Book Bingo 2026!

Summer Book Bingo has come to a close! We're pleased to say that 37 bingo cards were returned, and of those, 14 cards filled every category. That is record-breaking not to mention truly impressive! In the past, we've only had 2-3 full cards come back to us.

Another 23 people filled out a row or more, which is also very impressive!  We typically get back only about half of the cards that have been brought home, so nice job to everyone who took on this challenge!  

All 37 participants have been contacted after we randomly selected some of you to receive a prize in addition to the Chapter Two gift cards. Please come in and look for Kira in the Reference area to collect your reward, or ask another staff member to help you if (I) am not here.

All of the cards will soon be displayed anonymously on a wall in the library if you'd like to see what your fellow readers were up to.

A selection of titles from some of the bingo boxes:

Books that take place in the Berkshires included... many more appeared than what we suggested, so interesting! :

• Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

• The Garden Plot: A Mystery, by Deborah J. Benoit

• Hope Leslie, by Catharine Maria Sedgwick

• House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

• North Woods by Daniel Mason

• Great Gardens of the Berkshires, by Virginia Small

• Gone Boy, by Gregory Gibson

• Foul Ball, by Jim Bouton

• Baseball in the Berkshires, by Kevin Larkin

• The Whole World Over, by Julia Glass

• Williamstown and Williams College, by Dustin Griffin

• The World without You, by Joshua Henkin

• Legendary Locals of the Southern Berkshires, by Gary Leveille

• Surrender, by Jennifer Acker

• The First Murder, by Carol Goodman Kaufman

Books that takes place in a World Cup country you know little about:

• Salt Bones, by Jennifer Givhan (Spain)

• Still Life, by Louise Penny (Canada)

• Collected Fictions, by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)

• I Am You, by Victoria Redel (Netherlands)

• The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver (Congo)

• The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery (France)

• Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi (Iran)

• The White Mosque, by Sofia Samatar (Uzbekistan)

• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Germany)

• Is a River Alive?, by Robert Macfarlane (Ecuador and Canada)

• I Am Cleopatra, by Natasha Solomons (Egypt)

• Little Rot, by Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria)

Books about revisionist U.S. history:

• The 1619 Project: a New Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones

• American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, by America Ferrera

• Ring Shout, by P. Djèlí Clark

• A More Beautiful and Terrible History, by Jeanne Theoharis

• Barracoon, by Zora Neale Hurston

• Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything Your History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen

• A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski

• A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn

• Forget the Alamo: the Rise and Fall of an American Myth, by Bryan Burrough

• American Royals, by Katherine McGee

Milne Public Library Events attended:

• Sheryl Faye, Abigail Adams reenactor (2 people)

• Kickoff Party for Summer Reading (4 people)

• Mahjong at the Milne

• Book Talk: Boston, 1776, by J.D. Dickey

• Circus Minimus

• Garden Book Club

• Basic Fitness

• Field Trip: Berkshire County Abolitionist Sites

• Beer and Book Bingo (3 people)

• Film, Food and Fun for America's 250th Birthday (2 people)

• Tango Lessons

• Ukulele Lesson

  
  

  Other Bookish Events attended:

• American Libraries Association Conference in Chicago, met many authors and illustrators

• Book Launch: Living Together, by Samantha Paige

• "Bees, Birds, Flowers and Trees: Images of Nature's Past and Present," Clark Art Museum

• "The Painters' Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists who Championed the American Revolution," Michener Art Museum

• Virtual Class: "Afternoon Art Class, Slow Doodling," Tewksbury Public Library

• Alice Osman, Q&A and book signing

• Author Talk: Mutual Aid, by Dean Spade

• Phi Beta Kappa event in Washington, DC

Here is an image of one card that was filled using images of the book covers that the reader completed. This person filled out a whole card on top of that, making their effort especially inspiring!

Some interesting titles that match the bingo categories...

but they are just examples! Please email me if you have any additional suggestions

for titles at kwilliams@cwmars.org.

Revisionist U.S. history (a new and different view of U.S. history)

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones

American Patriots: A Short History of Dissent by Ralph F. Young

Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson

An indigenous peoples' history of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

One day, everyone will always have been against this, by Omar El Akkad

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore

Titles that take place in the Berkshires

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

The Garden Plot: A Mystery, by Deborah J. Benoit

Hope Leslie, by Catharine Maria Sedgwick

House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Book about nature or gardening (ie. seeds, to match this summer's reading theme)

Close to home: the wonders of nature just outside your door, by Thor Hanson

Compost after reading: a practical manifesto for purposeful decomposition, by Cassandra Marketos

The continuous vegetable garden : create a perpetual food garden that sows and grows itself, by Charlie Nardozzi

Garden for life: strategies for easier, greener, more joyful gardening as we age, by Rhonda Fleming Hayes

From Seed to Table, by Diane Devereaux

What We Sow, by Jennifer Jewell

Write a review for the Milne's BookShare page

You can write an enticing review (whether you liked the book or not), and we will post it on our Book Share page. We love hearing what you think about books you've read! You can also pick up a print copy, in English or in Spanish, at the library.

