The Republic Branch Library is closed until the new facility opens. Date to be announced.
All Library branches will be closed Wednesday, Dec. 24, and remain closed through Thursday, Dec. 25, for Christmas. The Mobile Library will not make its scheduled stops.
Take the 2025
WINTER READING
CHALLENGE
For Adults
The Winter Reading Challenge returns for everyone, especially those who love a challenge. The Library's fifth cold-weather reading event for adults runs January 2-February 28, 2026.
Download a Winter Reading Challenge form (pdf) or pick up a form at the checkout desk of any library branch or Mobile Library. Or, you can complete the challenge online.
Librarians have assembled 15 new reading categories this year. Some will surprise you, some may nudge you out of your comfort zone. All of them are bound to introduce you to some new ideas and new authors.
Read books that match at least five of the 15 categories, turn in your completed challenge form to your library branch and receive the 2025 edition mug for being a Winter Reading Master!
Need help getting started?
Here are suggested titles for each of the 15 challenges
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Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad*
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Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite*
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Adventures in the Louvre by Elaine Sciolino*
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Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy*
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The True Story of Rajah the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine*
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The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canas
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The Human Scale by Lawrence Wright
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A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
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Palaver by Bryan Washington
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Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food by Michelle T. King
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August Lane by Regina Black*
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The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia*
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Heart the Lover by Lily King*
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I'll Tell You When I'm Home: A Memoir by Hala Alyan *
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What We Can Know by Ian McEwan*
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The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
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The Sirens by Emilia Hart
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Bog Queen by Anna North
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This Kind of Trouble by Tochi Eze
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Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of our Deadliest Infection by John Green
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The Guide by Peter Heller*
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Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn*
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They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall*
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A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko*
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Sandwich by Catherine Newman*
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The Vacationers by Emma Straub
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The Place of Tides by James Rebanks
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How to Win at Travel by Brian Kelly
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I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Woman's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol
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The New Tourist: Waking Up to the Power and Perils of Travel by Paige McClanahan
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Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home by Chris La Tray*
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The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava*
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The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie*
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Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer *
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Girl Warrior: On Coming of Age by Joy Harjo*
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Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
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If the Dead Belong Here by Carson Faust
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The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
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To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
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Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America by Sean Sherman
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Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz*
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The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa*
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All Systems Red by Martha Wells*
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Black Beauty by Anna Sewell*
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Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton*
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The Humans by Matt Haig
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Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
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Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Blob by Maggie Su
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Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser, translated from French by Hildegarde Serle*
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Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books by Hwang Bo-reum, translated from Korean by Shanna Tan *
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My Friends by Fredrik Backman, translated from Swedish by Neil Smith*
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We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezon Camara, translated from Spanish by Robin Myers*
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The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein*
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Restoration by Ave Barrera, translated from Spanish by Ellen Jones & Robin Myers
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The Burning Origin by Daniele Mencarelli, translated from Italian by Octavian MacEwan
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The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler, translated from German by Katy Derbyshire
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Women, Seated by Zhang Yueran, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang
Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun, translated from Korean by Shanna Tan
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Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser*
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King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby*
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Water Moon by Samantha Sotto*
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It Rhymes with Takei by George Takei*
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Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell *
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Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams
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The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller
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The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S. Durbin
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Heartwood by Amity Gaige
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Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir by Ina Garten
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Dog Show: Poems by Billy Collins*
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And Yet: Poems by Kate Baer*
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The Ones Who Got Away: Stories by Stephen Graham Jones*
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So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan*
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Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin, translated from German by Megan McDowell*
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Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times by Tracy K. Smith
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Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limon
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Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver
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Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories by Torrey Peters
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The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
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Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane*
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Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor*
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Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid*
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Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove*
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Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach*
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The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
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Do I Know You?: A Faceblind Reporter's Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination by Sadie Dingfelder
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Down in the Sea of Angels by Khan Wong
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The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science by Carly Anne York
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Just Visiting This Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson
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The Briar Club by Kate Quinn*
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Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria C. Murray*
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The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict*
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Love, Sex, and Frankenstein by Caroline Lea*
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Girl Waits with a Gun by Amy Stewart*
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The Unexpected Diva by Tiffany L Warren
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Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley
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A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
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The Revenant by Michael Punke
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The Girl in the Green Dress: A Mystery Featuring Zelda Fitzgerald by Mariah Fredericks
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Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson*
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Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson*
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Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer*
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The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova*
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Swift River by Essie Chambers*
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Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
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The Guncle by Steven Rowley
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Family Family by Laurie Frankel
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Destroy This House by Amanda Uhle
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Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe*
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Trust by Hernan Diaz*
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These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean*
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The Doorman by Chris Pavone*
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Devil’s Coin: My Battle to Take Down the OneCoin Cryptoqueen by Jennifer McAdam and Douglas Thompson*
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Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
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The Guest List by Lucy Foley
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Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
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Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave it All Away by David Gelles
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Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America by Bridget Read
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My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout*
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Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayen Allen *
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All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot*
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The Girl with Ice in Her Veins by Karin Smirnoff, translated from Swedish by Sarah Death*
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Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria*
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The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
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The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson
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Odyssey: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry
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Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
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Polar Bear Cafe by Aloha Higa
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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt*
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The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai*
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr *
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Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood *
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The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong*
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Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
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The Witch Elm by Tana French
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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
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The Correspondent by Virginia Evans*
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The Water Keeper by Charles Martin*
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Awake by Jen Hatmaker*
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The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho*
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The Bitter End Birding Society by Amanda Cox*
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Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai
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Joyride by Susan Orlean
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A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst
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Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice by David S. Tatel
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The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King
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