Idaho Falls Reads...

coming in March 2009

Idaho Falls Reads... is the Idaho Falls Public Library annual community-wide book club, where we provide the books, the speakers, the events and the discussions for everyone in Idaho Falls, well actually for everyone in Bonneville County!

We are so excited to be reading Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson this year. This book is especially poignant for the southern Idaho region, as it deals with haunting issues of prejudice towards the Japanese Americans during World War II.

from the publisher:

San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memory grows as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries — memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched. Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric, Snow Falling on Cedars is a masterpiece of suspense — one that leaves us shaken and changed.

Snow Falling on Cedars:
· Winner of the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award
· American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award
· Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award

Other people said:
· "Compelling...heartstopping. Finely wrought, flawlessly written." The New York Times Book Review
· "[A] thoughtful, poetic first novel, a cleverly constructed courtroom drama with detailed, compelling characters....Packed with lovely moments and as compact as haiku — at the same time, a page-turner full of twists." Kirkus Reviews
· "A powerful meditation on the nature of pride and prejudice and personal responsibility....Casts a deepening spell." Seattle Post Intelligencer
· "The novel poetically evokes the beauty of the land while revealing the harshness of war, the nuances of our legal system, and the injustice done to those interned in U.S. relocation camps. Highly recommended." Library Journal

IFPL is looking for volunteers for the planning committees for this program. if you are interested, please contact Jenniffer at the library, 612-8330 or jennifferh@ipl.org