One city, one story....an event in progress...

It never ceases to amaze me just how fun it is to discuss books with friends...but it is really interesting when the discussion is with librarian friends and colleagues.  As an academic librarian, I have lost the "best seller" and "top-trends-in-reading" mentality that is so characteristic of public librarians.  I am in awe of them! They have their fingers on the pulse of current publishing and readers' interests.  They are on top of their game since readers rely on them to have multiple copies on order to meet the extensive demand.  Public libraries  purchase multiple copies to fill the waiting list of 200 readers waiting to devour the latest best sellers.

The last two years, I have been invitied to serve on Pasadena's One City, One Story committee and it is a job I love.  Imagine sitting around a table where a committee of readers share titles to consider.  The One City, One Story project is intended to engage the community in dialogue and seeks to bring the Pasadena community together by promoting tolerance and understanding about differing points of view. Preference is fiction, available in paperback and other media options.  We look for provocative titles that provide a basis for a wide series of proramming options.

I love the first meeting of the Spring when all members can bring titles forth for consideration.  Each member can contribute and we all, I think, buildour personal reading list from those titles mentioned as well.

Titles I added to my reading list the last few years were:
19th Wife* David Ebershoff
Gardens of Water* Alan Drew
Gilead. Marilynn Robinson
God of War* Marisa Silver
The Help* by Kate Stockett
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet* Jamie Ford
The Hummingbird's daughter* Luis Urrea
The Known World*  Edward P. Jones
Man in the Dark Paul Auster
Mudbound*  Hillary Jordan
Netherland Joseph O’Neill
Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout
People of the Book* Geraldine Brooks
Run Ann Patchett
Seal Woman Solveig Eggerz
Shanghai Girls* Lisa See
Summer of the Big Bachi* Naomi Hirahara
The Things They Carried*  Tim O'Brien
Yiddish Policeman’s Union*  Michael Chabon

A wide variety of titles and I have read thirteen of them.