Each winter, the public submits suggestions for next year’s One Read 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 10 Selections
- Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Katherine Boo - Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Runner-up)
Ben Fountain - The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (Winner)
Daniel James Brown - The Ghost Map
Steven Johnson - The Gravity of Birds
Tracy Guzeman
- Life After Life
Kate Atkinson - My Beloved World
Sonia Sotomayor - Orphan Train
Christina Baker Kline - A Tale for the Time Being
Ruth Ozeki - A Thousand Pardons
Jonathan Dee
Other Suggested Titles
- 1984
George Orwell - Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future
Robert Reich - American Gods
Gaiman, Neil - The Arabian Nights
- The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
Jan-Philipp Sendker - Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand - Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Atkinson, Kate - Biting Through the Skin: An Indian Kitchen in America’s Heartland
Nina Mukerjee Furstenau - Black and Blue
Anna Quindlen - The Book Thief
Markus Zusak - The Burgess Boys
Elizabeth Strout - Carnivorous Carnival
Lemony Snicket - A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home
Steve Pemberton - The Coldest Winter Ever
Sister Souljah - Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness
Pete Earley - Day After Night
Anita Diamant - The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
Jim DeFede - Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of A President
Candice Millard - A Dog’s Purpose
W. Bruce Cameron - Dominique Ick Lessont and the Dragon Knight
Eric Tripp - The Dovekeepers
Alice Hoffman - Each Little Bird That Sings
Debbie Wiles - Easter Island
Jennifer Vanderbes - Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-making Race Around the World
Matthew Goodman - Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
Phil Jackson - Enemy Women
Paulette Jiles - Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale
Lynda Rutledge - Farmacology: What Innovative Family Farming Can Teach Us About Health and Healing
Daphne, Miller - The Fault in Our Stars
John Green - Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team Six Operator Adam Brown
Eric Blehm - First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
Loung Ung - Flight Behavior
Barbara Kingsolver - A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story
Qais Akbar Omar - From Far Away
Kyoko Hikawa - Girl Stolen
April Henry - A Good American
Alex George - The Good Lord Bird
James McBride - The Green Trap
Ben Bova - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer - The Happiness Project
Gretchen Rubin - Heart and the Fist: The Education of A Humanitarian, the Making of A Navy SEAL
Eric Greitens - The Heart of a Soldier
Kate Blaise - Coming Home
Lauren Brooke - Here Comes Doctor Hippo: A Little Hippo Story
Jonathan London - Hidden
Helen Frost - Hide and Seek
Katy Grant - Hobbledehoy Boy
Richard Stickann - Home Front
Kristin Hannah - The Horse Whisperer
Nicholas Evans - I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
Malala Yousafzai - I Am Number Four – The Lost Files: The Search for Sam
Pittacus Lore - I Am Troy Davis
Jen Marlowe - Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
David Eagleman - Joyland
Stephen King
- Junebug
Cherie Doyen - Ladies of the Night : A Historical and Personal Perspective on the Oldest Profession in the World
Gene Simmons - The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life
Rod Dreher - The Maid’s Version
Daniel Woodrell - Me Before You
Jojo Moyes - Meant to Be
Lauren Morill - Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave
Jennifer Fleischner - Nexus
Naam Ramez - The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern - No, David!
David Shannon - The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman - Odd Duck
Cecil Castellucci - Old Yeller
Fred Gipson - The Orphan Master’s Son
Adam Johnson - Pie
Sarah Weeks - Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into the Afterlife
Eben Alexander, M.D. - The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran - The Red Garden
Alice Hoffman - The Rent Collector
Camron Wright - The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
Jonathan Haidt - The Round House
Louise Erdrich - Rules of Civility
Amor Towles - The Shoes of the Fisherman
Morris West - Show Me the Murder
Carolyn Mulford - Sisterland
Curtis Sittenfeld - So Much Pretty
Cara Hoffman - The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius
Kristine Barnett - The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease
Daniel E. Lieberman - Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World
Rita Golden Gelman - Telegraph Avenue
Michael Chabon - Telex From Cuba
Rachel Kushner - Tenth of December
George Saunders - Thank You for Your Service
David Finkel - This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
Ann Patchett - A Thousand Pardons
Jonathan Dee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee - Together Tea
Marjan Kamali - Tom T’s Hat Rack: A Story About Paying It Forward
Michele Spry - Toxic Charity
Robert Lupton - TransAtlantic
Colum McCann - The Uglies Series
Scott Westerfied - Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Laura Hillenbrand - The Warmth of Other Suns
Isabel Wilkerson - The Watchman’s Rattle
Rebecca D. Costa - Wave
Sonal Deraniyagala - When I Grow Up
Juliana Hatfield - Where’d You Go Bernadette
Maria Semple - Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It
Gary Taubes - Wild
Cheryl Strayed - The Wilderness Series
David Thompson - The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins - Wonder
R.J. Palacio - Year of Wonders
Geraldine Brooks - Zeitoun
Dave Eggers - Zorro
Isabel Allende