Book readers to get on the same page
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

For those wondering what book to read this summer, the city of Thousand Oaks community reading program, Thousand Oaks Reads, has a recommendation.

Thousand Oaks Reads, a part of the One City One Book project, was created to encourage the entire city to join together in experiencing the same book. This year's selection is "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The book was chosen by a committee looking for contemporary fiction with wide appeal, said Sue Pelman, adult library services librarian at the Grant Brimhall/ Thousand Oaks Library.

"It had to be something that would interest high school readers and up, as well as both men and women. It also needed to be in multiple formats, such as paperback, audio books and translated into several languages.

"Something else very important was the author had to be living, since a part of the program includes events- one the author is going to attend," she said.

"It was a very intense, rigorous process. We sifted through hundreds of titles," Pelman said.

The library has secured more than 100 copies of the book. If the project takes off like organizers are hoping, the library is prepared to get more, she said. Local bookstores have also been made aware of the need to have copies available.

There will be people looking for residents reading the book in public. When caught with the book, the reader will be awarded a certificate.

"One City One Book is not a new concept and has had great success in other cities," Pelman said. "We're doing this to build community spirit."

Most of the activities will take place from Sept. 15 to Oct. 14. The public will be invited to participate in book discussions to be held in venues all over the city, including the library, coffee shops and bookstores.

Special events are also planned, including a visit from the author on Oct. 7 at the Civic Arts Plaza Scherr Forum.

For those who prefer to gather a group of friends and host their own book discussion, the library will soon have bags complete with multiple copies of the book, resource guides and bookmarks.

For more information, go to thousandoaksreads.org/the-book, where people are invited to post thoughts, comments and opinions about the book, the author and other topics connected with the One City One Book project.

This is a forum to exchange ideas, share personal experiences and recognize the power of literature, Pelman said.

Summing up

What's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" about?

Excerpts from the book's jacket reveal that author "Jonathan Safran Foer confronts the traumas of recent history. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination."

The 9-year-old protagonist, Oskar Schell, "is an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler and pacifist . . . on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11/01.

An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he's always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm."

Oskar's optimistic, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before.

As he "roams New York," the publishers explain, "he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building and lovers enraptured or scorned.

"Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin."