After playing the video game “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” and discovering that it originated from a book series, I’ve wanted to read them ever since — I’m glad I finally did! “The Last Wish” is a collection of short stories that follow the Witcher Geralt, who travels around fighting evil and helping people. I loved reading about the different characters, creatures and adventures that make up the Witcher universe. I also found that the little bits of humor spread throughout kept it fun. Now that I’ve read the first book, I can say that I enjoyed it immensely, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series. “The Last Wish” is a fantastic read for fantasy and Witcher fans alike.

Three words that describe this book: Fantasy, adventure, riveting

You might want to pick this book up if: You like fantasy adventure with some humor and likeable characters, or if you liked the Witcher games or show.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year. 

“The Anthologist” is a meandering meditation on poets, meter and style; a novel that light on plot and often stream-of-consciousness. I adore author Nicholson Baker’s “minutiae” books (“The Mezzanine,” “Room Temperature,” and “A Box of Matches”) but I’ve picked up few of his other works too. It’s easy to recognize that the same mind/voice that created a story like “The Mezzanine” is behind “The Anthologist,” but because this book is so predominantly focused on poetry, and that’s never been a huge interest for me, this tale didn’t capture me in the same way his minutiae ones did.

I will say I’m walking away from this reading better informed of, for example, what iambic pentameter really is as well as having some further insights into the lives and works of numerous poets (Ezra Pound doesn’t come out looking very good). I also am glad I listened to the audio version of this (read by Baker himself) because his cadence really helps me better understand some of the points he’s trying to make.

Three words that describe this book: calm, thoughtful, light

You might want to pick this book up if: you have a passion for poetry and want to dive into the argument for or against free verse.

-Xander

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.

“Wally Funk’s Race for Space” is a delightful meandering book — part travelogue, part homage to the space race and particularly women’s role in it, and partly a biography of a very memorable character. Wally Funk was one of the original Mercury 13, women who were tested at the same time as the Mercury Seven male astronaut corps in the 1960s, but ultimately denied the opportunity to go up in space by Congress. It would be 20 more years, in fact, before Sally Ride made her historic trip on the shuttle!

Wally, still living today, spent her post-Mercury 13 life working in aviation and trying to get up in space, eventually buying a ticket on one of the commercial space flight services that have been popping up over the last decade. She is also a Stephens College alumna, although how she got there is never really explained since she grew up in New Mexico.

This book captures Wally in a moment in time when she was working with British radio personality and author, Sue Nelson, to develop a podcast about women in space. Nelson presumably got Funk’s permission to include some of the details about her and her very big personality, but sometimes I was surprised at how very candid Nelson was about Funk (who definitely has some personality quirks).

Nonetheless, the portrait is affectionate and the details woven throughout about women, and Wally, in terms of space exploration, are fascinating. In some ways I feel like these women are the ‘frontierswoman’ of the 20th century, and encountered just as many challenges as the Oregon Trail pioneers in many ways. This book was published in 2019 — Wally finally made it up on the Blue Origin spacecraft in 2021.

Three words that describe this book: Quirky, captivating, info-packed

You might want to pick this book up if: You like women’s history or space history.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.