Adult Reading Challenge 2022 - Challenge descriptions & suggested reading

Here's some guidance on what each activity in the Adult Reading Challenge entails. We've also popped down some suggested books and authors for the individual challenges.

Please note: you must read a different book per challenge and listening to a book counts as "reading".

Book About Survival

Choose a book where survival is the key theme. This could be a book where someone has survived a period of depression, escaped from a traumatic environment or war stories.  Books about how to survive particular-events or situations can also be included in this challenge category.

Fiction:

• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• The Revenant by Michael Punke

Non-fiction:

• Bush Craft 101: A field guide to the art of Wilderness Survival by Dave Canterbury
• Missing by Tom Patterson
• The Choice by Edith Eger
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
• Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
• I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb
• The Salt Path by Raynor Wynn
• Alone: Lost overboard in the Indian Ocean by Brett Archibald
• A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen

Young Adult Novel

A fictional story written for young adults, 14 - 18yrs.

Explore these authors:

• Leigh Bardugo
• Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games Series
• Michael Grant
• Whiti Hereaka
• Anthony Horowitz
• Holly Jackson
• Mackenzi Lee
• Karen McManus
• Jandy Nelson
• Alice Oseman
• Phillip Pullman
• Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
• Ruth Sepetys
• Holly Smale
• Angie Thomas
• Chris Wooding

Armchair Travel

Read fiction or non-fiction stories of living or travelling to other cities or countries from the comfort of your armchair.

Fiction:

• The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
• The Seven Sisters Series by Lucinda Riley
• The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
• The Alchemist by Paul0 Coelho
• The Beach by Alex Garland
• Less: A Novel by Andrew Greer

Non-Fiction:

• My Life in France by Julie Childs
• The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
• My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
• Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
• Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
• How to be a family, the year I dragged my kids around the world to find a new way to be together By Dan Kois

Translated Novel

Read a book that has been translated from its original language into English.

Fiction:

• The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili
• The Vegetarian by Kang Han
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• The Tiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Gaza
• The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury
• Animalia by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo
• The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
• When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

New Zealand Author

Read a book that has been written by a New Zealand author, fiction or non-fiction.

Fiction:

• Paul Cleave
• Patricia Grace
• Tina Makareti
• Becky Manawatu
• Juiliet Marillier
• Vanda Symon
• Alan Duff
• Heather Morris

Non-Fiction:

• Paul Moon
• Chris Long
• Stan Walker
• John Dawson

Book Published in 2022

Choose a book that has been published or released in 2022.

Fiction:

• Burnt Out by Victoria Brookman
• To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Tan
• The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
• The Maid by Nita Prose

Non-Fiction:

• Solo by Hazel Phillips
• 30 Queer Lives by Matt McEvoy
• Little Bird of Auschwitz by Alina Peretti
• Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
• The Temporary European: Lessons and confessions of a professional traveller by Cameron Hewitt

Recommended Read

Choose a book based on a recommendation from a friend, librarian or review.  Fiction or non-fiction.

Librarian Recommended:

• The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
• Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
• Cormac Reilly Series by Dervla McTiernan
• Auē by Becky Manawatu
• This One Wild and Precious Life by Sarah Wilson
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
• The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside by Jessica Ryn
• Martin Scarsden Series by Chris Hammer

Graphic Novel

Graphic novel refers to the format in which a story is presented, using sequential art to tell a story.  Our libraries have graphic novel collections for children, young adults and adults.

• You and a Bike and a Road by Eleanor Davis
• Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle
• Rufus Marigold by Ross Murray
• Brazen: Rebel Ladies who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu
• A Sea of Love by Lupano Wilfred

Award Winner

Choose a book that has won a literary award, people’s choice award or similar. 

Fiction:

• Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly – Hubert Church Prize
• All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – Pulitzer Prize
• Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth – Booker Prize
• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – National Book Critics Cricle Award Winner
• The Promise by Damon Galgut – Booker Prize
• Piranisi by Susanna Clarke – Women’s Prize for Fiction
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – Man Booker Prize
• Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel – Man Booker Prize

Non-Fiction:

• The Alarmist: Fifty Years measuring Climate Change by Dr. D. C. Lowe – E.H McCormick Prize
• The Dark is Light Enough: Ralph Hotere: a biographical portrait – Ockham New Zealand Winner
• Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum – Pulitzer Prize Winner
• The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s extraordinary life in death, decay and disaster – Victorian Prize for Literature

Book Set in the future

This challenge category can also be described as speculative fiction due to elements that might not exist- in-reality, known history or nature. Books set in the future are most commonly found in the science fiction section.

• Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
• The Mother Code by Carole Stivers
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
• Fahrenheit451
• The Echo Wife
• The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Guilty Pleasure

What is your go-to genre? Do you love to cosy up with a good detective story or maybe a romance is your guilty pleasure.

Genres to try:

• Chick Lit / domestic fiction
• Thriller / Crime
• Historical Fiction
• Dystopian
• Science Fiction
• Fantasy
• Contemporary

Teach Me Something

Choose a book that will teach you how to do something or help you learn a new life skill. You might wish to read a biography to learn about someone’s life.

• Cooking
• Gardening
• Knitting
• Origami
• Fermentation
• Languages
• Coding