Category: Online Reading Challenge

Online Reading Challenge – June Wrap-Up

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in Australia that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. This book tore my heart out. The more I read, the more I was invested in what was going on in everyone’s lives. The prose is absolutely beautiful as the author describes the remote island setting (and all the other locations in the book). Honestly, I love any books set in Australia, especially narrators with Australian accents, so this was an almost guaranteed enjoyment for me. Let’s talk about the book!

Tom Sherbourn is a young World War I vet described by others as responsible, upstanding, and stalwart. The war ravaged him emotionally. After the war, Tom finds a job as a light-keeper on isolated Janus Rock off the western coast of Australia. During one of his shore leaves, Tom meets Isabel. Isabel is young and free-spirited. The two are soon married and set up house on Janus Rock to begin their life together as starry-eyed new lovers. Janus Rock is gorgeous. Tom starts to heal amongst the silence, solitude, and rumblings of the sea. The thing that would make their life complete is a baby, something that Isabel longs for intensely. Over several years, Isabel suffers two miscarriages and a devastating stillbirth. The couple are crushed.

One day a small boat washes up on Janus Rock. The two are stunned to find a dead body and a very much alive infant in the boat. Tom is required to record and report everything that happens on Janus Rock, but Isabel persuades a very reluctant Tom to not do so in this case. She reasons that the baby is most likely an orphan now. Isabel believes that this is a sign from the universe to reward them after the years of heartbreak the two have suffered in their attempts to have a child. Tom buries the dead man, sets the boat adrift, and tells himself the two are doing the right thing, although his conscience eats at him as time passes.

Tom, Isabel, and the baby have an almost perfect life on Janus Rock. Their trips back to shore to visit Isabel’s family however start to worry even more at Tom’s conscience. He broke the rules and omitted important information from his reports, something that could end his career and lead to him facing formal charges. Tom’s misgivings haunt him and soon enough, his worries actually amount to something. Their idyllic life comes crashing down. The family is forced to deal with the consequences of Tom and Isabel’s actions. Nothing will be the same.

I wasn’t sure what I expected when I started this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had never read this before (or seen the movie starring Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Weisz). The depth of emotion presented through written words tore at my heart. As I was reading, I thought I was going to be sympathetic one way, but reading from multiple points of view really had me second-guessing my judgments and feelings. I find myself thinking about this book long after I finished it – wondering what choices I would have made if I had been put in a similar position. This book, to me, was a good reminder that you never know what a person is going through. Everyone has their own reasons for doing something and just because you wouldn’t necessarily behave a certain way doesn’t mean that someone else won’t. All in all, I enjoyed this book and found myself running through a wide range of emotions as I listened.

In July we’re headed to suburbia!

Online Reading Challenge – June

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to Australia, the smallest continent, yet one of the largest countries on Earth! Australia has jungle-coated islands, outback plains, vast wilderness frontiers, the world’s oldest living ecosystems, remote islands, and high peaks. Our Main title for June is The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. We are in Australia for this book, though Janus Rock is a fictional island(fun fact: there is a Janus Island located near Antarctica). Here’s a quick summary of The Light Between Oceans from the publisher.

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

This title is also available in large print, as a CD audiobook, a Libby eBook, and single book club books. You can also watch the movie version, which was released in 2016 starring Michael Fassbender as Tom and Alicia Vikander as Isabel.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – May Wrap-Up

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in Ireland that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman. This is the story of three generations of the Gogarty family in Dublin, Ireland. The Gogarty family are all rambunctious people in their own way – full of spunk and the desire to get their own way. All the main characters have issues, but this book is rife with added humor that make the story endearing. They are all ‘good eggs’ looking for second chances.

Kevin Gogarty is frustrated. His eighty-three-year-old mother, Millie, has been caught shoplifting yet again. AGAIN! At a loss of what to do, Kevin hires a caretaker to come into his mother’s house to help take care of her. After all, his wife isn’t home to help. Kevin is currently unemployed, stuck at home managing their full house while his wife travels around the world to exotic locations for work. He’s not bitter at all.

Millie is livid. She’s just fine, thank you very much.  Her nosy son’s plan means that she will have to miss her planned vacation with Jolly Jessica to the States. This new caretaker is destined to be a pain in her side, no matter what they all say. She doesn’t need any help.

Kevin’s daughter Aideen is annoyed. Her parents think she’s sullen and misbehaved, but if they had to deal with her spoiled rotten twin sister, they would act the same way! After one of her outbursts, her parents decide they have had enough and send her to a new boarding school during the school week. She can’t believe she’s been banished. Her troubles escalate even more at the school when Aideen befriends the campus rebel.

Millie’s new home aide, Sylvia, walks right into the Gogarty family mess with a smile on her face. Sylvia is upbeat and nothing seems to phase her. Kevin has high hopes that Sylvia will be able to alleviate the stress his mother causes him on a daily basis. Little do they all know that the addition of Sylvia will tip the family towards their greatest disaster yet.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought that I would. I found myself laughing out loud at some points, as I could definitely picture the hijinks in my head. I was drawn to certain characters and found myself instantly invested in what was going to happen next in each of their lives. All in all, a hilarious romp of a debut novel. I can’t wait to see what Rebecca Hardiman writes next.

