness (Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid).

Happily Ever After, 3rd Monday of the month, 7:00 p.m., Main Library: Regions and Geography (This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan), American History (Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid)

Nail Biters, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 6:30 p.m., Eastgate: American History (The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton), Regions and Geography (With A Vengeance by Riley Sager and Guess Again by Charlie Donlea)

The Next Chapter, 3rd Friday of the month, 2:00 p.m., Main Library: American History (Rules of Civility by Amor Towles), National Parks/Natural Wonders (The Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena), Historical Figures (Being Henry by Henry Winkler).

Oh, The Horror, last Tuesday of the month, 7:00 p.m. Virtual: Schools, Libraries, and Museums (Chlorine by Jade Song), Regions and Geography (The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller)

 

Read, White & Blue- Join The Celebration!

Read, White & Blue- Join The Celebration!

This year, our nation marks its 250th birthday!  Celebrate America's people, history, natural wonders, and more with "Read, White, & Blue- Voices of America," a special reading challenge for AAPLD cardholders.

Between March 1 and July 31, 2026, read one book from each of the thirteen categories listed below. Why thirteen? For the original thirteen colonies and the thirteen stripes on the flag! Choose fiction or non-fiction books for adults or teens. Complete the categories in any order you like. Log your thirteen reads, and win a prize that commemorates our nation's birthday!

Summer Reading Bonus: During June and July, books read for Read, White & Blue also count towards Summer Reading and qualify you for both sets of prizes!

Register in person, pick up a reading log and a special sign-up prize at the Main Library on Harnish Drive, or at the Eastgate Branch, beginning Sunday, March 1. Or register by phone at 847-458-6060, and pick up the log and sign-up prize at either location.

Turn in your log as soon as you complete the program, but no later than July 31, 2026. Prizes will be available for pick up at both libraries beginning Monday, August 17. AAPLD cardholders only.

Read, White & Blue Categories:

 

1. Regions and Geography

Read any book that is about, or takes place in, a U.S. state or region. Examples include Alaska, Appalachia, the East or West Coast, the Great Lakes, the Midwest, New England, the Pacific Northwest, the South, Southwest, or any U.S. territory (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands).

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

2. National Parks / Natural Wonders

Read any book set in or about a national, state, or tribal park, or that explores America’s natural wonders and wildlife.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

3. We the People

Read any book about one or more of the groups, past or present, that make up the American people.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

4. Historical Turning Points

Read any book about one of the following eras: the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II, or the Vietnam War.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

5. American History

Read any book about any topic related to American history, as long as it is NOT about the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II, or the Vietnam War.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

6. Historical Figures

Read any book by or about a U.S. historical figure, or their life or work.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

7. Democracy, Government, and the Law

Read any U.S. historical document (i.e., the Constitution, the Federalist Papers) OR a book featuring themes of American democracy, government, or law.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

8. Civic Duty and Civil Rights

Read any book focused on the civic duties, responsibilities, or engagement expected of Americans, or on efforts byRed, white and blue VOTE banner individuals or groups to achieve full civil rights for themselves or for others. 

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

9. Schools, Libraries, and Museums

Read a non-fiction book about education or literacy OR a novel set in an American school (including colleges and universities), library, or museum.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

10. The American Dream

Read any fiction or non-fiction book that explores the hopes, struggles, and journeys of people seeking a better life in America. These stories may focus on ambition, opportunity, family, identity, or the challenges of building a new and better life. 

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

11. Made in America

Read any fiction or non-fiction book about a product, scientific discovery, or American company.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

12. The Great American Novel

Read any book that has been designated a “Great American Novel” by literary critics or experts.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

13. The Pursuit of Happiness

woman with arms raised standing in sunlightRead any book about an American pursuing their passions or hobbies.

Browse for book ideas and place a hold

AAPLD embraces inclusivity in its programs and services. To request accommodations, please email [info@aapld.org] or call (847) 458-6060 x143 at least 7 days in advance.

