Santa Monica Citywide Reads Seeks Book Suggestions for 2009

Read any good Books lately. The Santa Monica Citywide Reads Advisory Committee wants your help in choosing a book for Citywide Reads 2009.

Citywide Reads celebrates reading and conversation by encouraging all members of the community to read and discuss the same book.

Book suggestions must be works of fiction that appeal to a variety of people. Appropriate titles should challenge yet be accessible and inspire discussion. Only novels available in a variety of formats such as paperback and audiobook will be considered. The deadline for suggestions is July 31, 2008.

Since 2003, Citywide Reads selections have included: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch.

To suggest a book, email citywidereads@smgov.net, complete an on-line form at www.smpl.org/cwr, visit our blog at www.santamonicacitywidereads.blogspot.com, or visit or call any Santa Monica Public Library.

The selected title will be announced this fall, and Citywide Reads 2009 will take place in March-April 2009.