Avid and even occasional readers have all had the experience where a great book changes you and stays with you after you put it down.
There’s always those few books that we feel we need to share with the world.
The Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy, the Nelson Star, Otters Books and the Nelson Public Library are teaming up to find out what books you recommend in a campaign called Nelson Reads.
“The idea behind Nelson Reads is just to recommend a book that lots of people in Nelson would enjoy,” said literacy outreach co-ordinator for CBAL Joan Exley. “The kind of book where you’d say ‘Oh, you’ve got to read this.’ The idea is to give a list for when you get a book drought and you don’t know what to read, and you’re thinking ‘I want to read a book but I don’t know what to read.’”
Throughout January nominations will be available in the paper and through the other three partners where Nelson residents can cast their vote for what book they think other Nelsonites should read.
Nominations can be made in four categories: Children, youth, adult fiction and adult non-fiction.
“It will culminate on Family Literacy Day which is January 27, and on that day someone from each of our four partners will come together and will draw names in each of those four categories and those people will win a collection of about five books from that category,” said Exley. “So if you nominated kids books there would be a little bag of kids books that somebody could win.”
Exley said that ultimately the goal of Nelson Reads is to get people talking about books, and not just the well known, best sellers but hopefully some unknown books as well.
A book that Exley recommends is Good Camel, Good Life by Scott Bischke.
“The reason I picked that one is because I think that not that many people know about it,” she said.
“In this community I know that lots of people are into yoga. This book is about using yoga as your way to help you through everyday life challenges.”
Good Camel, Good Life shares how a man uses Bikram Yoga and how it influences his journey through the challenges he faces like his wife’s cancer.
“I just really enjoyed it and it’s a bit different. It was one of those types of books that when I read it, it really related to stuff that was going on in my life. It felt like he was talking to me,” said Exley.
The four partners in Nelson Reads are hoping that the campaign will become an annual event.
“I just would like to get the word out so that people know that it’s everybody in town,” said Exley.
“We want to get lots of people engaging with it and taking a moment to jot down that favourite book or that book that they think ‘Wow, I’d love to have other people reading this.’”