In a reading rut? Want to broaden your book choices? Join the EMPL Readers Services 2025 Reading Challenge.
The reading challenge is a chance to shake up your reading habits and to explore all that The Reader Services Department offers by completing reading and non-reading challenges throughout the year. Those who participate will be invited to a party in January of 2026 where there will be prizes, refreshments, a book buzz, and a chance to share the titles read during the year. The Basic Reading Challenge consists of twelve, one for each month of the year. Complete the challenge within that month and get entered to win a prize. Unsure you can read a book a month? Don’t worry, there is a lot of flexibility in the challenge so you can participate no matter how much you read. Feeling ambitious? Complete our Extra Reading Challenges and/or our non-reading Bonus Challenges and increase your chance at winning our Grand Prize. You may read whatever you want as long as it meets the challenges. Not sure of what to read? We will have suggestions for you all through the year and a discussion forum online where you can get ideas or share what you are reading. Participate either online or by submitting your completed challenges in person at the library. Program is open to all with a Nassau Library Card.
Registration starts January 2nd online or in the library. For more information check out https://eastmeadow.info/books-reading/reader-services/
INSTRUCTIONS ON REGISTRATION
INSTRUCTIONS ON SUBMITTING READING CHALLENGES AND COMPLETING NON-READING CHALLENGES
These are the challenges for January and February with some book suggestions:
January Challenge: Read a book that was on a best of 2024 list
James by Percival Everett
The Sequel by Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
All Fours by Miranda July
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides
February Challenge: Read a biography or memoir about a woman who has made a difference
Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
Freedom: Memoirs 1954 – 2021 by Angela Merkel
That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones
We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo
Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman
The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust by Elizabeth B. White & Joanna Sliwa
The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science by Dava Sobel
Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung