Adult Summer Reading July 2024

Adult Summer Reading List July 2024

SLNC Accessible Books and Library Services is happy to announce the first series of our Summer 2024 reading list! This list is curated for the month of July and explores Fantasy with rich plots and colorful characters that help tell stories that will enhance your sunny summer days. Below is the list of books for each grade level. Dive into the titles, authors and annotations of this year’s summer reading list!

1. The Lastborn of Elvinwood
   by Linda Haldeman
   DB016152
   Whimsical adult fantasy set in the National Trust forest behind a housing estate in Surrey. Three respectable local citizens are discovered by their neighbor Ian James participating in the Midwinter celebration of the resident fairies and their overlord Oberon.
2. Jog Rummage
   by Grahame Wright
   DB011462
   An English fantasy and allegory of the rivalry between the dark lands of the Jogs and the Rats and also of a crippled girl. When the wisdom of Rummage, the kindly Jog philosopher, is ignored, piracy and mob rule result.
3. Momo
   by Michael Ende
   DB022829
   An allegorical fantasy illustrates the modern struggle between the forces of good and evil. A waiflike girl named Momo possesses a unique talent--her listening abilities make it possible for those around her to think great thoughts.
4. The Prince of Morning Bells
   by Nancy Kress
   DB018901
   A restless young princess who has led a humdrum life sets out on a hazardous quest. Protected by a disreputable enchanted dog, she finally reaches a very ordinary castle where a handsome prince interrupts her journey. An original fantasy for high school and adult readers. 1981.
5. Viriconium
   by John M. Harrison
   DB065188
   Collection of fantasy classics set in Viriconium, an imagined, decadent English Roman city. Contains the novels The Pastel City, A Storm of Wings, and In Viriconium, published between 1971 and 1982, as well as "Viriconium Knights" and six other short stories. Includes 2005 introduction by Neil Gaiman. 2005.
6. A Stranger in Olondria
   by Sofia Samatar
   DB081593
   Jevick always loved stories of Olondria, a country of books and learning. When his father dies, Jevick finally visits Olondria, but the trip is complicated when he finds himself haunted by a ghost from home. He must learn the ghost's story if he wants to help her soul rest. World Fantasy Award. 2013.
7. Orlando
   by Virginia Woolf
   DB023691
   Fantasy about a young Elizabethan nobleman who, by book's end, has been transformed into a young woman. The author examines English literary and social history through the three hundred years of Orlando's life, and the transformation emphasizes Woolf's belief that women are the intellectual equals of men.
8. The People in the Picture
   by Haydn Middleton
   DB028269
   The author, who lectures on mythology at Oxford, offers a modern fairy tale about a British woman who finds her unhappy life transformed by the disturbing intrusion of a figure from Welsh myth.
9. The Gold Ball
   by Hanne Svendsen
   DB031449
   A fantasy reminiscent of the work of Isak Dinesen. Set on an imaginary island off the coast of Denmark, the story is told by Maja Stina, who is searching for her ancestors. Maja's namesake was the granddaughter of Niels Gloe, the founder of the island colony, and was known to wear a magical golden ball on a cord around her neck.
10. A College of Magics
    by Caroline Stevermer
    DB042081
    Fantasy adventure set in an alternate Edwardian Europe. Faris Nallaneen, the young duchess of Galazon, arrives at Greenlaw College on the French coast, where she has been banished by her wicked uncle. The college teaches magic, and Faris learns of her special destiny as one of the four guardians of the North. She must learn her magical skills well to free her kingdom, defeat her enemies, and mend a magical rift.

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