For librarians, there isn’t anything more satisfying than recommending a great book to someone. And thanks to The Great American Read, our staff got the chance to do that in an exciting way, via public broadcast.

In cooperation with Northwest Public Broadcasting, librarians from Whitman County and other regional libraries are recommending our favorite books and encouraging people to vote for theirs in The Great American Read.

The Great American Read (GAR) is a list of 100 novels, shared in an eight-part PBS series. GAR explores and celebrates the power of reading with testimonials from celebrities, authors, and book lovers. The series debuted in May and so far, over 1 million people have voted!

If you are like me, you have to wonder how PBS could narrow the list to just 100 titles. Turns out they commissioned a survey of 7200 people from diverse locations and demographics. The results were tallied and organized based on specific selection criteria and overseen by an advisory panel of literary industry professionals. The process for choosing the top 100 list was exhaustive.

In looking over the list, I was thrilled to see many of my favorites but also, a number of classics I’ve always intended to read. For example, I’ve never read anything by Agatha Christie (gasp) so “And Then There Were None” is now on my nightstand.

For staff, the process of recording our reviews was really fun. We went to NWPB’s studio, sat in front of the green screen and read from a teleprompter. Even though they couldn’t airbrush my wrinkles or give me a broadcaster’s silky, smooth tone, the NWPB staff was really helpful and encouraging.

In celebration of The Great American Read, the Colfax Library invites residents to stop in and have their photo taken with their favorite of the featured GAR titles. We are posting these fun photos in our library and online as a way to encourage everyone to read and vote.

You can view the entire list of titles, where you can also vote at https://www.nwpb.org/GAR/. Most importantly of all, you can obtain any of the 100 books listed in The Great American Read by contacting your local library.

by Kristie Kirkpatrick, Whitman County Rural Library District Director