A girl goes to meet her friend for a birthday dinner and realizes upon entering the restaurant that she has been gifted with the chance to play out the classic question, “If you could have a dinner people with five people, alive or dead, who would you choose?” She and her motley crew of guests have a night to remember full of love, heartbreak, the reopening of barely closed wounds, and philosophy. I LOVED “The Dinner List,” and am not one to give five star ratings easily. I can see myself re-reading this for ages, recommending it to anyone who asks, and this book having a lasting impact on the world around me.

Three words that describe this book: Heartbreak, Complex, Reconciliation

You might want to pick this book up if: You want something that will pack a big punch emotionally in a small amount of time (It is an under-six-hour audiobook).

-Molly

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year. 

I enjoyed reading this adventure-filled travelogue. In the book “Coastal Missouri,” author John Drake Robinson makes it his personal mission, over the course of a dozen or so years, to drive every road in Missouri. Using his own brand of irreverent humor, he regales his readers with what he found, in culture, history and geologic wonder, while on this wild, long-term escapade. I especially appreciated reading his anecdotes about places that I have also visited in the 26 years of being a Missourian.

Three words that describe this book: Adventure, natural, wonders

You might want to pick this book up if: you want to learn more about Missouri history, culture, and geography, and if you enjoy travel adventures.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year. 

“Gerald & Elizabeth” is a lesser known novel written by one of my favorite authors, who herself is lesser known. D.E. Stevenson was a Scottish novelist who wrote during the ‘Golden Age’ of British fiction, before, during and for a decade or two after WWII.

This book is set after WWII, and tells the story of two adult siblings who are reunited in London and solve a mystery surrounding one of their births. There’s some intrigue about a diamond mine in South Africa and some light romance. Stevenson has a very distinctive style, she writes in clipped prose without a lot of description. Very clean story telling. It’s not my favorite of hers, but it’s enjoyable.

Three words that describe this book: Gentle mid-century fiction

You might want to pick this book up if: Want something to read that won’t stress you out at all.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.

In the book “The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System,” the main character Shen Yuan dies and is reborn into the same trashy web-novel that he cursed right before he died. Transmigrating into the body of the main villain of the novel, he has to balance changing the story in order to avoid a tragic ending for the villain while still being in character and unraveling the mysteries that were left unwritten.

I liked the book as it was easy to read; being in Shen Yuan’s point of view and inner dialogue made the story funnier than it should have been. Considering the original story he transmigrated into, I love how this book makes fun of the clichés, stereotypes, and tropes that surrounds fantasy harem novels.

Certain parts of the story might lean more into telling instead of showing, but remembering that Shen Yuan has an outsider/reader’s perspective, it makes sense and I didn’t dislike that part as much as I thought. Plenty of likeable characters, and an exciting start for a four-book series.

Three words that describe this book: Funny, rebirth, parody

You might want to pick this book up if: You’re interested in a story set in a fantasy Chinese landscape, with magic and cultivation, and is guided through by the funniest modern-age character as they escape death.

-Daisy

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year. 

I really appreciate reading poetry anthologies as they are a good way to be exposed to many poets’ work at one time. I can then follow up on reading more poetry by the poets I liked in the anthology.

Spending time in nature and learning more and more about how to be a good steward with the natural world is near and dear to my heart so finding “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World” at the library felt a little like discovering a pot of gold. The poems about the natural world in this book were written specifically for this collection and the breadth of insights offered by a very diverse group of poets makes for a wonderful immersion in poetry.

Three words that describe this book: diversity, authenticity, beauty

You might want to pick this book up if: You enjoy poetry and are a nature lover.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.