Welcome to our 2026 Adult Reading Challenge!
Let’s have some fun and read together! Fairfield Public Library is excited for our 2026 year-long adult reading challenge! Join in to explore different genres, discover new authors and be entered to win prizes! To complete the challenge, read just one book in each category by midnight on December 31st, 2026.
You can register for the Adult Reading Challenge here!
January’s theme is Defining Decades. Read a book that takes place or was written in the decade you were born. Here is a list to get you started:
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT by Erich Maria Remarque
(1929) “Hailed by many as one of the greatest war novels of all time, All Quiet On The Western Front is a young German soldier’s account of what the war does to the young men of his generation.” ~Life on Books
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
REBECCA by Daphne Du Maurier
(1938) “A haunting sense of impending tragedy keeps one breathless to the end. It is fascinating reading. ~Kirkus Reviews
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY by Agatha Christie
(1942) “The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple into their home to investigate. Amid rumors of scandal, she baits a clever trap to catch a ruthless killer.” ~BarnesandNoble.com
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
(1952) “An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.” ~Kirkus Reviews
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
(1960) “Reading To Kill A Mockingbird is a necessity: it will change your life, it will change the way you view the world around you, it will inspire you, it will make you rethink how you treat people, how you view the world. It sounds an exaggeration but the sheer unique quality of the book makes it like nothing I’ve ever read or experienced. It tackles right and wrong in a way that isn’t patronising or dull, but in a way that is flawlessly written.” ~The Guardian
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
THE SHINING by Stephen King
(1978) “People who think more about these types of things than I do believe that THE SHINING will still be read, studied and debated 50 years from now. Don’t wait that long to read it. Yes, it is a horror novel. But, as with most of King’s novels, the true, real horror presented is not of a supernatural nature but made up of things we visit upon ourselves and each other.” ~Bookreporter.com
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker
(1982) “Walker fashions this book beautifully—with each of Celie’s letters slowly adding to her independence (the implicit feminism won’t surprise Walker’s readers), with each letter deepening the rich, almost folk-tale-ish sense of story here. And, like an inverted pyramid, the novel thus builds itself up broadeningly while balanced on the frailest imaginable single point: the indestructibility—and battered-ness—of love.” ~Kirkus Reviews
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
ANGELA’S ASHES: A MEMOIR by Frank McCourt
(1996) “An extraordinary work in every way. McCourt magically retrieves love, dignity, and humor from a childhood of hunger, loss and pain.” ~Kirkus Reviews
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
(2008) “The German occupation of the Channel Islands, recalled in letters between a London reporter and an eccentric gaggle of Guernsey islanders…The engrossing subject matter and lively writing make this a sure winner…~Kirkus Reviews
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doer
(2014) “Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters.” ~Kirkus Reviews
For more information, or to place a hold, please click here.