The 2026 Library Reading Challenge

By James M. Jackson

Given everything going on in the country, I decided I needed to shake up my reading routine. The director of my northern library, the Crystal Falls District Community Library, is a whirlwind of a leader. As the treasurer of the library’s nonprofit “Friends” group, I get to work with Evelyn Gathu on a variety of projects. At our last Friends’ board meeting of 2025, she came in and handed each of us a “Library Challenge” calendar for 2026.

Surrounding the calendar are forty-seven different categories of books. The idea is to read a book in each category. If a book satisfies multiple categories, you pick just one. Given one category is “A Trilogy,” I’ll need to read forty-nine books to complete the challenge. I normally read eighty to a hundred books a year, so my challenge isn’t the number of books, but what kind of books.

Orange highlights the ones I read in January

Some categories will be no problem (A mystery or thriller, A book written by a female author, a book published this year), but when it came to categories such as “A Graphic Novel,” I was clueless. Never read one. Wasn’t much of a comic book reader as a kid. I turned to ChatGPT for help.

I gave ChatGPT a list of all the books I had rated five-stars in the last ten years, some general genre preferences (no to horror and romance), and asked it to give me its top ten suggestions and tell me why I might like the book. One of its suggestions was Maus: a survivor’s tale – My Father Bleeds History, written by Art Spiegelman. The book details Art’s conversations with his father, a holocaust survivor. After finishing it, I went on to read Spiegelman’s second Maus volume -And Here My Troubles Began, which fulfilled my requirement to “Read a book you can finish fairly quickly.”

As noted above, I don’t like horror. When I asked ChatGPT for suggestions about “A book that scares you,” I told it to find nonfiction books it thought might scare me. It found highly rated books about the dangers of microplastics, running out of potable water, superbugs, etc. That was a depressing chat. I chose How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt.

Another challenging category was “A book you were supposed to read in school.” Problem is, I read all the books I was assigned in school—the actual books, not the Cliffs Notes. So I challenged ChatGPT to look at this from a different perspective. I gave it my years of schooling and asked for twenty-five books it would have been important for me to read during those years. Of the twenty-five, I had read twenty-two. One of the remaining three was Melville’s Moby Dick, which I knew I did not want to read. The other two I had never heard of. I asked about those and chose Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Included by Time in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005, it certainly fits the kind of book I should have read.

I could go on about how I’ve made choices, but I’ll close with one more example. I needed to find “A book written by an author with your initials.” ChatGPT found just the author for me. He wrote the kind of books I enjoy and even had some set near where I live: James M. Jackson. Nice to know ChatGPT could find me! I told it that was me and please find someone else. Crickets. The best that it and two other large language model AIs could do was suggest JMJ Williamson. Good enough. He has the same initials as me; nothing in the rules said he couldn’t have more. I purchased his Collision.

Have you ever participated in any “Reader Challenges?” I welcome your thoughts on my choices (see below for the complete list of categories and my current selections) and look forward to the discussion in the comments.

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What follows is the complete list of categories. I have included books I have already chosen. Those chosen with AI assistance are marked with a #. Those I read in January are noted with an *.

# A banned book: The Things They Carried — Tim O’Brien

* A book a friend recommended: Horse - Geraldine Brooks (Recommended by one of my Readers Group newsletter subscribers)

* A book about a TV show: In Such Good Company - Carol Burnett (A book of my mother’s I had not read)

A book at the bottom of your to read list: Land of Mountains – Jinx Schwartz (oldest book on my Kindle I haven’t read)

A book based entirely on its cover

A book based on a true story

A book by a female author

A book by an author that you love

A book by an author you've never read before

* A book from your childhood: The Little Engine That Could – Watty Piper

* A book more than 100 years old: Through the Shadows – Rev. I. C. Knowlton (1885, a book owned by my great-great aunt, who was a Universalist.)

