About the Community Read

Libraries in the Midcoast join forces each January to present the Midcoast Community Read, an area-wide collaborative book group.  Curtis Memorial Library (along with Patten Free Library, Topsham Public Library, and Freeport Community Library) encourages its patrons to read the same selected title over the winter and then come together in March for discussions, presentations, and other activities related to the book.  

In past years, in addition to numerous book discussions held at libraries, senior housing, public areas, and private homes, the Community Read has been incorporated into cooking classes, panel discussions, movies, slide shows, and author presentations.

More detail about this collaborative effort and how books are selected can be found  here.

2010 Community Read

This year’s community read book choice is Glory in the Name:  A Novel of the Confederate Navy by local author James L. Nelson.  Nelson is a former professional sailor who is committed to bringing to life, through fiction and nonfiction, America’s historical connection with the sea.  His writing covers a wide range of America’s maritime heritage, from piracy in Colonial Virginia to naval action in the Civil War. 

Glory in the Name received the 2004 William Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction.  New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwall said of Glory in the Name, “It is, by far, the best Civil War novel I’ve read, reeking of battle, duty, heroism, and tragedy.  It is a triumph of imagination and good taut writing.”

We’re looking forward to this exciting Community Read!  The books will be available at Curtis in early February and programs will begin in March.

Past Community Reads

The following have been the Community Read selections over the past eight years:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson

Kite Runner by Khalen Hosseini

Endurance:  Shackelton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

1984 by George Orwell

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

 

For more information on the Community Read, please contact Mary Turner at friends@curtislibrary.com