OBD Patron Picks Summer Reading 2025 - Adult | SWAN Consortium

1) Chain-Gang All-Stars

Author

Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame

Series

Read with Jenna

Description

The explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times -bestselling author of Friday Black , about two top women gladiators fighting for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America's own. "A new and necessary American voice." -- Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review. Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or...

2) First comes marriage: my not-so-typical American love story

Author

Al-Marashi, Huda, 1977-

Description

"A candid, heartfelt love story set in contemporary California that challenges the idea of what it means to be American, liberated, and in love"-- Provided by publisher.

3) The five people you meet in heaven

Author

Albom, Mitch, 1958-

Series

Tuesday with Morrie - follow-up

Description

Weaves three stories about 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement park. Eddie meets 5 individuals in heaven each with a story to share, a secret to reveal and a lesson. The have profound meanings for Eddie on the real purpose of his life.

4) The war girls

Author

Alexander, V. S

Description

It's not just a thousand miles that separates Hanna Majewski from her younger sister, Stefa. There is another gulf--between the traditional Jewish ways that Hanna chose to leave behind in Warsaw, and her new, independent life in London. But as autumn of 1940 draws near, Germany begins a savage aerial bombing campaign in England, killing and displacing tens of thousands. Hanna, who narrowly escapes death, is recruited as a spy in an undercover operation...

5) My name is Emilia del Valle: a novel

Author

Allende, Isabel

Description

"In San Francisco in 1866, an Irish nun, abandoned following a torrid relationship with a Chilean aristocrat, gives birth to a daughter named Emilia del Valle. Raised by a loving stepfather, Emilia grows into an independent thinker and a self-sufficient young woman. To pursue her passion for writing, she is willing to defy societal norms. At the age of seventeen, she begins to publish pulp fiction using a man's pen name. When these fictional worlds...

6) In the midst of winter: a novel

Author

Allende, Isabel

Description

"In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident--which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster--a 60-year-old human rights scholar--hits the car of Evelyn Ortega--a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala--in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and...

Author

Alyan, Hala, 1986-

Series

Thorndike Press large print historical fiction

Description

"From a dazzling new literary voice, a debut novel about a Palestinian family caught between present and past, between displacement and home ... On the eve of her daughter Alia's wedding, Salma reads the girl's future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is up rooted...

8) Blue Christmas

Author

Andrews, Mary Kay, 1954-

Series

Weezie and Bebe Mystery
Weezie and Bebe Mysteries

Description

Bestselling author Andrews brings back the lovable characters from "Savannah Blues" and "Savannah Breeze" for a new funny and touching story that offers a little Christmas cheer with delicious Southern recipes throughout.

9) The Santa suit

Author

Andrews, Mary Kay, 1954-

Description

"From May Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Hello, Summer, comes a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances in The Santa Suit. When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love-but Ivy didn't bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much...

10) I know why the caged bird sings

Author

Series

New windmill series

Description

"Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. [It] captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice...

11) A different kind of power: a memoir

Author

Ardern, Jacinda, 1980-

Description

"What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the ... story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made political history and changed our assumptions of what a global leader can be"-- Provided by publisher....

12) Finding Mr. Write

Author

Armstrong, Kelley

Description

"Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she's gotten rejection after rejection, and now it's time for something drastic. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again ... under a man's name. Imagine her surprise when it sells for big money at an auction and soon becomes a publicity darling. Only problem: she needs a man to play her super macho alter ego Zane Remington. Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely...

13) Th1rteen r3asons why

Author

Asher, Jay, 1975-

Description

When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

14) Summer in the city: a novel

Author

Description

"Twenty-seven-year-old screenwriter Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She's had writer's block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer. In a desperate attempt to get inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford (floor-to-ceiling windows, skyline views, and a new coffee shop to haunt included)....

15) Pride and prejudice

Author

Austen, Jane, 1775-1817

Series

Penguin classics
Oxford world's classics (Oxford University Press)
Tantor unabridged classics
More Series...

Description

Pride and Prejudice is a story set in the English countryside outside of London during the early 19th century which centers on the life of Elizabeth Bennet, the second of five sisters who are all unmarried. When a wealthy and sociable young gentleman, Charles Bingley, rents the nearby manor of Netherfield Park the opportunity to find husbands presents itself. While attending a ball the Bennets meet Charles Bingley and his friend Fitzwilliam Darcy...

16) We need to hang out: a memoir of making friends

Author

Baker, Billy (Journalist)

Description

At the age of forty, Billy Baker discovers that he's lost something crucial along the way: his friends. Other priorities always seemed to come first, until all his close friendships had lapsed into distant memories. When he takes an assignment to write an article about the modern loneliness epidemic, he realizes just how common it is to be a middle-aged loner: almost fifty million Americans over the age of forty-five, especially men, suffer from chronic...

17) The 6:20 man

Author

Baldacci, David

Series

6:20 Man

Description

A cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance, in #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci's new thriller. Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city's most prestigious investment firm....

18) Simply unforgettable

Author

Series

Simply Quartet

Description

En route to Bath, England, to teach at Miss Martin's School for Girls, Frances Allard seeks refuge from a snowstorm at a nearby inn and finds unexpected passion with Lucius Marshall, unaware that Lucius is the heir to the Earl of Edgecombe.

19) The lie maker: a novel

Author

Barclay, Linwood

Description

In this twisty, fast-paced thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Take Your Breath Away, a man desperately tries to track down his father--who was taken into witness protection years ago--before his enemies can get to him. Your dad's not a good person. Your dad killed people, son. These are some of the last words Jack Givins' father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his...

20) Dead on target

Author

Series

Thorndike Press large print mystery series
Agatha Raisin mystery volume 34
Agatha Raisin mystery volume 34

Description

"Beloved New York Times bestseller M. C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin--the star of her own hit T.V. series--is back on the case again in Dead on Target. A visit to the local village fete for a spot of fun and relaxation turns into a nightmare for Agatha Raisin when she discovers the body of the local landowner in the woods--with an arrow in his chest and trousers round his ankles. Agatha's old adversary, Detective Chief Inspector Wilkes,...