A book of short stories: With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying – Debra Goldstein

A book published this year

A book set during Christmas

A book set in a different country: The Bone People - Keri Hulme (from my TBR pile)

# A book set in high school: One of Us Is Lying — Karen M. McManus

# A book set in the future: The City & The City — China Miéville

A book that became a movie: Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly (from my TBR pile)

A book that might make you cry

# * A book that scares you: How Democracies Die - Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt

# A book that takes place in your hometown: Seven Million - Gary Craig (Rochester, NY)

A book that was translated from a different language

A book with a love triangle

# * A book with a number in the title: Thirteen - Steve Cavanagh

# * A book with a one-word title: Ishmael - Daniel Quinn

# * A book with Antonyms in the title: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford

# A book with bad reviews: The Postman Always Rings Twice – James M. Cain

A book with magic

A book with more than 500 pages

# A book with nonhuman characters: Children of Time — Adrian Tchaikovsky

# A book written by an author with your initials: Collision - JMJ Williamson

A book written by someone under 30

# * A book you can finish fairly quick: Maus: a survivor's tale. And here My Troubles Began - Art Spiegelman.

A book you never got to finish: Everyday Enlightenment - Dan Millman

A book you own but have never read: (so very many to choose from!)

# A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't: Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

A book your mom or dad loves: (Maybe a Nero Wolfe that my father loved)

# A classic romance: The Princess Bride - William Goldman

A funny book

# * A graphic novel: Maus: a survivor's tale. My father bleeds history - Art Spiegelman

* A memoir: A Reporter's Life - Walter Cronkite (in my TBR pile)

A mystery or thriller

* A nonfiction book: The Boston Way - Mark Kurlansky (found at the library while picking up another book)

# * A play: Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett

# A Pulitzer-prize-winning book: The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen

# A trilogy: The Three-Body Problem/The Dark Forest/Death's End - Liu Cixin (assuming I enjoy the first book)

An author's first book

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James M. Jackson writes justice-driven thrillers with brains and bite, including the Niki Undercover Thriller series and the Seamus McCree series. To learn more information about Jim and his books, check out his website, https://jamesmjackson.com. You can sign up for his newsletter (and get to read Low Tide at Tybee, a novella featuring Seamus, his darts-throwing mother, and six-year-old granddaughter, Megan).

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics (AND REDACTION)

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics (AND REDACTION)

By James M. Jackson

Mark Twain attributed to Benjamin Disraeli the quote that “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” I would add “redaction” to that list. By redaction, I mean intentionally not mentioning all the facts when framing an issue or convincing someone of a point.

Perhaps you recently read or heard a lede about the Patmos Library like this one from mlive.com[i] that “Voters in a fast-growing West Michigan township on Tuesday defunded their public library amid a campaign against LGBTQ materials on the shelves.”

The USA Today headline read: “A Michigan town may lose its only library after its staff refused to remove an LGBTQ book.” Its lede “When a library staff in a west Michigan township refused to remove its books containing LGBTQ themes, residents voted to defund their only library.”

Maybe you also heard that a GoFundMe campaign to “save the Patmos Library” raised $250,000 (a year’s budget), of which novelist Nora Roberts donated $50,000 (the maximum allowed under GoFundMe rules).[ii]

The articles and hoopla implied the reason voters of Jackson Township voted down the library funding was because a group campaigned against the millage because the library refused to ban LGBTQ books, which the library board says they will not do.

The MLive article notes voters approved two other millage requests on the ballot: a millage renewal for the fire department, and one for road improvements. The article uses those facts to imply voters picked on the library, not the fire department, nor the roads they drive on.

Fox news also focused on the charges by those who wanted to forbid the LGBTQ books,[iii] making sure to include descriptions of some books the group objected to.

What got one line and no commentary in the MLive article and no mention in other articles I read was this: “(the vote) would’ve renewed and increased the millage of 0.4186 mills to 0.60 mills through 2032.”

Credit to the MLive article for including the millage-increase fact. However, it and every other article ignored the tax increase in its discussion. Every article I found framed the issue as a battle between banning books and suppressing ideas (if you think we should not ban books) or allowing children access to pornographic/sinful material (if you are against such access). Factors such as the proposed 43.33% millage increase that may have had an equal or greater effect on the vote received no analysis. For example, was turnout higher or lower than normal for the town and what are the implications of that?