In June, we’re headed to Australia!

Online Reading Challenge – May

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to Ireland, nicknamed the Emerald Isle for its wide expanses of lush, green fields! Our Main title is Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman. Here’s a quick summary from the author.

A hilarious and heartfelt debut novel following three generations of a boisterous family whose simmering tensions boil over when a home aide enters the picture, becoming the  calamitous force that will either undo or remake them—perfect for fans of Where’d YouGo, Bernadette and Evvie Drake Starts Over.

When Kevin Gogarty’s irrepressible eighty-three-year-old mother, Millie, is caught shoplifting yet again, he has no choice but to hire a caretaker to keep an eye on her. Kevin, recently unemployed, is already at his wits’ end tending to a full house while his wife travels to exotic locales for work, leaving him solo with his rebellious teenage daughter, Aideen, whose troubles escalate when she befriends the campus rebel at her new boarding school.

Into the Gogarty fray steps Sylvia, Millie’s upbeat home aide, who appears at first to be their saving grace—until she catapults the Gogarty clan into their greatest crisis yet.

With charm, humor, and pathos to spare, Good Eggs is a delightful study in self-determination; the notion that it’s never too late to start living; and the unique redemption that family, despite its maddening flaws, can offer.

This title is also available in the following formats:

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – April Wrap-Up

- Stephanie 1 Comment

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

My name is Stephanie and I have taken over the Online Reading Challenge from Ann after her retirement! She wrote wonderfully for the blog for years and is already missed so much by everyone at the Davenport Public Library. I’m hoping to be able to live up to the high standards and quality blog posts she has written through the years and create content that you all will love! If you have any suggestions regarding the blog or the Online Reading Challenge, please email me at sspraggon@davenportlibrary.com. Now, let’s wrap up April!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in India that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. This nonfiction title follows the residents of Annawadi, a slum outside Mumbai. It focuses on specific families and their nearly impossible quest for upward mobility. This story is a heartbreaking look at modern India’s vast inequalities in fulfillment of basic human needs, as well as the opportunity inequalities that run rampant. Boo narrates this book in third-person which lets readers glimpse India and Annawadi as a whole, while also looking deeper into the lives of the people and events present. Boo does an excellent job revealing the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of absolute poverty.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement that exists in the shadows of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. It’s seen as one of many eyesores across the country as India starts to prosper. Annawadi residents are pushed further and further to the wayside while global change rises up around them, despite the residents’ best efforts to move up in the world.

Abdul is a Muslim teenager who believes he has found a profitable business in selling the recyclable garbage that richer people toss on the ground around Annawadi. Asha is a woman who grew up in rural poverty and who ended up in Annawadi with her family, determined to use her formidable wit to scrape her way to the middle class through political corruption. Asha’s daughter is considered Annawadi’s ‘most-everything girl’. She is hoping to be the slum’s first female college graduate. Even the poorest people in Annawadi believe that they are on track to living good lives.

Plans screech to a halt when Abdul and his family are falsely accused in a horribly shocking tragedy happens in the slum. Terror attacks rock the country and the world. A global recession finds its way to Mumbai and known sources of income start to dry up. All these issues bring many suppressed tensions to the surface and Annawadi erupts. Hope clashes with truth, leaving dreams crushed in the mud as people push for better lives for themselves and their families. How far the people of Annawadi are willing to go to get what they deserve is at the heart of this novel. Fighting against outside forces and issues within themselves, Abdul, Asha, and their families work hard for the good lives they want and deserve.

I really enjoyed this book. Nonfiction is usually difficult for me to get through, but a friend owned the audiobook version and kindly offered it to me. Sunil Malhotra is the award-winning narrator who tackles this tough subject matter and large number of characters with grace. Initially I was confused as the book starts at a key moment, flashes back to set up the drama, and then continues forward, but quickly was able to get back into the narration. As the story progressed, I found myself wishing that I could refer back to the print book as I was confused, but all in all, the author and narrator together crafted a nonfiction book that read like fiction to me. Boo tackles these difficult topics with grace, sincerity, intelligence, and humor. While this certainly isn’t a happily ever after book, she manages to connect each human being to each other and, most importantly, brings her readers into this hidden world rife with devastating and tumultuous change. These people will be hard to forget.

In May we’re headed to Ireland!

Behind the Beautiful Forevers is also available in the following formats:

Online Reading Challenge – April

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to India, the country that occupies the greater part of South Asia and is the second most populous country with roughly one-sixth of the world’s total population. India is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, made up of thousands of ethnic groups and most likely hundreds of languages. Our Main title this month is a nonfiction read entitled Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo. Below is a quick summary from the publisher.

In this breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.

