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Nevada County Reads & Writes 2019
Nevada County Reads & Writes 2019 presents
Ties that Bind: Stories of Love & Gratitude from the First Ten Years of StoryCorp
by Dave Isay
Ties That Bind honors the people who nourish and strengthen us. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay draws from ten years of the revolutionary oral history project’s rich archives, collecting conversations that celebrate the power of the human bond and capture the moment at which individuals become family. Between blood relations, friends, coworkers, and neighbors, in the most trying circumstances and in the unlikeliest of places, enduring connections are formed and lives are forever changed.
The Nevada County Community Library and the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools invites everyone to take part in the Nevada County Reads and Writes 2019, a project designed to deepen engagement in literature through reading and discussion. This annual event was created in 2005, wherein the entire community is encouraged to read the featured book simultaneously and participate in subject related school and community events.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
FEBRUARY
2/8 - Point of View (POV) StoryCorps Film: Listening is an Act of Love.
Madelyn Helling Library - Gene Albaugh Community Room. 4 - 6:00 PM
- Animated movie special from StoryCorps featuring six stories from ten years of oral history project
- Guest speakers Mary Street and Judie Rae
2/9 - Kick-Off Event: Foothill Storytelling Guild.
Madelyn Helling Library - Gene Albaugh Community Room. 10 AM-12:00 PM
- 4 Speakers telling stories
- Tips on telling great stories
2/13 - Wine & Read Book Club: Ties that Bind by Dave Isay.
Cork 49, 142 Mill Street, Grass Valley, CA 95945. 6- 8:00 PM
- Book discussion
- Bring a photo with a story of your own to share
2/18 – 3/1 Application for StoryCorps Interview
- StoryCorps is coming to town and 15 applications will be selected for a recorded interview
- Apply to share the story of an event or person that changed your life
- Submissions must be received by March 1st, 2019
- Details are listed in the application links below
- 3 easy ways to apply
- Online Application
- Pick up an application at a Nevada County Community Library
- Download and print
2/19 - Decorate Frame for Picture and Story.
Grass Valley Library. 5 - 6:00 PM
- Bring in a picture associated with one of your stories
- Decoupage a picture fame for picture
2/25 - HeritageQuest: Discover Family History
Truckee Library, 4:30 - 5:30 PM
- Learn how to use HeritageQuest Database
- Searching through US census records, books, periodicals, Revolutionary War service records and Freedman’s ban depositor records to discover family history
2/28 - Junk Drawer: Audiobook with Macramé Project.
Madelyn Helling Library - Gene Albaugh Community Room. 5 - 6:30 PM
- Come listen to the Audio book Ties That Bind
- Work on a macramé plant holder or necklace while you listen to The Ties that Bind by Dave Isay
2/28 - Book Club Discussion: Ties that Bind
Truckee Library, 3 - 4:00 PM
- Book Discussion and sharing of stories
- Listen to stories of hope and healing
March
3/5 - An Afternoon with Cathy Wilcox-Barnes
Doris Foley Library, 2 - 3:00 PM
- First woman mayor of Nevada City talks politics when she held office
- Discusses growth and changes seen in Nevada City
3/9 - Family Hour Project
Bear River Library, 11 - 12:00 PM
- Children will be motivators during this special Family Hour
- Children will share stories with families through oral stories, drawings, and journaling
3/14 - Painting "Family Memory Making" with local Artist Anke Hass
Truckee Library. 5:30 - 6:30 PM
- Capture specific memories with word, ink, and watercolor
- Artist Hass will coach participants through the creative experience
3/26 - 3/28 - StoryCorps: Recording Community Members
Madelyn Helling Library - Study Rooms, All Day
- Selected Community Members will be recording stories with StoryCorps Team
- Recordings will become available for all to hear post editing
3/26 - An afternoon with Madelyn Helling
Doris Foley Library, 2 - 3:00 PM
- Madelyn will share stories of the ties she formed with Doris Foley
- Learn about Doris Foley - the library and the person
3/28 - Penn Valley Page Turners Book Club
Penn Valley Library, 1 - 2:00 PM
- Discuss Ties that Bind
- Share own stories of fond memories
April
4/8 - Our Community Story:
Madelyn Helling Library - Gene Albaugh Community Room, 5 - 6:30 PM
- StoryCorps participants share events and people who changed their lives
- Hear their recordings created through the StoryCorps process
Please go to: www.mynevadcounty.com/library for a detailed list of all NCRW events.
