History of Our Community Reads
Each year since 2018, a passionate group of readers gathers to dive into a world of books, reading voraciously through winter and meeting through early spring to expand on the book. Events are presented from late January to early March and are designed to explore the various themes in the selected book.
Events often include author talks, panel discussions, speaker series, high school students’ art, film series, book discussions, trivia night, music events, hands-on art workshops, writing workshops, and more. See book selections and runners up from past seasons of Our Community Reads.
2025 Book Selection
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
2025 Runners Up
Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper
Brave the Wild River by Melissa Sevigny
California Against the Sea by Rosanna Xia
Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
Santa Cruz County’s 2025 Our Community Reads program selected Barbara Kingsolver’s 2012 novel Flight Behavior as its featured book, focusing on its powerful exploration of climate change through the lens of displaced monarch butterflies migrating unexpectedly to rural Appalachia. Organized by the Friends chapters, the initiative kicked off in late January with a field trip to Natural Bridges State Park, where participants observed overwintering monarchs and learned about their migration patterns. Over the following weeks, the program featured 14 free public events spanning book discussions at various library branches, lectures on climate science and environmental impacts, movie screenings related to the novel’s themes, hands-on activities such as butterfly habitat workshops, and expert talks on biodiversity and global warming. Timed to coincide with the monarchs’ departure in early spring, the events ran through March 13, encouraging widespread community engagement with the book’s messages of ecological disruption, rural poverty, and personal awakening.
2024 Book Selection
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
2024 Runners Up
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall
2023 Book Selection
Mary Coin by Marisa Silver
2023 Runners Up
Caught Inside by Daniel Duane
Lost Feast by Lenore Newman
Rising by Elizabeth Rush
2022 Book Selection
Red Letter Days by Sarah-Jane Stratford
2022 Runners Up
Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
2021 Book Selection
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
2021 Runners Up
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
2020 Book Selection
Patriot Number One by Lauren Hilgers
2020 Runners Up
Change Comes to Dinner by Katherine Gustafson
Earthquake Storms by John Dvorak
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
2019 Book Selection
The Death & Life of Monterey Bay by Stephen R. Palumbi and Carolyn Sotka
2019 Runners Up
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil
2018 Book Selection
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
2018 Runners Up
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Half-Earth by Edward O. Wilson
The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
Visit the Our Community Reads page to learn more about the 2026 book selection and related events.
