OC Reads is a program designed to bring people together through literature by encouraging them to read the same book and participate in discussions and other events centered on that book.
Each year, the OC Reads Committee selects a book and invites community members to read and discuss this book together. The reading experience is supplemented by a series of free programs offered at the library in the form of book discussions, presentations, and activities related to the book’s themes. The series of events culminates in a visit by the book’s author where audience members can engage with the author and have their books signed.
We hope you will join us in this celebration of books, reading, and community.
THE 2024 OC READS BOOK SELECTION IS...
Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt
Join us for A Talk, Q&A, and Book Signing
Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 2:00pm in the Lecture Hall
To register for the virtual livestream of Shelby Van Pelt’s author talk,
please click the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xIM75R0gTaywTgrVUZTivg
Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, was published by Ecco/HarperCollins (US) and Bloomsbury (UK) in Spring 2022. For fans of A Man Called Ove, this luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in the Puget Sound over 30 years ago. As she works, Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine, but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight tentacles for his human captors—until he forms an unlikely friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. As his affection for Tova grows, Marcellus must use every trick his old, invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late. Charming, compulsively readable, and full of wit, Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a beautiful exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope–a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she’s now missing the mountains in the Chicago area with her husband and two children.
Recommended Book and Film Tie-In’s to Remarkably Bright Creatures
TV/Film
Secrets of the Octopus (National Geographic)
Books
Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home by Sy Montgomery
Animals, Animals by Eric Carle
The Octopus Scientists by Sy Montgomery
The Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Secrets of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Octopus: The Ocean's Intelligent Invertebrate by Mather, Anderson, and Wood
How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery
OC Reads Previous Titles
2024 - Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
2023 - The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
2022 - The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe
2021 - The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
2020 - The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
2019 - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2018 - Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and The Triumph of Trust by Michael Hingson
2017 - One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni
2016 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
2015 - Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
2014 - Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
OC Reads Previous Titles
