Curtis Memorial Library will be hosting an Adult Summer Reading Challenge starting June 1st!
A poem dedicated to Summer Reading:
June begins the opening line,
With golden hours and drowsy shine.
July turns pages, fast and free,
Adventures stacked beside iced tea.
August nears the final part—
One last book before we start
The school bell’s ring and autumn’s breeze…
But summer’s words stay deep like trees.
by anonymous
Details of the 2025 Summer Reading Challenge
Start:
We will begin the challenge on June 1st! Starting on June 1st, participants can pick up a Summer Reading challenge card in person at the second floor Help Desk or Trivial Pursuit Summer Reading 2025
Finish:
Turn in your completed card by August 31 for a chance to win the one of the four $25 gift certificates to a local Brunswick business.
How to Play:
Complete all six reading challenge activities!
How to Submit:
When returning the completed sheet, make sure to include contact information. On September 1st, we will be drawing 4 random names to receive a prize.
Need book suggestions?
Geography: Read a book that is set in a country you would like to visit
Italy:
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden
Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
Ireland
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
France:
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Sleznick
Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
Scotland
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
South America:
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Netherlands
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Infidel by Ayann Ali Hirsi
The Dinner By Herman Koch
Greece
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
An Aegean April by Jeffrey Siger
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
Excavations by Kate Myers
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
England
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
One Day in December by Josie Silver
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Masie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Africa
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
Heart of Darkness. by Joseph Conrad
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
Hiding in Plain Sight by Nuruddin Farah
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
An Island by Karen Jennings
Twist by Colum McCann
Japan and China:
The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai
Tale for the Time Being byt Ruth Ozeki
Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The Language of Solitude by Jan-Philip Sendker
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Entertainment: Read a book that has been made into a movie/tv show
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Rebecca by Dauphne de Maurier
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Conclave by Robert Harris
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
History: Read a book about a historical event, or a historical fiction book
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
North Woods by Daniel Mason
James by Percival Everett
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
As Long as the Lemon Tree Grows by Zoulfa Katouh
Circe by Madeline Miller
March by Geraldine Brooks
Girl at War by Sara Novic
Arts & Literature: Read a book with illustrations or an epistolary novel
The White Tiger by Aracind Adiga
When you Read This by Mary Adkins
Griffin & Sabine (Series) by Nick Bantock
Letter to my Daughter by George Bishop
Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
Devolution by Max Brooks
Evelina by Fanny Burney
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Also in LP)
Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein
Love & Saffron by Kim Fay
Pack up the Moon by Kristan Higgins
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Carrie by Stephen King
Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
We are the Light by Matthew Quick
The Letters by Luanne Rice
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir by Jennifer Ryan
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith
Dear Miss Kopp by Amy Stewart
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Together We Will Go by Michael Straczynski
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Lawgiver by Herman Wouk
Science & Nature: Read a book that explains a scientific concept or explores a real-world environmental issue
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate by Naomi Klein
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming by David Wallace-Wells
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
The book of wilding: a practical guide to rewilding big and small by Isabella Tree
The Tree Collectors: Tales of Arboreal Obsession by Amy Stewart
The Sakura Obsession: The incredible story of the plant hunter who save Japan’s Cherry Blossom by Naoko Abe
Forest Bathing: How Trees can help you find health and Happiness by Dr. Qing Li
Bicycling with Butterflies : my 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration by Sara Dykman
Sports & Leisure: Read a book that explores a sport, athlete, or leisure activity
Open by Andre Agassi
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail by Scott Jurek
The Falcon Thief: a true tale of adventure, treachery and the hunt for the perfect bird by Joshua Hammer
The Big Time: How the 1970s transformed sports in America by Michael MacCambridge
The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life by Sally Jenkins
The Queen of Katwe: One Girl’s Triumphant Path to Becoming a Grandmaster by Tim
Out of Thin Air: Running Wisdom and Magic From Above the Clouds in Ethiopia by Michael Crawley
The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant
One Goal: A Coach, A Team, and the Game that Brought a Divided Team Together by
Seventeen and Oh: Miami, 1972, and the NFL’s Only Perfect Season by Marshall Jon Fisher
Control Freak: My Epic Adventures Making Video Games by Cliff Bleszinski
Lexington: The extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America’s Legendary Racehorse by Kim Wickens
Critical Hours: Search and Resue in the White Mountains by Sandy Stott
Following Atticus: forty-eight high peaks, one little dog, and an extraordinary friendship by Tom Ryan
Crawl of Fame: Julie Moss and the Fifteen Feet that Created an Ironman Triathlon Legend by Julie Moss
A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team by Arshay Cooper
Relentless Spirit: the Unconventional Raising of a Champion by Missy Franklin
Summer creates the perfect combination of time, mood, and environment for enjoyable and enriching reading. Happy reading!
