Lebanon County Reads
While the inaugural Lebanon County Reads campaign launched in 2018, planning for Lebanon County’s own community read campaign began a year prior. All six Lebanon County public libraries support the campaign which runs from mid-summer through late fall and culminates in the title selection’s author’s visit to Congregation Beth Israel in November. We hope you’ll read with us and check out the special events affiliated with the campaign!
A limited supply of Lebanon County Reads t-shirts are still available for sale! T-shirts are $5 each (cash only). Please visit Lebanon Community Library or call 717-273-7624 for size availability.
This year, for the first time, we invited readers to choose the Lebanon County Reads selection from five finalists. While voting has closed at this time, we thank everyone who voted this year for Lebanon County Reads! The winning title will be announced on May 1, 2019. Please check back at that time for more details, including the title of the winning selection as well as programming and events planned for this year’s Lebanon County Reads campaign.
Meet the finalists:
The Baker’s Secret by Stephen Kiernan
On June 5, 1944, as dawn rises over a small town on the Normandy coast of France, Emmanuelle is making the bread that has sustained her fellow villagers in the dark days since the Germans invaded her country. Under the cold, watchful eyes of armed soldiers, she builds a clandestine network of barter and trade that she and the villagers use to thwart their occupiers.
Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict
Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. Serving as a lady’s maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills she doesn’t have, answering to an icy mistress who rules her sons and her domain with an iron fist. What Clara does have is a resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh is becoming famous for, coupled with an uncanny understanding of business, and Andrew begins to rely on her.
Lassoing the Sun: a Year in America’s National Parks by Mark Woods
Mark Woods’s most vivid childhood memories are set against a backdrop of mountains, woods, and fireflies in places like Redwood, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon national parks. On the eve of turning fifty and a little burned-out, Mark decided to reconnect with the great outdoors by spending a year visiting the national parks. This is a book about family, the parks, and the legacies we inherit and the ones we leave behind.
Oil and Marble by Stephanie Storey
Michelangelo is a virtual unknown when he returns to Florence and wins the commission to carve what will become one of the most famous sculptures of all time: David. Meanwhile, Leonardo’s life is falling apart: he loses the hoped-for David commission; he can’t seem to finish any project; he is obsessed with his ungainly flying machine; he almost dies in war; and he is haunted by a woman he has seen in the market–a merchant’s wife, whom he is finally commissioned to paint. Her name is Lisa, and she becomes his muse.
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
To Christina Olson, the entire world is her family farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. The only daughter in a family of sons, Christina is tied to her home by health and circumstance, and seems destined for a small life. Instead, she becomes Andrew Wyeth’s first great inspiration, and the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World.
2018 – America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie