Please read the summaries below and vote for the title that you would like to see selected for our next Community Read by CLICKING HERE. The survey will close Sunday, September 27, at midnight. |
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Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery (Biography)Themes: Outdoor/adventure, women’s history, hiking history Summary: In 1955, 67-year-old Emma “Grandma” Gatewood leaves her Ohio home and sets out to hike the entire Appalachian Trail with remarkably little equipment—no tent, sleeping bag, or sophisticated hiking gear. Carrying her belongings in a handmade sack, she walks roughly 2,000 miles through mountains, forests, storms, and difficult terrain, often depending on strangers for food and shelter. Her achievement makes her the first woman to complete the trail alone in a single season and turns her into a national celebrity. Ben Montgomery also explores Gatewood’s earlier life, including decades in an abusive marriage and the hardships she endured while raising 11 children. Her remarkable later-life adventures ultimately helped bring greater public attention to the Appalachian Trail and its condition. |
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The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede (Narrative Nonfiction)Themes: September 11 history, social history Summary: When terrorists attack the United States on September 11, 2001, American airspace is abruptly closed and dozens of international flights are ordered to land in and around the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. Nearly 7,000 passengers and crew members suddenly find themselves stranded in communities with no preparation for such an enormous influx of visitors. Local residents respond by opening schools, churches, community centers, and their own homes. They prepare meals, provide clothing and medicine, arrange transportation, care for animals traveling in airplane cargo holds, and offer frightened strangers a place to sleep. Through the experiences of both passengers and residents, the book shows how an extraordinary temporary community formed amid tragedy and how relationships created during those few days endured long afterward. |
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A Good American by Alex George (Historical Fiction)Themes: Family saga, immigrant fiction Summary: In the early 20th century, Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer leave Germany after their relationship encounters family opposition and make their way to America. Eventually settling in the fictional Missouri town of Beatrice, they begin building a new life far from everything familiar. Their experiences become the beginning of a multigenerational story following the Meisenheimer family through love affairs, marriages, births, deaths, wars, businesses, successes, and disappointments. Music and food become important threads connecting the family’s German heritage with its increasingly American identity. As generations pass, each member of the family develops a different understanding of belonging and opportunity. The novel ultimately asks what it means for immigrants and their descendants to become American without completely losing the people, traditions, and experiences that shaped them. |
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Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah (Contemporary Fiction)Themes: Mystery, family drama with elements of magical realism Summary: Graduate student Jo Teale has survived breast cancer and the death of her mother and retreats to rural Illinois to continue her research on nesting birds. Her carefully controlled solitude is interrupted when a barefoot young girl appears outside her cabin. Calling herself Ursa, the child claims she has come from another planet to witness five miracles before returning home. Jo knows the explanation cannot be true but is unable to determine where Ursa actually belongs. She reluctantly seeks help from Gabriel Nash, an intelligent but reclusive neighbor struggling with problems of his own. As Jo and Gabriel search for answers about Ursa’s identity, the three develop an increasingly close bond. Their fragile new family is threatened when evidence of the child’s traumatic past begins emerging. |
Vote for the title that you would like to see selected for our next Community Read by CLICKING HERE. The survey will close Sunday, September 27, at midnight.
