On the Same Page
What is the power of one book? Can it do more than enlighten and entertain individual
readers? Can it impact the heart and soul of a community, help us to open new lines
of communication and lay the groundwork for a stronger and better Forsyth County?
We believe that On the Same Page, the Library’s community book reading program,
has potential to do just that. On the Same Page seeks to broaden appreciation of
literature through the shared experience of reading and discussing a single work
of literature. It offers us a unique opportunity to see things through from a different
perspective, one that will only expand our understanding of the world around us.
The Forsyth County Public Library also sponsors an annual celebration of poetry
that complements On the Same Page, called On the Same Poem,
in which participants read and discuss a single poem.
Now in its 10th year, On the Same Page continues!
2011 Book Selection
The Road to Devotion by Cameron Kent
For a complete calendar and much more information
about this year’s On The Same Page, check out our blog!
The Road to Devotion was published in 2009 and written by Winston-Salem's
own, Cameron Kent. This story is set in the small city of Winston in 1860 with North
Carolina on the verge of Civil War. After the sudden death of her father, Sarah
Talton is determined to run her family’s farm on her own including the management
of slaves. When escaped slave Jacquerie Bodin, battered and captured by bounty hunters,
comes into Sarah’s ownership, the two women form an unlikely yet intimate dependence,
then friendship. Their relationship forces Sarah into a reassessment of the morality
of slavery and her own role in her society that changes the course of both women’s
lives.
Check out a copy and join in the conversation with your friends and neighbors. Literature
is a carriage that takes us to other times and places so we can see through someone
else’s eyes and grow through someone else’s heart and history. This year, we go
back together to Winston in 1860, On the Same Page.