From the Stacks
By Carol Ann Robb, PPL Reference Librarian
If you’ve picked up your Book Bingo card for the All Together Now Summer Reading Program (and if you haven’t, why not?) you know there are 25 different categories of books to choose from. One of my favorites, which nicely dovetails with the overall theme, is a Sense of Community.
It seems like all one hears in the news is conflict and discord and to escape that, I’ve found myself choosing books that tell of people—often of differing backgrounds, ethnicities, and temperament—coming together to work for a common goal. I remember when that scenario was the norm, not a rare occurrence.
Two books that recount such true-life events are “Once Upon a Town: the Miracle of the North Platte Canteen” by Bob Greene and “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede. Both are quick reads that will stay with you long after you finish the last page.
Prefer fiction? Then you are in luck—one of the better outcomes of the pandemic was a plethora of books dealing with this very subject. Annie Lyons has two novels that fit the bill: “Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett,” and “The Choir on Hope Street.”
In Bella Osborne’s “The Library,” a disparate group of townspeople come together to save their library. And we can’t forget the Mitford series by Jan Karon or Philip Gulley’s Harmony books that are written in the same vein.
I just finished “Long March Home” by Marcus Brotherton, which was a more difficult read than the titles listed above yet I would put it in this category. It’s definitely an outside-the-box choice but I recommend it for fans of historical fiction (so it could work in that category instead).
These, of course, are just a few titles that evoke a sense of community. The Adult Services staff has amassed lists of books in every category so we can help you find one that fits the bill—and we also have displays for you to peruse (some books are atop a most 1960’s style VW wagon). Stop in and come together as part of our reading community.