The Richland County Public Library in cooperation with many city & county partners is launching their One Book, One Columbia city-wide read and we are reading Having Our Say:  The Delaney’s Sisters’ First 100 Years, and it got me to thinking how many one-read programs are out there.  And what do they read?

I heard from Lisa Sharp of Nightbird Books that Fayetteville, AR is planning it’s 3rd community read. It’s called One Book, One Community and is a fall event.   The first year we read The Devil’s Highway by Luis Urrea, last year was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and this year we have yet to choose.  Wonder what it will be?

I heard from Fran Bush at Booklover’s Bookstore in Aiken, SC.  The Aiken County Public Library has Aiken Reads with a selection per quarter. “Last summer we hosted Mary Alice Monroe with Swimming Lessons as the summer selection for adults and Turtle Summer for the children.  In October 2011, The Aiken Women’s Club is sponsoring a county wide reading program named The Big Read to encourage reading at any age. They wanted to find books that were inexpensive and readily available. The selection for high school and adult is The Call of the Wild by Jack London; upper elementary and middle school is Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George; the younger kids selection is One Wolf Howls by Scotti Cohn. The club will be giving books to the libraries and school libraries throughout the county. There are several alternate selections for those who have already read the selection.” This project should get a lot of publicity.

Emily Bell shared that Page & Palette has seen great success with the One Town One Tale concept.  “Our picks have included Three Cups of Tea, The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Fairhope’s own, Sonny Brewer; Alabama Moon by local writer Watt Key; A Thousand Splendid Suns by NY Times bestselling author, Khaled Hossieni; Peony in Love by NY Times bestselling author Lisa See; and The Noticer by Andy Andrews of Orange Beach.”

Jill Hendrix of Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC shared Greenville’s The Amazing Read. The book for this, the 4th year, is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  The past 3 years picks were Velva Jean Learns to Drive by Jennifer Niven, Saints at the River by Ron Rash, and The Pleasure Was Mine by Tommy Hays.

Here are a few resources I found about OneBook programs:

This is a somewhat out-of-date listing of OneBook programs out there but the only list I found.

Here’s how wikipedia explans the concept.

There is an extensive pdf from the American Library Association outlining the nuts & bolts of a One Book effort.