Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

  The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida chronicles the life of a war photographer who has woken up dead in what seems to be a celestial visa office. Told in a series of flashbacks, Maali has ‘seven moons’ to try and solve the mystery of his death and to help unveil a cache of photos that will rock war-torn Sri Lanka. It is storytelling at its best, weaving gender identity, politics, and magical realism.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play about two brothers, Lincoln and Booth, who share an apartment. One is a former hustler who dresses like Honest Abe at a shooting arcade, and the other is trying to become a 3 Card Monte hustler like his brother used to be. Struggling with sibling rivalry and living in squalor, the brothers are forced to deal with their haunted past and the reality of their future.

  This is a series of short stories of young women who visit funerals and sit shiva with family members, all the while pretending to know the deceased. It is a story of loneliness and grief, of a woman searching for meaningful relationships through the eyes of others. Told through a witty, daring voice, The Joy of Funerals is both disturbing and delightful.

  This timely novel is set in an independent bookstore owned by a Native American woman (perhaps mirroring the author's personal life) and is haunted by a client that passed on All Soul's Day of 2019. Tookie works at the bookstore and has lived a multifaceted life as an ex-convict and deals with the complexity of her current life and the ghost of Flora. The novel cleverly weaves the events of the early months of the pandemic, George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis, the subsequent protests through Tookie's narrative.

  Easily the funniest book that I’ve ever read. An incredibly large group of offspring debate on how to properly deal with the body of their recently deceased mother. Wonderfully irreverent!!