The first Adult Summer Reading Program has come to a close, but that doesn't mean the fun is over. The library received 104 reviews of current reading by your friends, family, and neighbors. Now you can find out what they really think-no, not about you, but about their literary endeavors. We've tabulated, we've calculated, we've performed complex mathematical processes, and here are the results:

1. We are a community of aspiring sleuths. Don't forget your magnifying glass on your next jaunt through town!
   In the reviews submitted, fiction was overwhelmingly represented with 71. And in this category, detective novels came in first with 23. One person found James Patterson's Lifeguard to be "a true can't-put-it-down mystery. [I] took [it] from [the] library on a Wed. a.m. and finished on Sat. a.m." Another was not so enthusiastic about Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon because of its shallow characters and choppy writing. The critic says, "The only noticeable figure is Venice. I could almost lose myself in the fog and the smells of the city." And for all you Dan Brown fans, one reviewer proclaimed Steve Berry's Templar Legacy "better than The Da Vinci Code by far!"
   General Fiction followed mystery at 22 and romance had 10. Chick Lit and Gentle Reads were represented by 5 reviews each. Classics got 4, including The Great Gatsby which is "better the more you read it." It's good to know we're also thespians who have imaginations, as audio plays and science fiction each received 1.
   
   
   
2. We are interested in people more than dogs.
   Biography/memoir was the top representation in the nonfiction category at 11 of the total 33. One critic claimed that Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert "reads like a pilgrimage through these exciting countries where the author introduces the reader to native people and local customs. It is heartbreaking, hilarious, and adventuresome." For more exploration of other lands and other lives, Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald is reportedly "a very funny memoir of the author's two years in India." A Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion, though a National Book Award winner, left one person wanting. "I'm not as enamored of the book as the critics are. If the writer had been an unknown, I think a publisher would have wanted a tightened and more in-depth story."
   Books dealing with history and politics garnered 5 reviews, while dogs got 4. Travel guides and tromps along the East Coast were reviewed 3 times, along with nonfiction regarding religion. The weather/geography category also received 3, including Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, a recounting of the tragic Mt. Everest climb of 1996, and The Winds of Change : Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations, by Eugene Linden, described as "much better" than a simple "global warming book." Health and food titles each got 2.
   
   
   
3. Janet Evanovich is the current hot ticket.
   With her newest addition to the Numbers series, Twelve Sharp, our community is following the comical exploits of Stephanie Plum more than ever. Other popular writers were Steve Berry, Sue Grafton, Jon Krakauer, James Patterson, Robin Pilcher, and Rosamund Pilcher.

Hopefully these results have given you some idea of our city's literary tastes and thanks to all who participated. Maybe you've even discovered a new author through the process. For another fun way to share your opinions about reading, join our book group continuing in October with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Winners of two movie passes in the Summer Reading weekly drawing:
July 7th---Anne Poubeau - Blood-Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth.
July 15th---Angelynne Hinson - East of Eden by John Steinbeck
July 21st---Kem Taylor - Layer Cake by J.J. Connolly as an audiobook.
July 28th---Rachael Gloss - Circle of Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini