Each winter, the public submits suggestions for next year’s book. In January, a panel of community members reviews the suggestions, narrowing that list down to 10 titles, and then chooses two or three books to present for a public vote.
Final Selections
- Black Swan Green
David Mitchell - Color of Water
James McBride - A Dirty Job: A Novel
Christopher Moore - Fortunate Son
Walter Mosley - March
Geraldine Brooks - Montana 1948
Larry Watson
- Mountains Beyond Mountains
Tracy Kidder - Oracle Bones
Peter Hessler - Three Cups of Tea
Greg Mortenson - Water For Elephants
Sarah Gruen - Zorro
Isabel Allende
Other Suggested Titles
- 1776
David McCullough - 1984
George Orwell - Alchemist, The
Paulo Coelho - Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood - Animal Dreams
Barbara Kingsolver - Beekeepers Apprentice
Laurie King - Bel Canto
Ann Prachett - Benjamin Franklin
Walter Isaacson - Big Muddy Blues
Bill Lambrecht - Birdsong
Sebastian Faulks - Birthday Boys, The
Beryl Bainbridge - Black Skin, White Masks
Frantz Fanon - Blink
Ted Dekker - Body and Soul
Frank Conroy - Brooklyn Follies
Paul Auster - Brothers
Da Chen - Carry Me Down
M J. Hyland - Cat in the Hat, The
Dr. Seuss - Catrimony
Kim Levin - Center of Everything
Laura Moriarity - Change me into Zeus’ Daughter
Barbara R. Moss - A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer - Color Purple, The
Alice Walker - Confederates in the Attic
Tony Horwitz - Crow Lake
Mary Lawson - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Mark Haddon - Da Vinci Code, The
Dan Brown - Dante Club, The
Matthew Pearl - Dark is rising, The
Susan Cooper - Death of Vishnu
Manil Suri - Democracy’s Edge
Frances Moore Lappe - Devil’s Highway
Luis Urrea - Diet for a Small Planet /aka Hope’s Edge
Frances Moore Lappe - Dispossessed, The
Ursula LeGuin - Dreams from My Father
Barack Obama - Ear, the Eye & the Arm, The
Nancy Farmer - Eat the Document
Dana Spiotta - Elements of Style
Wendy Wasserstein - Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card - Enough
Bill McKibben - Faith Club
Idliby Ranya - Family Matters
Rohinton Mistry - Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury - Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser - Flags of our Fathers
James Bradley - Flamboya Tree
Clara Kelly - Flamingo Rising
Larry Baker - Fooling with Words
Bill Moyers - Freakonomics
Stephen Levitt - Ghost of Emmett Till, The
W. James Richardson - Gilead
Marilynne Robinson - Glass Castle, The
Jeanette Walls - God Delusion, The
Richard Dawkins - Golden Compass
Philip Pullman - Good Earth, The
Pearl Buck - Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Robert Olen Butler - Grapes of Wrath, The
John Steinbeck - Great Good Place, The
Ray Oldenburg - Guests of the Ayatollah
Mark Bowden - HaHa, The
Dave King - Half Broken Things
Morag Joss - Hand to Guide Me
Denzel Washington - Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
J. K. Rowling - Hatchet
Gary Paulsen - Heartbreaking Work of Stagering Genius
Dave Eggers - Historian, The
Elizabeth Kostova - Homegrown Democrat
Garrison Keillor - House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski - How to Talk to a Liberal if You Must
Ann Coulter - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou - I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company
Brian Hall - In Cold Blood
Truman Capote - Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore - Independence Day
Richard Ford - Inheritance of Loss, The
Kiran Desai - Inspiration, Your Ultimate Calling
Wayne Dyer - Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri - Intuition
Allegra Goodman - Ishmael
Daniel Quinn - Judge & Jury
James Patterson - Kite Runner, The
Khaled Hosseini - Known World, The
Edward P. Jones - Lemon Tree, The
Sandy Tolen
- Letter to a Christian Nation
Sam Harris - Life of Pi
Jhumpa Lahiri - Losing Julia
Jonathan Hull - Love in the Driest Season
Neely Tucker - Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich - Lovely Bones, The
Alive Sebold - Mama Day
Gloria Naylor - Mark Twain: A Life
Ron Powers - Marley & Me
John Grogan - Memory Keeper’s Daughter, The
Kim Edwards - Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides - Midwives
Chris Bohjalian - Mists of Avalon, The
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Momo
Michael Ende - Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity
Kathleen Giles Seidel - Mother Tongue
Demetria Martinez - Mother’s Milk
Edward St. Aubyn - My Name is Asher Lev
Chaim Potok - My Sister’s Keeper
Jodi Picoult - Namesake, The
Jhumpa Lahiri - Night
Eli Weisel - Night Watch, The
Sarah Waters - Nisei Daugher
Monica Itoi Sone - Nursing Against the Odds
Suzanne Gordon - Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan - One Good Turn
Kate Atkinson - Ordinary Man
Paul Rusesabagina - Other Boleyn Girl, The
Phillipa Gregory - People of Paper, The
Salvador Plascencia - Persuasion
Jane Austen - Peyton Place and Return to
Grace Metalious - Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver - A Prayer for Owen Meany
John Irving - Red Bird Christmas
Fannie Flagg - Rich Dad Poor Dad
Robert Kiyosaki - River Horse
Wm Least Heat Moon - River Rising
Athol Dickson - River Town
Peter Hessler - Road, The
Cormac McCarthy - Rocket Boys
Homer Hickam - Roots
Alex Haley - Ruined Map, The
Kobo Abe - Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd - Secret River, The
Kate Grenville - Shepherd of the Hills, The
Harold Bell Wright - She’s Come Undone
Wally Lamb - Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut - Snow
Orhan Pamuk - Spirit Catches you and you fall down
Anne Fadiman - Standing in the Rainbow
Fannie Flagg - Stiff
Mary Roach - Still Life with Rice
Helie Lee - Suitable Boy, A
Seth Vikram - Suite Francais
Irne Nmirovsky - Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman
Richard Feynman - Tender Bar, The: A Memoir
J.R. Moehringer - Terrorist
John Updike - Theft: A Love Story
Peter Carey - Thirteenth Tale
Diane Setterfield - Three Day Road
Joseph Boyden - Through Wolf’s Eyes
Jane Lindskold - Till We Have Faces
C. S. Lewis - Torch
Cheryl Strayed - Truth & Beauty
Ann Patchett - Two Souls Indivisible
James S. Hirsch - Unbearable Lightness of Being, The
Milan Kundera - Under the Banner of Heaven
Jon Krakauer - Victory of Reason, The
Rodney Stark - Virginian, The
Owen Wister - Waiting
Ha Jin - Waiting for Snow in Havanna
Carlos Eire - Watchmen
Alan Moore - What is the What
Dave Eggers - What’s the Matter with Kansas
Thomas Frank - When the Emperor was Divine
Julie Otsuka - Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts - While They are at War
Kristin Henderson - Wild at Heart
John Eldridge - Woman Warrior
Maxine Hong Kingston - World Is Flat, The
Thomas Friedman - Worst Hard Time
Thomas Egan - Worst Person in the World
Keith Olbermann - Year of Magical Thinking, The
Joan Didion