Graphic Novel, Teen or Adult

Teens/Young Adults

Forgive-me-not, by Mari Costa

Wake now in the fire, by Jarret Dapier

Hello Sunshine, by Keezy Young

Adults

Anxietyland, by Gemma Correll

As I Dream of You, by Jennifer Lee

Bone Broth, by Alex Taylor

Book that takes place in, or is about, a World Cup 2026 country that you know little about

Just a few examples:

Belgium: 33 Place Brugmann, by Alice Austen

Croatia: Slanting towards the sea, by Lidija Hilje

Ivory Coast and the Congo: Saka Saka: Adventures in African cooking, south of the Sahara, by Anto Cocagne

Ivory Coast: Comrade Papa, by Gauz

The Netherlands: I am you, by Victoria Redel

Morocco: Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, by Laila Lalami

Norway: Killing Moon, by Jo Nesbø

Find the full list of World Cup 2026 soccer-playing countries on the FIFA website.

Book about Democracy or Free Speech

American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, by Jon Meacham

Democracy awakening: notes on the state of America, by Heather Cox Richardson

Free speech handbook: a practical framework for understanding our free speech protections, by Ian Rosenberg

Owned: how tech billionaires on the right bought the loudest voices on the left, by Eoin Higgins

We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, by Jill Lepore

Audiobooks and podcasts

Audiobooks

A few recent, highly-rated audiobooks:

King of Kings, by Scott Anderson

A Guardian and a Thief, by Megha Majumdar

Murders and Acquisitions, by Thomas Dunne

Our guide to awesome audio

Audiobooks available in our catalog

Podcasts

IHeart podcast awards 2026

The Top 50 podcasts in the U.S. in 2026

Virtual or in-person Milne Public Library or book event

All Milne Public Library events

Author talks at the Milne

Book-related events near Williamstown:

Author series at the Mount

Book by Person of Color, Indigenous or LGBTQIA+ author

Authors of Color

Black freedom: a visual history of Juneteenth and emancipation days, by Blair Murphy Kelley

Coyoteland, by Vanessa Hua

How the word is passed: a reckoning with the history of slavery across America, by Clint Smith

Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

A splintering, by Dur E Aziz Amna

Indigenous authors

Bitter over sweet, by Melissa Llanes Brownlee

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Python's Kiss, by Louise Erdrich

There There, by Tommy Orange

Wild people quiet, by Tara Gereaux

LGBTQIA+ authors

The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune

How far the light reaches: a life in ten sea creatures, by Sabrina Imbler

Hungerstone, by Kat Dunn

The Lilac People, by Milo Todd

On Earth we're briefly gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

Book of poetry, short stories OR essays

Poetry

The Book of Alice: Poems, by Alice Forde

The distance of a shout: selected poems, by Michael Ondaatje

Short Stories

American fantasy, by Emma Straub

The animal room, by Lauren Acampora

Essays

Braving the truth : essential essays for reckoning with and reimagining faith, by Rachel Held Evans

The evolution of fire : essays on crisis and becoming, by Angela Pelster

Books about food, including cookbooks!

Dinner tonight: 200 quick recipes for inspired weeknight cooking, America's Test Kitchen

A feather and a fork: 125 intertribal dishes from an Indigenous food warrior, by Crystal Wapepah

Madaq : simple and delicious everyday recipes with the flavors of Morocco by Nargisse Benkabbou

The new vegetarian: 500+ recipes for a lifetime of great meals, America's Test Kitchen

Maangchi's big book of Korean cooking: from everyday meals to celebration cuisine, by Maangchi

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, by Michael W. Twitty

Book about social issues

Please ask a Milne staff member for help with finding a title about an issue you care about!

Movies based on books

The Housemaid, by Freida McFadden

Movie available on Starz and Prime Video

Project Hail Mary, book by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary, on DVD

The Love Hypothesis, book by Ali Hazelwood

Movie coming out late 2026 on Prime Video

People We Meet on Vacation, book by Emily Henry

Movie available on Netflix

The Odyssey, epic by Homer

Movie coming out July 2026