The Sonoma County Library urges all residents to join in this year’s selection for “Sonoma County Reads”—Octavia Butler’s Kindred, or Parentesco in Spanish. The 2018 community read begins in October and continues into December, with book discussion events and multiple copies of the book available at your local library branch.
Butler’s book is a tale of Dana, a modern black woman who suddenly transports via time-travel from her home in Los Angeles to a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, has somehow summoned her across time to save him from drowning. After this first summons, she is drawn back repeatedly to protect Rufus and ensure he will grow to manhood and father the daughter who will become Dana’s ancestor. First published in 1979, Kindred explores a number of questions about the legacy of slavery in the United States, gender, race, and power, historical memory and trauma, and the meaning of freedom through a fascinating combination of time travel story and slave narrative.
Since 2003, the Sonoma County Library has brought a county-wide “community read” program to the residents of Sonoma County. The goal is to foster a common culture through reading a common title, to open avenues of conversation, and to encourage reading. The program is a community effort, and the Library’s partners include Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College.
“We have read a wide variety of wonderful books over the past 15 years,” notes Adult Services Administrator Morgan Rose Pershing, “including The Call of the Wild by our own Jack London, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and the poems of Emily Dickinson.”
This year’s selection is available in both Spanish and English, and the Library will have many copies in each language. “There will even be some available for free, thanks to the support of Measure Y,” notes Pershing. “We’re encouraging readers to pick up a copy, read it, and pass it on!”
Please visit the Sonoma County Reads Facebook page to see more upcoming events and offerings. https://www.facebook.com/sonomacountyreads/
