"The best of my education has come from the public library. My tuition fee is a bus fare and, once in a while, five cents a day for an overdue book. You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the way to the public library."
– Lesley Conger
Programs
Truckee Reads
In 1998, Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl asked herself the question, “What if everyone in Seattle read the same book and then came together for a community discussion?” The first Seattle Reads selection was “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the book that inspired Sandra Day O’Connor - and others of her generation - to become a lawyer.
Ten years later, community reading programs have spread around the globe, providing a welcome opportunity to bring together friends, neighbors, and strangers. Typically One Town, One Book events focus on works of fiction, but occasionally a group will choose non-fiction - “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” “Nickel and Dimed,” or “Three Cups of Tea” - to strike the flint of community conversation.
In that spirit, Truckee has been host to two successful "Truckee Reads" programs to date. In 2004, the Friends partnered with Bookshelf Stores to encourage the town to read James Houston’s work of historical fiction about the Donner Party, “Snow Mountain Passage.” An appropriate late-season snowstorm arrived to enhance the lively weekend of follow-up events. In 2008, the friends chose Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” as the Truckee Reads book, which in turn led to discussions about the thresholds, tipping points and community changes that matter most to us.
Have a Great Idea for the Next Truckee Reads? Send us an email with your input, and if you can help us organize another Truckee Reads Program, all the better!
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