Thanks to all our patrons for making One Read 2006 such a success. The public response to the book, the discussions, and the author's visit were exciting for the library and we were gratified to witness so much community engagement.
Daniel Boone Regional Library's One Read Task Force is pleased to announce that "The Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle is this year's book selection. The University of Missouri’s freshman reading program will also feature “The Tortilla Curtain,” and Boyle is scheduled to visit the campus in September.
Boyle’s publisher, Penguin, summarizes the book this way, “In this explosive and timely novel, T. Coraghessan Boyle explores an issue that is at the forefront of our political arena. He confronts the controversy over illegal immigration head-on, illuminating the people on both sides of the issue, the haves and the have-nots, through a poignant, gripping story.”
Boyle has been an English professor at University of Southern California since 1978, and established its creative writing program. He has written 16 books and won the PEN/Faulkner Award for "T.C. Boyle Stories, the Collected Stories" in 1999; for best novel in 1988 for "World's End"; O. Henry Awards in 1989, 1999, 2001 and 2003; was a National Book Award Finalist for "Drop City" in 2003; awarded the Prix Medicis Etranger (Paris) for the best foreign novel of the year in 1997 for "The Tortilla Curtain;" and received the New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice 1989 for "If the River Was Whiskey." His latest books are "Inner Circle" (2004), "Tooth and Claw" (2005) and "Talk Talk" (July 2006)." The book "Tortilla Curtain" is currently being made into a movie.
To have a book chosen for a community read is nirvana for any writer and I am pleased and honored to have been selected for Columbia's program. What most impresses me about the program is that everyone in the community will have a book in common to discuss, a rarity these days. Yes, we can talk about the latest films or TV shows, even sports and politics, but we all read so disparately that it is difficult to find someone with whom to discuss a book. I look forward to coming to town and entertaining all the readers of The Tortilla Curtain--and look forward too to the debates and discussions to which this very provocative book will necessarily give rise.
-T.C. Boyle
The other books considered this year were “All True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton” by Jane Smiley and “The Language of Baklava” by Diana Abu-Jabar.
One Read Task Force
Barnes & Noble Booksellers • Boone County Journal • Callaway County Commissioners • Cherry Street Artisan • City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs • Columbia College • Columbia Daily Tribune • Columbia Missourian • Daniel Boone Regional Library • Fulton State Hospital • Fulton Sun • KBIA-FM • KFRU-AM • Kingdom of Callaway Chamber of Commerce • KOMU-TV • KOPN-FM • Nancy's Trade-a-Book • 9th St. Bookstore • Ragtag Cinemacafé • Stephens College • University Bookstore • University of Missouri • Westminster College • William Woods University
