2019 OCOB selection: Susan Orlean's "The Library Book"

Author Susan Orlean and Ventura County Star journalist Stacie Galang chatting at the One County One Book event in November 2019

Our 2019 One County, One Book program featured journalist and bestselling author Susan Orlean’s best seller, The Library Book.

2019 OCOB Author Event

Orlean joined us at California State University Channel Islands to speak for our capstone event in a session followed by a Q&A moderated by Stacie N. Galang, Editor and Content Coach with the Ventura County Star.

Over 300 people attended the program, which was made possible through a primary sponsorship from CSUCI along with additional sponsorships from a host of other organizations including California Lutheran University, Ventura College, the Museum of Ventura County, the Museum of Ventura County's Docent Volunteer Council, the Camarillo Public Library, the Calabasas Library, the Ventura Friends of the Library, the Ojai Valley Library Friends & Foundation, and the Ventura County Library Foundation. One County, One Book 2019 was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (visit www.calhum.org).

In the lead up to this final event, each Ventura County Library branch hosted book discussions, library-themed storytimes and craft activities, and honor book shelves with physical and audio copies of The Library Book. There were opportunities for readers to submit reviews remotely, in person, or online, and several of our partners put on special events of their own, including a stellar faculty panel at California Lutheran University and screenings of Emilio Estevez’s film The Public at the Museum of Ventura County and Calabasas Library. 

We here at the Ventura County Library would like to thank our staff, our partners, and our community for helping us put on another wonderful One County, One Book program. We are excited to start planning for 2020!

Press for 2019 One County, One Book

'Library Book' picked for county reading program

Colleen Cason: Libraries get us on the same page

Discussion Questions for 'The Library Book'

About the Author - Susan Orlean

[Portrait photo of Ms. Orlean courtesy of Noah Fecks]

From the everyday to the outlandish, bestselling author Susan Orlean has an eye for the moving, the hilarious, and the surprising. Considered “a national treasure” (The Washington Post), she is the author of The Orchid Thief, which inspired the Academy Award-winning film Adaptation, and Rin Tin Tin, which tells the remarkable story of how an orphaned puppy became one of the best-paid actors in Hollywood.

Her latest work is The Library Book, a quest to solve a notorious cold case: who set fire to the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986, destroying 400,000 books. The Library Book is a Washington Post Top 10 Book of the Year, a New York Times Bestseller, and a New York Times Notable Book of 2018. 

See all Ms. Orlean's titles here at VCL

See past One County, One Book titles