Stay tuned for more upcoming events!
Thank you to the following organizations for supporting this county-wide program. Nevada County Reads & Writes is funded in part by Book-to-Action, a collaborative program between the California State Library and the California Center for the book, supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Previous Year's Selections
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
New York Times Bestseller · A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice · Winner of the Alex Award· Winner of the APALA Award for Fiction · NEA Big Read Selection
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY:
NPR · San Francisco Chronicle · Entertainment Weekly · The Huffington Post · Buzzfeed · Amazon · Grantland · Booklist · St. Louis Post Dispatch · Shelf Awareness · Book Riot · School Library Journal · Bustle · Time Out New York ·Mashable · Cleveland Plain Dealer
The Martian by Andy Weir
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
“Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books
“Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times
“You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review
Trash by Andy Mulligan
Three young teens, trash-picker living in the city dump of an unnamed third-world country, discover a mysterious bag one morning, triggering a chain of events that will change their lives forever. Raphael, Gordo, and Rat take turns nar-rating the story of how they uncover a network of political corruption and abuse of the poor. Each puzzle the boys solve leads to yet a new riddle for them to work out. The chase leads them throughout the city, exposing the great disparity be-tween the “haves” and the “have nots,” and the huge injustice this represents. Several run-ins with the police make it clear that getting caught means death for the three boys.
“Trash is a compelling read. The action is riveting and the secret codes throughout will appeal mystery fans” - School Library Journal, starred review
“This gripping book engages readers both as an adventure and as a social justice story. Readers will be satisfied by the cinematic conclusion and the noble decision the heroes make.” - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The three boys, and others, act as alternating narrators of the story, giving vivid descriptions of their lives. In spite of this, the boys’ hope and determination for justice and the dilemmas they face with so much courage will impress readers. Recommended." - Library Media Connection
The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.
"The greatest romance story of this decade." —Entertainment Weekly
“This is a book that breaks your heart—not by wearing it down, but by making it bigger until it bursts.”
—The Atlantic
“A story about two incandescent kids who will live a long time in the minds of the readers who come to know them.”
—People
“Remarkable . . . A pitch-perfect, elegiac comedy.”
—USA Today
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.
“Stork introduces ethical dilemmas, the possibility of love, and other “real world” conflicts, all the while preserving the integrity of his characterizations and intensifying the novel's psychological and emotional stakes. Not to be missed.” -- Publishers Weekly, starred review
“…Stork delivers a powerful tale populated by appealing (and decidedly unappealing) characters and rich in emotional nuance.” -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Writing in a first-person narrative, Stork does an amazing job of entering Marcelo's consciousness and presenting him as a dynamic, sympathetic, and wholly believable character." -- School Library Journal, starred review
“It is the rare novel that reaffirms a belief in goodness; rarer still is one that does so this emphatically.” -- Horn Book, starred review
“Shot with spirtualism, laced with love, and fraught with conundrums, this book, like Marcelo himself, surprises.” -- Booklist, starred review
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.
“The two principal maid characters...leap off the page in all their warm, three dimensional glory...[A] winning novel.”—The New York Times
“This could be one of the most important pieces of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird…If you read only one book...let this be it.”—NPR.org
“Wise, poignant...You’ll catch yourself cheering out loud.”—People
“Graceful and real, a compulsively readable story.”—Entertainment Weekly
“A beautiful portrait of a fragmenting world.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
"Zusak doesn’t sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse-Five: with grim, darkly consoling humor.”
- Time Magazine
"Elegant, philosophical and moving...Beautiful and important."
- Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"This hefty volume is an achievement...a challenging book in both length
and subject..."
- Publisher's Weekly, Starred
"One of the most highly anticipated young-adult books in years."
- The Wall Street Journal
"
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
San Piedro, a small island in the Pacific Northwest, is home to salmon fishermen and strawberry farmers. It is also home to many Japanese-Americans. Snow Falling on Cedars opens in Judge Lew Fielding's courtroom as the trial of one of these Japanese-Americans, Kabuo Miyamoto, who is on trial for killing fellow fisherman Carl Heine, Jr., commences.
First-novelist Guterson presents a multilayered courtroom drama set in the aftermath of the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. -- Publishers Weekly
"Haunting. . . . A whodunit complete with courtroom maneuvering and surprising turns of evidence and at the same time a mystery, something altogether richer and deeper." -- Los Angeles Times
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
"Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest . . . is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world."-Tom Brokaw
"An inspiring chronicle . . . this is one protagonist who clearly deserves to be called a hero."-People
"Mortenson’s mission is admirable, his conviction unassailable, his territory exotic."-The Washington Post
Nature Noir by Jordan Fisher Smith
Slated to be drowned by a dam, the California state park patrolled by the author of this haunting memoir is a "condemned landscape" of gorgeous river canyons hemmed in by exurban sprawl and peopled by eccentric gold miners, squatting families, drug dealers and miscellaneous drunken, gun-waving rowdies, a place where "turkey vultures floated... savoring the hot air for the inevitable attrition of heat, drought and violence." -Publishers Weekly.
"Eloquently meditative . . . [Smith writes]with a gritty candor -- think of a gun-toting Norman Maclean or Wallace Stegner." -- Alan Burdick The New York Times Book Review
"Gloriously unlike anything I've ever read before . . . gives entree into a strange, dark, and mesmerizing outdoor world that's absolutely unforgettable." -- Caroline Leavitt Boston Globe
"He writes about the natural world with more grace than anyone since Edward Abbey." Newsweek
"Extraordinary . . . Nature Noir marks the debut of a terrific new nature writer, one whose penetrating, ranger's-eye view of the Sierra Nevada recalls the plain-spoken timbre of Edward Abbey and David James Duncan." Outside
Holes by Louis Sachar
Grade 5-8-Stanley Yelnats IV has been wrongly accused of stealing a famous baseball player's valued sneakers and is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention home where the boys dig holes, five feet deep by five feet across, in the miserable Texas heat. It's just one more piece of bad luck that's befallen Stanley's family for generations as a result of the infamous curse of Madame Zeroni. Overweight Stanley, his hands bloodied from digging, figures that at the end of his sentence, he'll "...either be in great physical condition or else dead."
"There is no question, kids will love Holes."-SLJ, Starred Review
"[A] rugged, engrossing adventure."-Kirkus Reviews
"This delightfully clever story is well-crafted and thought-provoking."-VOYA
"[Sachar] comes fully, brilliantly into his own voice. This is a can't-put-it-down read."-The Bulletin
Epitaph for a Peach by David Mas Masumoto
A lyrical, sensuous and thoroughly engrossing memoir of one critical year in the life of an organic peach farmer, Epitaph for a Peach is "a delightful narrative . . . with poetic flair and a sense of humor" (Library Journal).
“[Masumoto is] a poet of farming and peaches.” (New York Times Book Review)
“[A] wonderful writer...[Masumoto] uses his farm as Thoreau did his.” (Los Angeles Times)
“A peach of a book.” (Publishers Weekly)
“. . . lyrical . . .enough to make a peach lover drool and also weep...[A] charming tale.” (Atlantic Monthly)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
After years of working as a fireman--one who burns books and enjoys his work--Guy Montag meets a young girl named Clarisse who makes him question his profession and the values of the society in which he lives. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.
“Brilliant . . . Startling and ingenious . . . Mr. Bradbury’s account of this insane world, which bears many alarming resemblances to our own, is fascinating.” —Orville Prescott, The New York Times
“A masterpiece . . . A glorious American classic everyone should read: It’s life-changing if you read it as a teen, and still stunning when you reread it as an adult.” —Alice Hoffman, The Boston Globe
“The sheer lift and power of a truly original imagination exhilarates . . . His is a very great and unusual talent.” —Christopher Isherwood, Tomorrow