Discover January’s Library Reads

Discover January’s Library Reads

Who doesn't love a page-turner? If you're ready to get lost in a book, consider one of the thrillers on the January Library Reads list-- new releases chosen by librarians nationwide as their favorites. So grab a cozy blanket, a cup of your favorite reading brew and settle in for a great read! Not a thriller fan? Check out the rest of this month's picks. You're sure to find something you'll love.

Anatomy of An Alibi by Ashley Elston

Two women. One dead husband. And only one alibi.

Everyone at Chantilly’s Bar noticed out-of-towner Camille Bayliss. Red lips, designer heels, sipping a Negroni. But that woman wasn’t Camille Bayliss. It was Aubrey Price.

Camille Bayliss appears to have the picture-perfect life; she’s married to hotshot lawyer Ben and is the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana family. Only nothing is as it seems: Camille believes Ben has been hiding dirty secrets for years, but she can’t find proof because he tracks her every move.

Aubrey Price has been haunted by the terrible night that changed her life a decade ago, and she’s convinced Benjamin Bayliss knows something about it. Living in a house full of criminals, Aubrey understands there’s more than one way to get to the truth—and she may have found the best way in.

Aubrey and Camille hatch a plan. It sounds simple: For twelve hours, Aubrey will take Camille’s place. Camille will spy on Ben, and the two women will get the answers they desperately seek.

Except the next morning, Ben is found murdered. Both women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it. And one false step is all it takes for everything to come undone.

All The Little Houses by May Cobb

Adults can behave badly too...

It's the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the scene. She always gets what she wants. What she can't get for herself… well, that's what her mother is for. Because Charleigh Andersen, blond, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning, remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. When she was coming of age on the poor side of East Texas, she was a loser, an outcast, humiliated, and shunned by the in-crowd, whose approval she'd so desperately thirsted for. When a prairie-kissed family moves to town, all trad wife, woodworking dad, wholesome daughter vibes, Charleigh's entire self-made social empire threatens to crumble. Who will be left standing when the dust settles?

From the author of The Hunting Wives comes a deliciously wicked new thriller about mean girls, mean moms, and the delicious secrets inside all the little houses.

It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara

Your neighbors have secrets. How far would they go to keep them?

“A simple, ordinary mistake explodes into a suburban nightmare in this hugely compelling, one-sitting read packed full of thrilling moments and genuinely surprising twists. Andrea Mara is at the very top of her game.” —Catherine Ryan Howard

You press send and your message disappears. Full of secrets about your neighbors, it’s meant for your sister. But it doesn’t reach her – it goes to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead.

As rumor spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighborhood, you convince yourself that people will move on, that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.

The next day, a woman has been murdered. And what’s even more chilling is that she had the same address as you – 26 Oakpark – but in a different part of town. Did the killer get the wrong house? It won’t be long before you find out…

Discover November’s Library Reads

Discover November’s Library Reads

What are you thankful for this season? Family and friends, community, and simple things that bring joy-- including reading! Here at AAPLD, we love being able to help you find new authors and stories, like these November new releases, chosen by librarians nationwide as their favorites. Library Reads makes it easy to find a great read, so check out this month's picks, including these spotlighted selections. You're sure to find something you'll love!

Memoir

Simply More by Cynthia Erivo - Cynthia Erivo learned the music to Wicked a decade before she needed it, not knowing that those same lyrics would change her life. Ten years later, she has the chance to perform those songs on a world stage, showing us that there is always time to keep discovering ourselves, that the journey of becoming is not a finite one.

In a series of powerful, personal vignettes, Cynthia Erivo reflects on the ways that she has grown as an actor and a person, the lessons she’s learned over years of performing, and how we are capable of so much more than we think.

Just as she had persevered through obstacles on the stage, working step by step, day by day, to align with music, lyrics and dialogue, so too did Cynthia fall in love with running. Through the simplicity of her steps and the beating of her heart, she found a way to fall into deeper sync with herself.

We all have hopes and dreams that we want to bring across the finish line, we all falter and take missteps, yet we keep moving forward towards that end goal. Cynthia is still running marathons, onstage and onscreen, in her work and in the city streets. Each challenge has allowed her to lean into the wisdom of her body, to understand and strive for a physical and mental balance. Because when we chase our deepest desires, each small step leads us closer to where we want to go.

