One Book One Valley: May the Best Book Win
by Laurie Dale Marshall, Adult & Teen Services Librarian, Estes Valley Library

So many books, so little time.
This famous lament is truer than ever. Especially when you consider the Estes Valley. The Library collection now numbers in the hundreds of thousands, thanks to digital forms.

One Book One Valley is making its welcome return in 2017. This annual literary celebration invites our entire valley to share in the reading and discussion of one single book, as we embark together on a journey of shared discovery this fall through weeks of special programs, conversations, and thematic events.

And how to narrow all those books down to those precious gems that form the finalists for this year’s One Book One Valley. For that special effort, we enlisted the expertise of some very important readers in our community. And now we seek your expertise, as voting is underway this month.

This all-community reading initiative encourages civic dialogue and supports several of the Library’s key strategic goals based upon community requests. One Book One Valley was on hiatus in 2016 as we commemorated the Library’s Centennial Year with monthly author events.

Now, we’re ready to welcome the tradition back this fall.

For 2017, we consulted the very people in our community with expertise in what titles make for the best book discussions. We invited over a dozen local book clubs to offer us their top picks. And last March, we convened a Book Club Social. It was an opportunity to network with our book club enthusiasts and learn how we can serve them. And it was an opportunity for each club to nominate one title for One Book One Valley consideration. From all the titles nominated at the Social, attendees then voted to narrow it down to five finalists.

And those finalists are now showcased all this month of May, as we invite you to cast your vote for the book you would most like to see featured this fall.

Here are the five books that have been nominated:

• “The Distance Between Us” by Reyna Grande
• “The Emerald Mile” by Kevin Fedarko
• “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains” by Isabella Bird
• “The Last Bus to Wisdom” by Ivan Doig
• “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson

Of course, few of us are familiar with all of these titles, so you’ll find a helpful brief description of each book on the online voting ballot. And with just a bit of Internet surfing, you can find many reviews and synopses of these titles.

To cast your vote, it’s as easy as clicking here and ranking your choice. Voting is one-time, and once per person. Be sure to get your vote submitted before the May 31.

The Library will reveal the winning title at special ceremony this July. Then there will be hundreds of copies made available before the discussion events this October.

We thank all our participating book clubs who carefully considered and offered their

ideas.

Vote NOW. And “May” the best book win.