Librarian Paul Doherty rebuffed complaints that the Adult Summer Reading Game is becoming too professionalized. “Look, the $75,000 first prize just builds some buzz in the community,” he said. “It remains a simple little contest to encourage people to take a book to the beach. Also, rumors to the contrary, we have no evidence that professional readers are establishing residence in the Village just to enter the contest.”
Doherty insisted the new written analysis requirement was not an excessive burden on the casual reader. “After last year’s lawsuits, we need to know that people have actually read the book. The oral examinations we used last year won’t work, what with June [Hesler] retiring and all. We just don’t have the staff. The books we’ve chosen for this summer’s game specially on ps4 remote play android version have a lot of meat on them, so writing 15 pages should be a snap,” he said.
Here are the titles (remember, to get the foreign language credit you must read the book in the original language and the written analysis must be in the same language):
- In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust (note: written analysis requirement is amended to a three page analysis for each of the seven volumes – 21 pages total) – a favorite of French pastry lovers, this book is more than just madelaines.
- Ulysses, by James Joyce – sort of like Groundhog Day, except it doesn’t repeat.
- A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell (note: written analysis requirement is amended to a two page analysis for each of the 12 volumes – 24 pages total). Downton Abbey, but starting later (1921).
- The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu – Downton Abbey set in 11th Century Japan.
- Moby Dick, by Herman Melville – a fictionalized version of the hit Ron Howard movie, In the Heart of the Sea.
- The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann – Downton Abbey set in an Swiss tuberculosis sanitarium.
- The Second World War, by Winston Churchill (note: written analysis requirement is amended to a three page analysis for each of the six volumes – only 18 pages total!) – this page-turner is based on real events.
- The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (note: written analysis requirement is amended to a two page analysis for each of the 14 volumes – 28 pages total) – Downton Abbey for fantasy lovers.