Fantasy/Romance

Violet Thistlewaite Is Not A Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz -After a lifetime as a dark sorcerer’s right-hand, Violet Thistlewaite is determined to start over—not as the fearsome Thornwitch, but as someone kind. Someone better. Someone good.

The quaint town of Dragon’s Rest, Violet decides, will be her second chance—she’ll set down roots, open a flower shop, keep her sentient (mildly homicidal) houseplant in check, and prune dark magic from the twisted boughs of her life.

Violet’s vibrant bouquets and cheerful enchantments soon charm the welcoming townsfolk, though nothing seems to impress the prickly yet dashingly handsome Nathaniel Marsh, an alchemist sharing her greenhouse. With a struggling business and his own second chance seemingly out of reach, Nathaniel has no time for flowers or frippery—and certainly none for the intriguing witch next door.

When a mysterious blight threatens every living plant in Dragon’s Rest, Violet and Nathaniel must work together through their fears, pasts, and growing feelings for one another to save their community. But with a figure from her past knocking at her door and her secrets threatening to uproot everything she’s worked so hard to grow, Violet can’t help but wonder…does a former villain truly deserve a happily-ever-after?

Thriller

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino - Eighteen months and eleven lost bidding wars into house-hunting in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake gets a tip about the perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood, slated to come up for sale in one month. Desperate to escape the cramped apartment she shares with her husband Ian—and in turn, get their marriage, plan to have a baby, and whole life back on track—Margo becomes obsessed with buying the house before it’s publicly listed and the masses descend (with unbeatable, all-cash offers in hand).

A little stalking? Harmless. A bit of trespassing? Necessary. As Margo infiltrates the homeowners’ lives, her tactics grow increasingly unhinged—but just when she thinks she’s won them over, she hits a snag in her plan. Undeterred, she'll prove again and again that there’s no boundary she won’t cross to seize the dream life she’s been chasing.

Discover October’s Library Reads

Discover October’s Library Reads

October brings pumpkins, colorful leaves and a brand new collection of Library Reads. Chosen by librarians across the country as their favorite new releases of the month, Library Reads is an easy way to find a great read. Check out this month's picks, including these spotlighted selections. You're sure to find something you'll love!

Mystery

Remain: A Supernatural Love Story by Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan - A one-of-a-kind novel that grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death, and human connection—an unprecedented collaboration between the globally bestselling author of love stories like The Notebook and the renowned writer and director of blockbuster thrillers like The Sixth Sense

When New York architect Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, he is hoping to make a fresh start. Recently discharged from an upscale psychiatric facility where he was treated for acute depression, he is still wrestling with the pain of losing his beloved sister. Sylvia’s deathbed revelation—that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world, a gift that runs in their family—sits uneasily with Tate, who struggles to believe in more than what reason can explain. But when he takes up residence at a historic bed-and-breakfast on the Cape, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Wren who will challenge every assumption he has about his logical and controlled world.

Tate and Wren find themselves forging an immediate connection, one that neither has ever experienced before. But Tate gradually discovers that below the surface of Wren’s idyllic small-town life, hatred, jealousy, and greed are festering, threatening their fragile relationship just as it begins to blossom. Tate realizes that in order to free Wren from an increasingly desperate fate, he will need to unearth the truth about her past before time runs out . . . a quest that will make him doubt whether we can ever believe the stories we tell about ourselves, and the laws that govern our existence. Love—while transformative—can sometimes be frightening.

Thriller

Bog Queen by Anna North - The story of an anthropologist's monumental discovery and the clash of civilizations it sets off over the fate of the land that holds us

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she has ever seen: Although its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.

Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there is the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains with its own dark stories to tell. As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she is also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world.

Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects two young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a mysterious and complex landscape.

Historical Fiction

The Missing Pages by Alyson Richman - Harry Widener boards the Titanic holding tight to a priceless book he just purchased in London. After mayhem strikes the ship, Harry’s last known words are that he must return to his cabin for his treasure. Neither the young man nor the book are seen again. In his honor, his mother builds the Harry Widener Memorial Library at Harvard to memorialize her son and house his extensive book collection.
​ Decades later, Violet Hutchins, a Harvard sophomore recovering from her own great loss, is working as a page at the Widener Library. When strange things begin happening at the library—books falling off shelves or opening to random pages—Violet wonders if Harry Widener’s ghost is trying to communicate the missing pieces of his story from beyond the grave.

