Somerville Public Library Blog

As you may already know, Somerville Reads - our first One City, One Book program - took place this past spring and was a huge success. People were invited to read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, and to participate in a variety of related activities (discussions, lectures, film screenings, and more) in venues around the City. You can read all about it here.

We’re now beginning to plan Somerville Reads 2011. The first step is choosing the book we’ll all read, and we’d like your input. You can make suggestions via this online poll, or in the comments section below. All suggestions will be considered - fiction, nonfiction, children’s or young adult literature - the possibilities are endless. Here are some of the ideas people have come up with so far. Tell us what you think!

The 39 Steps by John Buchan

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Have you heard the buzz?  Have you seen the banners around the library?  Somerville is kicking off its first community reading event this Sunday, March 28, from 4-8pm at Arts at the Armory.  We are pleased to have chosen Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a collection of related stories about a platoon of American soldiers during the Vietnam War, as our first community reads book.  Books are available for checkout at all three Somerville libraries, as well as buttons, bookmarks, and program brochures.  For more information, checkout our Somerville Reads blog.

Somerville Reads Events:

• March 28, 2010, Arts at the Armory (191 Highland Ave), 4:00pm: Program Kick-off, including free food and festive war-era music by The Band That Time Forgot
• April 1 - April 30, Central Library Auditorium: Somerville high school student art exhibit, in response to the themes of war, the Vietnam war, and The Things They Carried
  
• April 1, 2010, Central Library, 7:00 pm: Lecture on the history and culture of Vietnam by Harvard Professor Hue-Tam Ho Tai
• April 5, 2010, Central Library Auditorium, 4:00 pm: Opening reception for Somerville high school student art exhibit
• April 8, 2010, East Branch Library (115 Broadway), 7:00 pm: Community read-aloud from The Things They Carried
• April 11, 2010, Sherman Market (22 Union Square), 2:00 pm: Sherman Market invites you to share what you carry in your bag. Come weigh your bags and discuss the items they contain
• April 13, 2010, Porter Square Books (25 White Street), 7:00 pm: Book discussion led by author Margot Livesey
• April 15, 2010, Sherman Cafe (257 Washington Street), 7:00 pm: Book discussion group at Sherman Cafe’s local coffee shop atmosphere
• April 17, 2010, Central Library, 2:00 pm: Book discussion led by Michael Downing, titled Stories Can Save Us - We’ll briefly review the book’s history and its influential place in classrooms, engage each other’s personal responses, and entertain wide-ranging speculation and questions about the inventive structure and elusive truth of this haunting book.
• April 24, 2010, Central Library: Film Festival, featuring “Good Morning Vietnam,” “The Quiet American,” and “Born on the 4^th of July.”