As India starts to prosper, the residents of Annawadi are electric with hope. Abdul, an enterprising teenager, sees “a fortune beyond counting” in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Meanwhile Asha, a woman of formidable ambition, has identified a shadier route to the middle class. With a little luck, her beautiful daughter, Annawadi’s “most-everything girl,” might become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest children, like the young thief Kalu, feel themselves inching closer to their dreams. But then Abdul is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal.

With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget.

This title is also available in the following formats:

As always, check our locations for displays with many other related titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – March Wrap-Up

- Stephanie 1 Comment

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

My name is Stephanie and I have taken over the Online Reading Challenge from Ann after her retirement! She wrote wonderfully for the blog for years and is already missed so much by everyone at the Davenport Public Library. I’m hoping to be able to live up to her high expectations and create content that you all will love! If you have any suggestions regarding the blog or the Online Reading Challenge, please email me at sspraggon@davenportlibrary.com. Now, let’s wrap up March!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in sunny California that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is a heartwarming, tender, yet page-turning beach read that tells the story of a party gone wrong. Jenkins Reid has a way of weaving her books together, even though they are not series. (There are characters with short cameos spread between her novels, sometimes in a quick mention: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & the Six and Carrie Soto is Back).

This is the story of the four Riva siblings, each equally famous in their own right. Their father, a famous singer, had a hard time staying with his family, despite his professions of love for them. The eldest, Nina, takes on the job of raising her three siblings when their mother dies. She gives up her dreams until one day she is discovered and becomes a model. Jay becomes a champion surfer, Hud is a successful sports photographer, and Kit, the youngest, is on the cusp of breaking through as a champion surfer as well.

Their early trauma formed an unbreakable bond between the four, one that is about to be tested. All four carry secrets that affect their individual lives and could destroy their family bond. Everything comes to a head at Nina’s annual summer party in August 1983. This year’s party is unlike any other. It quickly gets out of hand, being mostly made up of uninvited people armed with loads of booze and drugs. In the midst of the revelry, the four Riva siblings fight amongst themselves, deal with inner turmoil, and try to do what’s best for each other.

I enjoyed this novel – while it seemed like this book was going to be about who set the fire at the Riva mansion during Nina’s party, it instead focuses on the hard times that the Riva siblings have been through together. The story examines family dysfunction amongst the debauchery, glitz, and glam of California’s famous elite. Being born and raised in the Midwest, I was fascinated by the messiness of the Riva family and their rise to power in their chosen professions. I also enjoyed the narrative structure of this book – the alternating between Mick’s courtship with June, as well as the hours leading up to (and during) the party. The story definitely played out like a soap opera, a fact particularly emphasized for me as I listened to the audiobook version of this title. Let me know what you thought in the comments!

In April we’re headed to India, so get ready!

Malibu Rising is also available in the following formats:

Online Reading Challenge – March

- Ann Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to sunny California, the land of gold and dreams! Think sunny beaches and glamourous Hollywood for inspiration. Our Main title is the excellent Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher.

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over 24 hours, their lives will change forever. 

Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer, and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over, especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud, because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – February Wrap-Up

- Ann 2 Comments

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in Ancient Greece that you enjoyed? Let us know in the comments!

I read our main title, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. This is a devastating book – beautifully written, heartbreaking, part love story, part cautionary tale on the perils of pride, this is a story that will stay with you long after finishing.

Patroclus is the son of a minor king in the Greek territories. He is a constant disappointment to his father. When he makes a fatal mistake he is exiled from his home and is sent to the kingdom of Phthia, ruled by the powerful King Peleus. There he meets the king’s son Achilles, “the best of all the Greeks”. That this golden boy and an outcast should become friends is unexpected, but soon they are inseparable. Patroclus blossoms in Achilles’ reflected glory and Achilles gains a true friend. When Achilles’ father sends him to study under Chiron, the wisest and most skilled of the centaurs, Patroclus follows. Together they learn many skills from Chiron, happy to be together and becoming more than friends.

Their idyll is ruined when word of the kidnapping of Helen reaches them. Achilles, hungry for fame and glory, joins the fight to retrieve her from Troy and Patroclus refuses to be left behind. What follows is the brutality of war, full of violence, cruelty and male egos. The fallout from Achilles pride is devastating and heart wrenching.

I was surprised at the violence of the scenes of the Trojan War and frustrated by Achilles and his refusal to compromise. In many ways Patroclus is the true hero, and a lesson to all.  A fascinating look at the culture and customs of Ancient Greece as well as a story of love and sacrifice.

Online Reading Challenge – February

- Ann Leave a comment

Hello Challenge Readers! Welcome to our February challenge!

This month we’re going to take a few steps back in time and visit Ancient Greece. Our main title this month is: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

Achilles, “the best of all the Greeks,” son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful— irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, who has been exiled from his homeland of Phthia after an act of shocking violence to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus. Brought together by chance, Achilles and Patroclus forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods’ wrath and become steadfast companions.

They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice. (from the publisher)

We will have a variety of books to choose from on display at each library location, or you can pick any other title. The books range from retellings of tales of Greek gods (I highly recommend Circe also by Madeline Miller), and novels of Ancient Greek history.