On the Same Page

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OUR TOWN 2020

Library program gathers community around One Read

BY AARIK DANIELSEN Columbia Daily Tribune

Politicians, advocates and artists know how hard it is to get their communities on the same page.

Somehow, Daniel Boone Regional Library has pulled off the feat for more than 18 years. Through its One Read program, the library system brings readers together around a single text and then fleshes out its themes through discussions, exhibits and other programming.

This year’s One Read, Amor Towles’ historical novel “A Gentleman In Moscow,” will gather MidMissourians to reflect upon the ways our lives intersect, even if we’re forced to stay in one place. Towles’ work sticks with a Russian count as he fulfills a decadeslong house arrest in a quirky hotel.

If we are what we read, looking through the program’s history shows how a community slowly, surely reshapes itself over time. Here are a few of the more significant One Reads since the program’s inception. Find more information about One Read at oneread.dbrl.org.

2002: “Plainsong” by Kent Haruf

The first One Read came from the pen of the late novelist, detailing tenuous lives in his native Colorado. Teachers, students and makeshift families offer each chances for redemption.

2011: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot

A groundbreaking work of storytelling and investigative science journalism, Skloot’s book tells of the title figure, a black woman whose cells were unethically harvested to create a number of medical solutions. Skloot’s work led to a 2017 HBO film starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.

2013: “The Ruins of Us” by Keija Parssinen

One Read went local and global with this novel from then Columbia resident Parssinen. Drawing on her childhood as an American in Saudi Arabia, she unspools the complicated lineage and legacy of a bi-cultural family in a patriarchal society.

2015: “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel

One of the strongest novels to be named a One Read — and a book that turned out to be oddly prophetic — is Mandel’s tale of what survives a global pandemic. The Canadian writer sensitively sifts sadness and heightens the inherent tension of trying to stay alive. But the book is ultimately a meditation on the need for what keeps us human: art, music, litera ture, love and companionship.

2016: “Bettyville” by George Hodgman

The wider world fell in love with MidMissouri’s own Hodgman through this memoir about coming home to care for an aging mother. Hodgman’s humor shines through each page, as does his ability to handle topics such as small-town living, sexuality, mental health and the pitfalls of growing old with care. Hodgman died last year, but so many pieces of him live on and in this beloved title.

2019: “Nomadland” by Jessica Bruder

Our most recent One Read is both an on-the-road story ala Kerouac and a subtly searing cultural analysis in the vein of Barbara Ehrenreich’s 2004 One Read “Nickel and

Dimed.” With peerless levity and compassion, Bruder tags along with a growing segment of the workforce — mostly middle-age and senior adults — who remagine America as a series of destinations with seasonal jobs.

adanielsen@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1731