Summer’s Best Book Picks!

Summer’s Best Book Picks!

Join Adult Services staff, Thursday, May 29, at 7:00 p.m. to hear about the best new books for summer! We’ll have light refreshments and giveaways for a fun evening at the library.

Looking for a great read for your upcoming vacation, or maybe just a page turner to settle in for a lazy weekend? Not a problem! We have all the book suggestions you need. No matter what genre you like, we will provide great options for you. These titles can be used for our Summer Reading Program and Reading Marathon Challenges. Want personalized suggestions? Come with a favorite book or author in mind,  and we’ll offer ideas for what to read next.

There will also be refreshments and book give-aways! Registration is required, but open to all. Don’t miss this great night for book lovers.

Discover May’s Library Reads

Discover May’s Library Reads

May's Library Reads selections are here, full of great suggestions for your summer to-be-read list! For AAPLD cardholders who've signed up for the 2025 Reading Marathon 26 book challenge, we've highlighted books that fit our Reading Marathon categories.

Chosen by librarians across the country as their favorite new releases for the month of May, these books will keep you reading long into the night AND boost your Reading Marathon completions. Browse them here, or stop by the Main Library, and look for books with the Library Reads logo on the spine.

 

Reading Marathon Categories: Road on the Cover

Run For The Hills by Kevin Wilson - Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s just been Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While she sometimes admits it’s a bit lonely and a less exciting life than she imagined for herself, it’s mostly OK. Mostly.

Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.

As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with each new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?

Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.

Reading Marathon Category: Set Overseas

What Happens In Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon - Dani Dorfman has somehow made it to her thirties without knowing what she wants to do with her life. So when an office romance ends poorly and gets her fired, she applies for a job in Amsterdam, idly dreaming of escaping the mess she’s created, but never imagining she'll actually get it.

Except she does. By the end of her first week in Amsterdam, she’s never felt more adrift or alone. Then she crashes her bike into her high school ex-boyfriend—and suddenly life is blooming with new opportunities.

Wouter van Leeuwen was a Dutch exchange student Dani’s family hosted, a forbidden love that ended in a painful breakup. Years later, there’s still sizzling chemistry between them, and okay, maybe a little animosity. More importantly, Wouter needs to be married to inherit a gorgeous family home on a canal—and when Dani's job falls apart, she needs a visa. As the marriage of convenience pushes them together in unexpected ways, Dani must decide whether her new life is yet another mistake—or if it's worth taking a risk on a second chance.

 

Reading Marathon Category: Title= Family

Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay - In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up at dinner.

At first, everyone thinks that they’re just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Soon, the campus police call in reinforcements. Search parties are formed. Reporters swarm the small enclave. Rumors swirl and questions arise.

Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella—The Five, as the podcasters, bloggers, and TikTok sleuths call them—come from five very different families. What led them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril or a threat to the friend group from within?

Told through multiple points of view in past and present—and marking the return of FBI Special Agent Sarah Keller from Every Last Fear and The Night Shift—Parents Weekend explores the weight of expectation, family dysfunction, and those exhilarating first days we all remember in the dorms when our friends become our family.

 

Discover April’s Library Reads

Discover April’s Library Reads

April showers bring May flowers, plus a bouquet of great new Library Reads!

For AAPLD cardholders who've signed up for the 2025 Reading Marathon 26 book challenge, we've highlighted books that fit our Reading Marathon categories. Chosen by librarians across the country as their favorite new releases for the month of April, these books will keep you reading long into the night AND boost your Reading Marathon completions. Browse them here, or stop by the Main Library, and look for books with the Library Reads logo on the spine.

 

Reading Marathon Categories: Now on TV, and Set In Birth Decade (1980s)

The first novel in the all-new Golden Girls Cozy Mystery Series!

Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery by Rachel Ekstrom Courage 
Things are heating up, and not just because of Blanche’s hot flashes. Rose’s cousin is eloping to Miami, and Rose is playing host. If she can't balance the groom’s family’s snobbery against the traditional St. Olaf wedding week guidelines, her hometown may never accept her cousin again!

Dorothy quickly realizes she needs a date with whom she can exchange wedding-related wisecracks. Turning to a newfangled VHS dating service, she believes she’s found the ideal conversationalist. Unfortunately, what looks good on TV can actually be a total jerk in real life. It seems she’ll just have to enjoy the company of Sophia, Blanche, and whomever Blanche has targeted for a hookup.

As the Girls all pitch in, Rose is thrilled that the tea-and-fish-themed kickoff event is perfect, not a herring out of place. That is until Dorothy’s date is found dead—face-planted in an otherwise scrumptious-looking cheesecake. With every guest a suspect (especially Dorothy) and a marriage on the line, the four besties must ID the real killer, get the should-be-happy couple down the aisle, and make sure nobody from St. Olaf gets lost in the wilds of Miami. It’s up to the Golden Girls to sleuth out a way for friendship and love to win the day!

Reading Marathon Category: Set At Sea

The Sirens by Emilia Hart - A story of sisters separated by hundreds of years but bound together in more ways than they can imagine

2019: Lucy awakens in her ex-lover’s room in the middle of the night with her hands around his throat. Horrified, she flees to her sister’s house on the coast of New South Wales hoping Jess can help explain the vivid dreams that preceded the attack—but her sister is missing. As Lucy waits for her return, she starts to unearth strange rumours about Jess’s town—tales of numerous missing men, spread over decades. A baby abandoned in a sea-swept cave. Whispers of women’s voices on the waves. All the while, her dreams start to feel closer than ever.

1800: Mary and Eliza are torn from their loving home in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship heading for Australia. As the boat takes them farther and farther away from all they know, they begin to notice unexplainable changes in their bodies.

A breathtaking tale of female resilience, The Sirens is an extraordinary novel that captures the sheer power of sisterhood and the indefinable magic of the sea.

Swept Away by Beth O'LearyWhat if you were lost at sea…with your one-night stand?

Zeke and Lexi thought it would just be a night of fun. They had no intentions of seeing each other again. Zeke is only in town for the weekend to buy back his late father’s houseboat. Lexi has no time for dating when she needs to help take care of her best friend's daughter.

Going back home with a stranger seems like a perfect escape from their problems. But a miscommunication in the dark, foggy night means no one tied the houseboat to the dock. The next morning, Zeke and Lexi realize all they can see is miles and miles of water.

With just a few provisions on the idle boat, Zeke and Lexi must figure out how to get back home. But aside from their survival, they’re facing another challenge. Because when you’re stuck together for days on end, it gives you a lot of time to get to know someone—and to fall in love with them.

 

 

Reading Marathon Category: What's My Line

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez - There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

Reading Marathon Category: Title= Family

The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner - One of the most anticipated books of the year, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner, a glimmering novel set in the world of pop music about sisters, motherhood, young love, and the dreams we chase.

Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were born just a year apart but could not have been more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows.

On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early aughts fame—SNL, MTV, Rolling Stone magazine—along the way.

But after a whirlwind year in the public eye, the band abruptly broke up.

Two decades later, Zoe’s a housewife; Cassie’s off the grid. The sisters aren’t speaking, and the real reason for the Griffin Sisters’ breakup is still a mystery. Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, who’s determined to be a star in spite of Zoe’s warnings, is on a quest to learn the truth about what happened to the band all those years ago.

As secrets emerge, all three women must face the consequences of their choices: the ones they made and the ones the music industry made for them. Can they forgive each other—and themselves? And will the Griffin Sisters ever make music again?

Discover March’s Library Reads

Discover March’s Library Reads

How's your Reading Marathon Challenge going?

For AAPLD cardholders who've signed up for the 26 book challenge, we're always ready with suggestions. Starting this month, through November 2025, our Library Reads posts will highlight books that fit our Reading Marathon categories. Chosen by librarians across the country as their favorite new releases, these books will keep you reading long into the night AND boost your Reading Marathon completions. Browse them here, or stop by the Main Library, and look for books with the Library Reads logo on the spine.

 

Reading Marathon Category: Title = Family

All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman - Florence Grimes, age thirty-one, always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl-band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen-food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect.

Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name or risk losing Dylan forever—never mind that she has no useful skills (let alone investigative ones) and that all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and she has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe.

Reading Marathon Categories: Set Overseas, and Set in Birth Decade (1950s)

Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry -In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more her beautiful mother.

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.

 

Reading Marathon Category: Extreme Adventure

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy - A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.

Reading Marathon Category: Essays

The long-awaited follow-up from one of the most original and hilarious voices writing today.

Sucker Punch: Scaachi Koul - Scaachi Koul’s first book was a collection of raw, perceptive, and hilarious essays reckoning with the issues of race, body image, love, friendship, and growing up the daughter of immigrants. When the time came to start writing her next book, Scaachi assumed she’d be updating her story with essays about her elaborate four-day wedding, settling down to domestic bliss, and continuing her never-ending arguments with her parents. Instead, the Covid pandemic hit, the world went into lockdown, Scaachi’s marriage fell apart, she lost her job, and her mother was diagnosed with cancer.

Sucker Punch is about what happens when the life you thought you’d be living radically changes course, everything you thought you knew about the world and yourself has tilted on its axis, and you have to start forging a new path forward. Scaachi employs her signature humor and fierce intelligence to interrogate her previous belief that fighting is the most effective tool for progress. She examines the fights she’s had—with her parents, her ex-husband, her friends, online strangers, and herself—all in an attempt to understand when a fight is worth having, and when it's better to walk away.

7 Tips for Reading Marathon Success

7 Tips for Reading Marathon Success

Get ready, get set, go!

Reading Marathon, AAPLD's newest reading challenge starts today, and we're excited! Beginning February 1, AAPLD cardholders, 18 and over, will have the chance to stretch their reading muscles by reading 26 books! With 26 different reading themes-- like 26 miles in a marathon-- there's plenty to keep you reading all the way to the end of November.  Even better, any Reading Marathon books read during Summer Reading, count towards both programs.  To read more about how the Reading Marathon Challenge works, check out our page.

Now if you're thinking, "26 books? Easy peasy!" be sure to stop by the Adult Services desk and tell us what you're reading!  (The rumors are true...library staff love to talk about books.) But if you're thinking, "26 books? You've got to be kidding!" Read on. You can do this, and we're here to help, with 7 tips for success.

  1. Review Your To Be Read List- if you keep a list of books you'd like to read, pick up a Reading Marathon log sheet at the Adult Services desk and note which books fit the themes. Use Goodreads or NoveList to see covers, page counts, author info and more.
  2. Attend a book club meeting - Many AAPLD book clubs will read at least one book this year that fits a Reading Marathon theme. A few suggestions: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo (Title = Family; Unicorns & Spaceships, February) Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (NYT Bestseller; Happily Ever After, April), The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters (Set overseas; Nail Biters, June), I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (Illinois Author; Fiction Addition, July); Confessions by Kanae Minato (Translated Work; Oh, The Horror!, August); Trippy: The Peril and Promise of Medicinal Psychedelics by Ernesto Londono (Road on the Cover; Stranger Than Fiction, September)
  3. Browse our displays - Each month, we'll feature two Reading Marathon themes on display in the Adult Services area by Study Room D.
  4. Look Around Your House- The "Own It, Haven't Read It" theme lets you choose a book from your household collection. You might find unread books that fit other themes too.
  5. Try an E-book or Audiobook- While there's nothing like curling up with a print book, ebooks and audiobooks are great for reading on the go. Listen on your commute, while working around the house, or on a road trip. Download ebooks so you always have a book handy.
  6. Ask us! Need suggestions for what to read, or want to learn to use our reading apps? Your friendly library staff is ready to help.
  7. Make reading a healthy new habit - For many of us, the problem isn't what to read, but finding the time. Ebooks can help you fit reading into the small pockets of time you're likely to spend scrolling. Combine audiobooks with walks, or workouts at the gym. Swap your phone, social media and news apps for a book-- especially before bedtime. Your mind and body will thank you!