Challenge Yourshelf - Community Recommendations

Looking for your next great read? Our community challenged their shelves this summer, and explored a world of Wild Wonder through new and exciting genres. Now, we're sharing some of the top recommendations!

Updated August 19, 2025
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Grievers
Brown, Adrienne Maree.
Paper Book
★ "It's a strong precedent that will leave readers eager for more." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Grievers is the story of a city so plagued by grief that it can no longer function....
A better world : a novel
Langan, Sarah.
Paper Book
One of NPR's Best Books of 2024 For fans of Nightbitch and While No One Is Watching, comes "one of the best books this year, or any year" (Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World)--a disturbing dystopian thrillfest about a woman moving...
Prophet song : a novel
Lynch, Paul
Ebook
There there
Orange, Tommy
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. A contemporary classic, this...
Winter counts : a novel
Weiden, David Heska Wanbli
Ebook
ANTHONY AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL THRILLER AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL "Winter Counts is a marvel. It's a thriller with a beating heart and jagged teeth."  --Tommy Orange, author of There There ...
Never whistle at night : an Indigenous dark fiction anthology
Hawk Shane.
Paper Book
" A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: "Are you ready to be un-settled?" Featuring stories by: Norris Black · Amber Blaeser-Wardzala · Phoenix Boudreau ·...
The god of the woods
Moore, Liz
Paper Book
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2024 A NEW YORK TIMES BEST THRILLER OF 2024 A NEW YORK TIMES BEST CRIME NOVEL OF 2024 PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF NPR'S "BOOKS WE LOVE" 2024
The great alone A Novel
Hannah, Kristin.
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Instant Bestseller In Kristin Hannah's The Great Alone, a desperate family seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska only to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the erratic behavior found in...
Birding with benefits : a novel
Dubb, Sarah T.
Paper Book
A divorcee embarks on her "year of yes" and crosses paths with a shy but sensitive birdwatcher who changes her life in this charming rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood. Newly-divorced, almost-empty-nester Celeste is finally seeking adventure...
One Golden Summer
Fortune, Carley.
" A radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune I never anticipated Charlie Florek. Good things happen at the lake. That's what Alice's grandmother...
Dinner for Vampires : Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!)
Lenz, Bethany Joy.
Paper Book
An "incredible" (Alex Cooper, Call Her Daddy), "riveting" (People) New York Times bestselling memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free. In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and...
Friends, lovers, and the big terrible thing : a memoir
Perry, Matthew
Paper Book
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The BELOVED STAR OF FRIENDS takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this "CANDID, DARKLY FUNNY...POIGNANT" memoir (The New York Times) ...
Greenlights
McConaughey, Matthew
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * 6 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE! Discover the life-changing memoir that has inspired millions of readers through the Academy Award-winning actor's unflinching honesty, unconventional wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater...
The third Gilmore Girl : a memoir
Bishop, Kelly.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Goodreads Choice Awards Winner "Come for the Gilmore Girls anecdotes, stay for the revealing truths about what it takes to build a lifelong career in and out of Hollywood" (The A.V. Club) in...
Outdoor kids in an inside world : getting your family out of the house and radically engaged with nature
Rinella, Steven.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . "An imperative call to action" (Nick Offerman)to get children off their screens and into nature, with tips for bonding activities that teach the importance of outside timeand build tough, curious, competent kids-from thehost of the Netflix series and podcast...
The ends of the world : volcanic apocalypses, lethal oceans, and our quest to understand Earth's past mass extinctions
Brannen, Peter
Paper Book
One of Vox's Most Important Books of the Decade New York Times Editors' Choice 2017 Forbes Top 10 Best Environment, Climate, and Conservation Book of 2017 As new groundbreaking research suggests that climate change played a major role in the most extreme catastrophes in the...

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