Being a book nerd needn’t be a solo pursuit. The rise of “extreme” or “ultimate” reading challenges through book clubs or libraries has reached almost every library in the Treasure Valley, and the Boise Public Library’s participation rate has increased by almost 100 people each year since its Ultimate Book Nerd challenge began in 2020.
💬 Find your people: Join a book club this year. [Hey Boise]
What Makes It ‘Ultimate’?
The premise is simple, says the UBN challenge team of Eliza Ruby (who’s handing the reins to Aurora Galloway this year) and Maggie Dumont: Read one book from 50 different categories.
Among others, those categories include: a novella, a book about Antarctica, a book about pirates, a book your favorite author recommended, and a non-fiction book about the human body.
Dumont has the dream task of compiling recommendations for each category, so you don’t have to source all 50 book ideas. Even as a librarian, she said the challenge gets her out of her comfort zone.
“Now, when someone says, ‘I’m looking for a book about World War II, but I don’t want it to be the usual stuff!’ Because I’ve done these lists I can say, ‘Actually, you should read ‘The Girl From Guernica’, which has a tie to Boise,” Dumont said. “One of the trees that they talk about in this fictionalized version of World War II, we have here in Boise from the Basque Country.”
Like with any good challenge, there’s swag. (Eliza Ruby / Boise Public Library)
A Well-Read Community
The purpose of a challenge like this isn’t just to keep “to be read” lists fresh, but to build community around readership. Since the Boise Public Library quietly began this program at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenge’s Facebook group has taken on a life of its own.
“When someone’s like, ‘I’m really having a hard time with this particular category,’ there’s like 18 recommendations,” Dumont said.
Totally separate from Ruby, Dumont, and Galloway’s guidance, there’s also a Boise Ultimate Book Nerd challenge Storygraph page.
“We’re so proud of this community, it’s such a cool group of people,” said Ruby, who handles the certification and administrative processes.
At the end of the year, Ruby and the team survey participants to curate the next year’s categories, so the challenge is always evolving toward what interests readers. But whether it’s a book from a specific range in the Dewey decimal system or a cookbook, the challenge is meant to provide both new perspectives and some comfort.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize you can come to the library and check out a book on Costa Rica and just armchair travel,” said Galloway. “And in February, doesn’t that sound lovely?”