I support my local schools and almost always vote to approve whatever they request. At least once I (and a majority of my fellow voters) voted against a proposed school bond issue that covered necessary projects plus others I considered unnecessary bloat. The school board reflected on the rejection, modified their proposal, and at the next election the voters (including me) overwhelmingly approved their second try.

Now, please imagine your reaction if the headline instead had been Jackson County voters reject 43.33% increase in taxes for library. Do you think people from outside the township would have rushed to fund the library?

This is one recent example of selective reporting. My impression is that it is now standard practice in the United States of 2022 to ignore facts that do not support our beliefs. Ignoring the 43.33% increase “benefited” both sides of the “ban books” argument. Book ban proponents claimed their issue had overwhelmingly won the day, garnering 62.5% of the vote, almost twice as many as the 37.5% who voted with the library board.

By conceding that those who wished to ban books at the cost of all library services had won, the library board avoided (at least publicly) addressing whether they had successfully explained why they needed a 43.33% increase in funds. The media won as well. Without the outrage over defunding a public library (or thumping chests of book-banners in victory) the stories would have attracted very few eyeballs.

To attract readers, media redacts boring facts and cherry-picks those to include. This is not a recent trend. (Remember reading in high school about the “Yellow Journalism” of the late nineteenth century?). It’s much slicker now. Years ago, the Atlantic published an article on the subject, “The story behind the story,[iv]” which I commend to your reading.

Jim, I sense you asking, why do you care?

I don’t want others to manipulate you or me. Here is my ask: before you repost on Social Media that article that either appeals to or is an outrage against your beliefs, ask yourself if it contains the whole story. If not, it’s likely someone wants you to be a pawn in their larger game.

Resist.

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[i] Voters defund West Michigan library amid campaign against LGBTQ materials - mlive.com

[ii] Novelist Nora Roberts’ large donation part of $250K for library defunded in LGBTQ book controversy - mlive.com

[iii] Michigan library risks closing after voters pull funding over LGBT-themed books | Fox News

[iv] The Story Behind the Story - The Atlantic 

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James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.

My First Library

By Shari Randall

 

If you know me, you know I love libraries. Where did that library love start?

 

When I was growing up, my hometown had two fabulous libraries, so different from one another, each with its own charms.

 

The grander of the two, the Curtis Memorial Library, was set on a hill across from the Town Hall, and looked down on the city in serene majesty. Our town fathers and mothers knew what they were doing when they situated this building.

 

The 1903 Greek Revival building was constructed in the classical style to resemble a temple. It had a dome, and a skylight, and everywhere white marble with green veins. The second level had a mesh metal floor that rang slightly with each footstep. There were several plaques inside, including one that fascinated me, of what I thought was an angel holding a sign written in a strange language. Or maybe she was a fairy? (I looked it up. The plaque was called Amor-Caritas, one of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’  depictions of his mistress holding a sign that meant “Love – Charity,” intended to encompass both earthly and spiritual love. I remember this place with awe. The library was grand, imposing, and full of wonders, but it was cold and a bit forbidding to six-year-old me.

 

So my hometown’s smaller, friendlier branch library was my favorite. A sunny storefront much closer to home, it was packed with children’s books. My older sister and I were allowed to walk there by ourselves and park our wagon by the front door. Sweet independence! I remember a very accommodating librarian, by which I mean one who let me check out anything I wanted: Nancy Drews, Dr. Seuss, books on parakeet care (for Herbie, my first pet), biographies of famous dancers (for what I believed to be my burgeoning ballet career), and books on how to speak Russian (for my other career as Emma Peel. I wasn’t sure what the main character of The Avengers did exactly, but whatever it was, I wanted to be it).

 

Neither of these buildings is still a library – the grand Curtis Memorial is now a cultural center and the storefront is empty. Both were replaced by an expansive modern library which serves thousands of library lovers each year, including, I’m sure, little girls who love their parakeets and may want to be a spy when they grow up.

 

Do you remember your first library? Share a memory or photo in the comments.

 

Former children's librarian Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series and is Library Liaison for Sisters in Crime.