Books

Books

Here is a list of books that have been read in One Book: One Community programs in Maine. We have included a brief synopsis of each, along with a list of communities that have read the book. If we have details about the programming a community has developed around a book, the name of the program is highlighted. Click on it to learn more.

For a discussion of how to select a book for your program, click here.

Consider patronizing Maine’s independent booksellers when purchasing books for your program.

1984 by George Orwell
Synopsis First published when 1984 loomed comfortingly far in the future, George Orwell’s classic, chilling portrait of a totalitarian society overshadowed by Big Brother and the Thought Police is just as thought provoking today. The dystopia of 1984 resonates with the truth of its analysis of human nature, and relevance to our modern world.
OBOC Users Midcoast Community Reads (Brunswick, Bath, Topsham, Wiscasset), 2003
A Place on Water by Maine authors Robert Kimber, Wesley McNair, and Bill Roorbach
Synopsis A Place on Water is a collection of essays by three Maine writers — Robert Kimber, nature and outdoor writer; Wesley McNair, poet; and Bill Roorbach, essayist and novelist. In turn, all reflect on their friendship with one another and on what draws them to the same small pond in Maine.
OBOC Users Kennebec Valley Community READS, 2005
Arundel by Kenneth Roberts
Synopsis In this historical novel, a brave young Continental Army soldier from the Arundel regiment in southern Maine endures the grueling hardships of the ill-fated 1775 march on Quebec, led by Colonel Benedict Arnold at the time when he was still a noble and trusted leader.
OBOC Users Penquis Reads (Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford, Dexter, Greenville, Monson), 2005
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Synopsis In 1940’s Brooklyn, New York, two young Jewish boys form an unlikely but lasting friendship as they navigate the challenges of the journey from adolescence to adulthood, and their changing relationships with their families and each other, particularly when the impact of the Holocaust hits home.
OBOC Users One Book, One Campus (University of Maine, Farmington), 2003
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Synopsis Wrongfully accused of murdering his neighbor’s poodle, a mathematically gifted, behaviorally challenged autistic teenager sets out to investigate the murder, resulting in this first person novel that manages to be both brilliant and bitter.
OBOC Users Four Towns on the Same Page (Minot, Poland, Mechanic Falls, Raymond), 2005
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Synopsis This Pulitzer Prize winning novel explores the culture of a small working class town in Maine and the interwoven relationships of its residents. It has compelling resonance as both a Maine and a universal story.
OBOC Users One Book/One Community: LA Reads! (Lewiston-Auburn), 2003
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansingby
Synopsis Lansing reconstructs Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 ill-fated voyage to Antarctica aboard the Endurance. First person accounts and diaries are used to portray the courageous crew of the aptly-named vessel in the face of astonishing hardships and terror, and to finally recount the happy ending of this white-knuckle adventure in gritty detail.
OBOC Users Midcoast Community Reads (Brunswick, Bath, Topsham, Wiscasset), 2004
Ernie’s Ark by Monica Wood
Synopsis Nine interconnected short stories weave a picture of a small Maine mill town where a lengthy strike changes and sometimes shatters the lives of its people. Ernie Whitten’s creation of an ark while he tries to cope, jobless, with a sick wife, is the central story of this book.
OBOC Users Oxford Hills Reads, 2005; Scarborough Reads, 2005
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Synopsis Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland steps off of the path during a hike with her quarrelling mother and brother and becomes lost. Thus begins her long odyssey deep in the Maine woods, during which she must rely on her courage, wits, memories, her beloved Red Sox (which she listens to on her walkman, her one lifeline to the world), and visions of her favorite player, pitcher Tom Gordon, to survive physical hardships while experiencing a growing sense of fear as she senses a dark presence stalking her.
OBOC Users One Book/One Community: LA Reads! (Lewiston-Auburn), 2003
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Synopsis Atticus Finch defends an African-American man accused of raping a white woman in a small southern town in this powerful novel. Through the eyes of his daughter, Scout, the reader slowly learns to appreciate the humanity of people that has been clouded by prejudice. This famous novel — and the choice for the first ever One Book program nationally — is about understanding human nature, and it’s about learning to value the eccentric, downtrodden, elderly, perfidious, and heroic alike.
OBOC Users Midcoast Community Reads (Brunswick, Bath, Topsham, Wiscasset), 2002
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Synopsis In this non-fiction account of the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, Shaara uses both fact and insight to develop the real events into far more than a history text. Each of the main players in the battle is developed fully, including none other than Joshua Chamberlain, the lauded leader of the 20th Maine Regiment that might just have saved the war for the Union Army.
OBOC Users Bangor Reads, 2002
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Synopsis An Afghani-American writer confronts his past in this fictional account that seems memoir-like because of its fluid and timely story. When Amir was young in Afghanistan, he betrayed his very best friend Hassan just before the Taliban takeover. Though Amir’s family fled the country, he could not escape his guilt, and many years later he must return to Afghanistan to save the son of the friend he once betrayed.
OBOC Users Midcoast Community Reads (Brunswick, Bath, Topsham, Wiscasset), 2005
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Synopsis Intelligent and successful Grant Wiggins, who is disillusioned by his town in 1940s Louisiana, has dreams of escaping the meaningless and prejudice-filled state. However, when a woman begs Wiggins to teach her grandson, a young man wrongfully convicted of murder, to die with dignity, both men have a powerful lesson to learn.
OBOC Users One Book, One Campus (University of Maine, Farmington), 2004
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Synopsis Young Pi Patel is the teenage son of an Indian zookeeper and an enthusiastic consumer of every religion that comes his way. After a shipwreck, this colorful character finds himself trapped on a lifeboat with an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. In his quest to survive, Pi is far more than just a confused teenager.
OBOC Users Bangor Reads, 2004
Lighthouse in My Life by Philmore B. Wass
Synopsis The author’s family tended and lived in a lighthouse on Libbey Island off the coast of Maine during his youth. The joys and struggles of the very unique lifestyle paired with the joys and sorrows of family life create a captivating book.
OBOC Users Ellsworth, 2002
The Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw
Synopsis A memoir of Greenlaw’s life as the captain of a lobster boat off a tiny Maine coastal island. The tales of Greenlaw’s struggle to succeed in a difficult line of work, her escapades on the boat with a crew of one (her father), and the colorful cast of neighbors on the island are simply and beautifully told.
OBOC Users A Capital Read (Augusta), 2005
The Lobster Coast by Colin Woodard
Synopsis Woodard’s book regales readers with the true history of coastal Maine, from the origins of the state, to the current influx of newcomers from away. All of this is told with a particular focus on the ingenious, resourceful, and careful people who harvest lobster in such a way that this treasure will always belong to Maine.
OBOC Users One Town, One Book (Yarmouth), 2005
The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau
Synopsis Thoreau journeyed into the Maine wilderness three times in three years and kept detailed journals filled with his observations and thoughts. This book is based on those journals, and it allows us to see the many natural (and culturally historical) treasures of the state of Maine through the eyes of a keenly observant man.
OBOC Users Bangor Reads, 2003
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
Synopsis Investigative journalist Ehrenreich decides to learn firsthand how people survive on $7 an hour. With one-month stints in Key West, Maine, and Minnesota in “non-skilled” labor jobs, Ehrenreich learns that the answer to the question is that even with her advantages of a car and good health, it ’ s hard to get by from day to day even when making slightly more than minimum wage.
OBOC Users One Book/One Community: LA Reads! (Lewiston-Auburn), 2005
She’s Not There — A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Synopsis Colby college professor Jennifer Boylan recounts her experience as a man who felt himself distinctly female, the transforming operation that Boylan undergoes, and the subsequent adjustment to being a woman. This is a well-crafted and frank account of the effect of the author’s struggles on her own life as well as that of her family.
OBOC Users One Book, One Campus (University of Maine, Farmington), 2005
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Synopsis With a backdrop of World War II and the internment of Japanese Americans, this book follows the story of a Japanese-American man from a small island in Washington who has been accused of murder. The narrator, the small-town journalist covering the case, had a childhood attachment to the accused man’s wife.
OBOC Users One Book, One Campus (University of Maine, Farmington), 2002; One Book/One Community: LA Reads! (Lewiston-Auburn), 2004
Stephen King on Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Synopsis Part memoir (of King’s life and development as writer) and part writing course (with assignments included), this book weaves many elements into a varied but cohesive whole. From his childhood fascinations, to his much-publicized near-fatal accident, King chronicles his own growth as a writer, and the advice and assignments encourage the reader to grow as well.
OBOC Users Bangor Reads, 2005
Turnaround: Musing on Earth’s Future by Edward A. Myers
Synopsis Ed Myers was a pensive and learned man who devoted his life to the future of the world. This collection of his essays, articles, sermons and more contains not only his criticisms of our world’s destructive behaviors, but also a reasoned analysis and the conviction that we have the ability to change our ways before it’s too late.
OBOC Users One Book/One Community (The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Southern Maine, Portland), 2004-2005
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Synopsis Professional travel writer Bryson decides to hike the Appalachian Trail with an old friend in order to reconnect with the United States after a long sojourn abroad. Never without humor, this account of his journey as a hiker, a friend, and an American is a pleasure to read.
OBOC Users A Capital Read (Augusta), 2004; One Community, One Book (South Portland), 2005
The Watsons Go to Birmingham — 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Synopsis Young Kenny of the Michigan “Weird Watsons,” an African-American family, narrates this story set in 1963. Because the eldest Watson boy is always in trouble, the family decides to take him to spend the summer in Alabama with his grandmother. However, it turned out to be the fateful summer of the burning of the Sixteenth Avenue Baptist Church where four little girls died. This intensely moving, fictional account also has moments of humor. Winner of the Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Honor.
OBOC Users One Community, One Book (South Portland), 2004
Arctic Adventure Books by Pam Flowers
Synopsis This is Pam Flowers’ account of her nine Arctic expeditions, seven by dog team, two by snow machine. Her accomplishments have been remarkable. She has not only completed the 1049 mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race and reached the Magnetic North Pole three times, she has traveled over the frozen Arctic Ocean farther north than any other solo woman and has completed the longest solo dog sled journey on record by a woman. The program included a selection of her books.
OBOC Users Presque Isle Reads, 2004
Mystery Books by Sarah Graves
Synopsis Sarah Graves lives with her husband in Eastport, Maine, in the 1823 Federal-style house that helped inspire her books. She is currently at work on the ninth Home Repair is Homicide mystery.
OBOC Users Presque Isle Reads, 2003
Books About Survival
Synopsis Readings explored the theme of survival: Man vs. Nature (e.g. Lost on a Mountain in Maine; Life of Pi; Mysterious Island; Alive, the Story of the Andes Survivors; Into the Wild), Man vs. Man (e.g. Seed of Sarah, Den of Lions, Yellow Ribbon, Worth Fighting For, Escape in Iraq), Man vs. Himself (e.g. Anatomy of an Illness, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story, The Survivor Personality, Child Called “It”), Man vs. Technology (e.g. Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age, One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, The Gospel According to Larry).
OBOC Users Presque Isle Reads, 2005