2022 Omaha Public Library Reading Challenge by the Numbers

The 2022 Omaha Public Library Reading Challenge had 200 entries with 2,400 books read. All prize winners have been notified and all the details for the 2023 Reading Challenge, opens a new window are now available.

The top 10 titles read across all categories:

1. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, opens a new window by Mary Roach
2. The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism, opens a new window by Naoki Higashida
3. People We Meet on Vacation, opens a new window by Emily Henry
4. After the Flood, opens a new window by Kassandra Montag
5. Crying in H Mart, opens a new window by Michelle Zauner
6. We Ride Upon Sticks, opens a new window by Quan Barry
7. Pumpkinheads, opens a new window by Rainbow Rowell
8. The Kiss Quotient, opens a new window by Helen Hoang
9. The Final Girl Support Group, opens a new window by Grady Hendrix
10. Who is Maud Dixon?, opens a new window by Alexandra Andrews

The top 10 authors read across all categories:

1. Mary Roach, opens a new window
2. Emily Henry, opens a new window
3. Rainbow Rowell, opens a new window
4. Naoki Higashida, opens a new window
5. Helen Hoang, opens a new window
6. Kassandra Montag, opens a new window
7. Michelle Zauner, opens a new window
8. Grady Hendrix, opens a new window
9. Quan Barry, opens a new window
10. Lucy Knisley , opens a new window

Some of the top titles read in each category:

Read a comic book/graphic novel written/illustrated by a woman.

1. Pumpkinheads, opens a new window by Rainbow Rowell 
2. Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home, opens a new window by Nora Krug
3. The Low, Low Woods, opens a new window by Carmen Maria Machado, Dani & Tamra Bonvillain
4. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, opens a new window by Lucy Knisley
5. Through the Woods, opens a new window by Emily Carroll
   

Read a book about sports.

1. We Ride Upon Sticks, opens a new window by Quan Barry 
2. The Queen's Gambit, opens a new window by Walter Tevis 
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, opens a new window by J.K. Rowling 
4. The Happiest Girl in the World, opens a new window by Alena Dillon 
5. One Life, opens a new window by Megan Rapinoe

Read a book from OPL’s 2021 Top Shelf. 

1. Crying in H Mart, opens a new window by Michelle Zauner 
2. The Four Winds, opens a new window by Kristin Hannah 
3. The Past is Red, opens a new window by Catherynne M. Valente 
4. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, opens a new window by Amanda Montell 
5. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, opens a new window by Mary Roach 

Read a book about neurodiversity.

1. The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of A Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism, opens a new window by Naoki Higashida
2. The Kiss Quotient, opens a new window by Helen Hoang 
3. Invisible Differences: A Story of Aspergers, Adulting, and Living a Life in Full Color, opens a new window by Julie Dachez 
4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, opens a new window by Mark Haddon 
5. The Maid, opens a new window by Nita Prose 

Read a book by an Asian American or Pacific Islander author.

1. New Waves, opens a new window by Kevin Nguyen 
2. Afterparties, opens a new window by Anthony Veasna So 
3. Crying in H Mart, opens a new window by Michelle Zauner 
4. Little Fires Everywhere, opens a new window by Celeste Ng 
5. The Magic Fish, opens a new window by Trung Le Nguyen 

Read a book about or featuring water.

1. After the Flood by Kassandra Montag 
2. The Wish, opens a new window by Nicholas Sparks 
3. Black Sun, opens a new window by Rebecca Roanhorse 
4. The Swimmers, opens a new window by Julie Otsuka 
5. The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World, opens a new window by Patrik Svensson 

Read a book about travel.

1. People We Meet on Vacation, opens a new window by Emily Henry
2. Survive the Night, opens a new window by Riley Sager 
3. Before the Coffee Gets Cold, opens a new window by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 
4. The Amur River: Between Russia and China, opens a new window by Colin Thubron 
5. We Were Never Here, opens a new window by Andrea Bartz 

Read a book by a Midwestern author.

1. Reprieve, opens a new window by James Han Mattson 
2. Sula, opens a new window by Toni Morrison 
3. Everything We Didn’t Say, opens a new window by Nicole Baart 
4. The Perfume Thief, opens a new window by Timothy Schaffert 
5. You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism, opens a new window by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar 

Read a microhistory.

1. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, opens a new window by Mary Roach 
2. Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol, opens a new window by Mallory O’Meara 
3. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, opens a new window by Simon Winchester 
4. Milk: A 10,000-year Food Fracas, opens a new window by Mark Kurlansky
5. Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything, opens a new window by Lydia Kang, MD & Nate Pedersen

Read a book mentioned on The Book Drop podcast.

1. Who is Maud Dixon?, opens a new window by Alexandra Andrews 
2. ¡Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons, opens a new window by John Paul Brammer
3. The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel 
4. The Final Girl Support Group, opens a new window by Grady Hendrix
5. Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss and Redemption, opens a new window edited by Daniel Jones

Read a book published or set in the decade you were born. 

1. Mary Jane, opens a new window by Jessica Anya Blau
2. When We Left Cuba, opens a new window by Chanel Cleeton
3. Go Tell it On The Mountain, opens a new window by James Baldwin
4. The Handmaid’s Tale, opens a new window by Margaret Atwood
5. The Virgin Suicides, opens a new window by Jeffrey Eugenides

Read a collection of short stories or essays. 

1. An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good, opens a new window by Helene Tursten
2. These Precious Days, opens a new window by Ann Patchett
3. Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket, opens a new window by Hilma Wolitzer
4. The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories, opens a new window by Danielle Evans
5. My Time Among the Whites: Notes From An Unfinished Education, opens a new window by Jennine Capó Crucet 

We look forward to hearing from those who participate in this year’s challenge! Share what you’re reading with us on social media and tag @omahalibrary on Facebook, opens a new window, Twitter, opens a new window or Instagram, opens a new window.

If you have any questions about the Reading Challenge, contact readingchallenge@omahalibrary.org, opens a new window.