Open Books Challenge 2025: Books with Libraries

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

This list is to help you find books that fit the 2025 category of "Books with libraries in them."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2024
RPL Staff
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The reading list : a novel
Adams, Sara Nisha
Paper Book
NOW A LILLY'S LIBRARY PICK! "The most heartfelt read...a surprising delight of a novel."--Shondaland An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London...
What you are looking for is in the library : a novel
Aoyama, Michiko
Paper Book
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER  *  A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR  *  A WASHINGTON POST BEST FEEL GOOD BOOK OF YEAR For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a charming, internationally bestselling Japanese novel about how the perfect book...
The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
Over one million copies sold! The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post! "Historical fiction at its best!"...
Red Star falling
Berry, Steve
Paper Book
From New York Times bestselling authors Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood comes an action-packed adventure: in the waning days of the Cold War, Luke Daniels embarks on a quest in search of the legendary library of Ivan the Terrible--the unlikely key to ending a looming threat...
The Paris library : a novel
Skeslien Charles, Janet
Paper Book
An instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestseller--based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II--The Paris Library is a moving and unforgettable "ode to the importance of libraries, books, and...
Night shift
Crown, Annie
Paper Book
*A TikTok Sensation!* A sweet encounter between a bookworm and a basketball player turns steamy in the stacks after hours . . . Kendall Holiday spends her Fridays exactly where she wants to be: ensconced in a romance novel in an empty college library...
The lions of Fifth Avenue : a novel
Davis, Fiona
Paper Book
1913. When Laura Lyons applies to the Columbia Journalism School she finds herself involved with the Greenwich Village Heterodoxy Club, a radical feminist group that makes her question her role as wife and mother. When valuable books are stolen from the library, she's forced to confront her...
My heart will find you
Deveraux, Jude
Paper Book
A mail-order bride A lonely rancher A portal to the past Their love refused to stay quiet, echoing across time... When the world is brought to a standstill in the early days of a global pandemic, Etta Wilmont finds...
Cloud Cuckoo Land A Novel
Doerr, Anthony
Ebook
On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more "If you''re looking...
The woman in the library : a novel
Gentill, Sulari
Paper Book
USA TODAY BESTSELLER "Investigations are launched, fingers are pointed, potentially dangerous liaisons unfold and I was turning those pages like there was cake at the finish line." --Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times must-read books for summer 2022 Ned Kelly award winning author Sulari...
The little village of book lovers : a novel
George, Nina
Paper Book
A young woman with the extraordinary power to bring soulmates together searches for her own true love in this tender, lyrical standalone novel inspired by the "bona fide international hit" (The New York Times Book Review) The Little Paris Bookshop In Nina George's...
A cryptic clue
Gilbert, Victoria
Paper Book
A retired librarian gets back to the books-and into a devilish murder case-in acclaimed author Victoria Gilbert's new series, the perfect literary adventure for fans of Kate Carlisle and Jenn McKinlay. Sixty-year-old Jane Hunter, forced into early retirement from her job as a...
The library of borrowed hearts
Gilmore, Lucy (Romance fiction writer)
Paper Book
Two young lovers. Sixty long years. One bookish mystery worth solving. Librarian Chloe Sampson has been struggling- to take care of her three younger siblings, to find herself, to make ends meet. She's just about at the end of her rope when she stumbles across a rare edition of a book...
Mr. Lemoncello's great library race
Grabenstein, Chris
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Grabenstein is back with the third fantastically fun, puzzle-packed MR. LEMONCELLO adventure!   On your marks. Get set. Lemon, cello, GO!   Everyone's favorite game maker, Mr. Lemoncello, is testing out his...
The midnight library
Haig, Matt
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year "A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."--The...
Lonely Planet Hidden Libraries: The World's Most Unusual Book Depositories
Helmuth, DC
Paper Book
"a wonderful testament to the power and endurance of the written word"- The Age "Bibliophiles will be enthralled"- Publisher's Weekly "a perfectly on-point present for any reader"- BookPage Discover 50 of the world's most magnificent hidden libraries -...
The pawful truth
James, Miranda
Paper Book
Charlie Harris has enrolled in an early medieval history course offered by young, charismatic professor Carey Warriner. His fellow classmates are half his age - except for Dixie Bell Compton, another 'mature' student. When Charlie hears an angry exchange between her and their professor, his interest...
The book that wouldn't burn
Lawrence, Mark
Paper Book
Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets, in this powerfully moving first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns. The boy has...
The night librarian
Lincoln, Christopher
Paper Book
* NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Night at the Museum meets The Land of Stories in this thrilling new graphic novel adventure series in which two siblings, a mysterious Night Librarian, and a motley cast of book characters try to save the New York Public Library ...
The secret library
Magoon, Kekla
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller! Travel through time with National Book Award Finalist Kekla Magoon in a page-turning fantasy adventure about family secrets and finding the courage to plot your own life story. Since Grandpa died, Dally's days are...
Love at first book
McKinlay, Jenn
Paper Book
When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author's prickly son... until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading. Emily...
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek A Novel
Michele Richardson, Kim.
Ebook
RECOMMENDED BY DOLLY PARTON IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE! A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A USA TODAY BESTSELLER A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER The bestselling historical fiction novel from Kim Michele Richardson, this is a novel following Cussy Mary, a packhorse librarian and her...
The book of form and emptiness
Ozeki, Ruth
Paper Book
Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction "No one writes like Ruth Ozeki--a triumph." --Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library "Inventive, vivid, and propelled by a sense of wonder." --TIME "If you've lost your...
The library : a fragile history
Pettegree, Andrew
Paper Book
A history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age "Engaging [and] ambitious" (The Washington Post)    Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private...
The finders keepers library
Rains, Annie
Paper Book
This heart-warming second chance love story about hope and healing from a USA Today bestselling author is perfect for fans of Raeanne Thayne and Jenny Hale! For a gardener blessed with a green thumb, Savannah Collins's life sure seems like it's all thorns and...
Lore of the wilds : a novel
Sbrana, Analeigh
Paper Book
A stunning Romantasy debut about an enchanted library, two handsome Fae, and one human who brings them all together.  A library with a deadly enchantment.  A Fae lord who wants in. A human woman willing to risk it all for a taste of power. In a land ruled by...
Sir Ladybug and the bookworms
Tabor, Corey R.
Paper Book
The third adventure in the fresh and funny Sir Ladybug young graphic novel series, from Caldecott Honoree and two-time Geisel Award winner Corey Tabor. Perfect for fans of Catwad, Bird & Squirrel, and Narwhal & Jelly. Sir Ladybug--the duke of the dandelion patch, champion of...
A kind of paradise
Tan, Amy Rebecca
Paper Book
Read the book that Ali Standish (author of The Ethan I Was Before) calls "a heartwarming story" and Melissa Roske (author of Kat Greene Comes Clean) calls "a joyful, heartfelt debut!" Thirteen-year-old Jamie Bunn made a mistake at the end of the school year. A big one. And every kid in her...
Ink blood sister scribe : a novel
Törzs, Emma
Paper Book
NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR & ONE OF THE BEST FANTASY NOVELS OF THE YEAR  "Astonishing and pristine, the kind of debut I love to be devastated by, already so assured and sophisticated that it's difficult to imagine where the author can go from here. . . ....
0101816990929
YA CON
Paper Book
In this hilarious and thought-provoking contemporary teen standalone that's perfect for fans of Moxie, a bookworm finds a way to fight back when her school bans dozens of classic and meaningful books. Clara Evans is horrified when she discovers her principal's "prohibited...
0101811234307
YA GRAPHIC NOVEL YUM V.01
Paper Book
A New York Times best seller and librarian favorite that will appeal to shojo and non-shojo fans alike! In the near future, the federal government creates a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable. The libraries vow to protect their collections, and with the help of...
0101812806442
YA SCHW
Paper Book
Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell- a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop...

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