Read To Succeed, the community organization that offers free literacy programs to children and adults in the county, also promotes literacy through a number of events, including their annual One Book initiative. The initiative promotes community conversation about a single book by asking everyone who lives in the county to read the same book. The book was announced in early January, and this year’s book is Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb.
The pandemic has brought the discussion of mental health to the forefront because COVID-19 has caused many people to feel anxious, depressed, and isolated. Gottlieb’s book looks at therapy from the point of view of a therapist, as she is herself a therapist, but she ends up in therapy when hitting a personal crisis point.
“With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb reveals our blind spots, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change,” says her webpage. “’Maybe You Should Talk to Someone’ is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.”
“Who could resist watching a therapist grapple with the same questions her patients have been asking her for years? Gottlieb, who writes the Atlantic’s “Dear Therapist” column, brings searing honesty to her search for answers,” says “The Washington Post” review.
According to the Read To Succeed website, “Copies of the 2023 One Book can be found around town at “Book Crossing” locations, marked by one of the Read To Succeed red boxes. Books can also be borrowed from Simply Pure Sweets, the Technology Engagement Center, Bradley Academy Museum, and all Rutherford County Library System Branches.” The book can be passed to friends, returned to any of the above locations, or dropped off at Read To Succeed.” The organization is asking that everyone who reads the book log into the One Book website or Facebook page and write a review or comment about how they feel about the book.
The book is going to be part of a community book discussion on Tuesday, January 24 at 7:00 p.m. central time on Zoom. This discussion is being sponsored by the Rutherford County Library System, the League of Women Voters of Murfreesboro / Rutherford County, and the Murfreesboro chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). A link to the Zoom meeting can be found here.
“Our local League programs this year are focused on mental health and education,” said Mary Catherine Sevier, local League co-president on the library system website. “We look forward to expanding the conversation on these locally relevant topics and invite anyone in our local community, adults and teens, to participate.”
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone will be one of three books that will be up for discussion. The other two books are: Who Put This Song On? by Morgan Parker and Educated by Tara Westover. Parker’s book is a semi-autobiographical story about a young black girl finding her voice and Westover’s is a biography about overcoming the survivalist Mormon family she came from in order to go to college.
“The online book discussion will begin with a brief welcome,” says the library website, “then participants will be organized into Zoom “rooms” for small group discussion on their particular book selections. The discussions will be led by library representatives and League volunteers.” The event is expected to take one hour.
Linebaugh Public Library is located at 105 W. Vine St. in Murfreesboro. Smyrna Public Library is located at 400 Enon Springs Rd. West in Smyrna. Eagleville Bicentennial Public Library is located at 317 Hwy 99E in Eagleville. MGL Library is located inside Patterson Park Community Center at 521 Mercury Blvd. in Murfreesboro. The Technology Engagement Center is located at 306 Minerva Drive in Murfreesboro. The Historical Research Center (HRC) is located at 435 Rice Street in Murfreesboro. Explore, Imagine, Engage through RCLS. For more information, call 615-893-4131 or visit rclstn.org.
Established locally in 1957, the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Membership in the League is open to men and women of all ages. For more information, visit lwvrutherford.org.
AAUW Murfreesboro is a membership organization of college-educated individuals from all walks of life who share a common purpose—to level the playing field for women and girls in education and in the workplace. For more information, visit https://murfreesboro-tn.aauw.net/.
