The desire to connect with loved ones is more prevalent than usual as Santa Clara County residents continue to shelter in place during the pandemic. Acknowledging this—and trying to create a shared experience when we can’t gather together—has led Silicon Valley Reads to assemble a robust reading list around this year’s theme of “Connecting.”
For the past 18 years, Silicon Valley Reads has encouraged people in Santa Clara County to read books and join conversations relevant to a theme. And while this year’s events will be held online, the reading material they’re centered around deals with people’s connections to nature, art, music, food, animals and each other, with the goal of letting readers find the featured books with which they have the deepest connection.
Silicon Valley Reads kicks off Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m. with a panel discussion in partnership with the Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley. Experts will discuss their perspectives on ways we as individuals and in our community can find comfort and connection in difficult times.
Panelists for “Together: Connecting and Finding Comfort” include Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s public health officer; Dr. James Doty, a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and founder/director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University; and Usha Srinivasan, president of Mosaic Silicon Valley, whose mission is to strengthen diverse communities through intercultural arts. The event will be moderated by San Jose Mercury News columnist Sal Pizarro.
There will also be a special appearance by author and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, whose “Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World,” is a featured book.
Other authors will sit down for virtual interviews during Silicon Valley Reads, which runs through March 31. Other events—held in partnership with the 37 libraries in Santa Clara County, the Santa Clara County Office of Education and other community organizations—include cultural conversations around art and music, activities for children and teens, a documentary movie series, free classes, and conversations around the “Connecting” theme.
In addition to Murthy’s book, featured reads include “Always Home,” Fanny Singer’s memoir of her unique childhood and relationship with her mother, famed Chez Panisse restaurateur Alice Waters; “Mutual Rescue” by former Humane Society Silicon Valley head Carol Novello, who share stories about adopted rescue animals who help “save” their owners; “The Home Place” by J. Drew Lanham, a memoir about how his childhood connection with nature in the rural South put him on the path to becoming an ornithologist and ecology professor; “The Giver of Stars,” Jojo Moyes’ historical novel about the Pack Horse Library Project in Kentucky in the 1930s and how books helped create strong community connections; and “The Music Shop” by Rachel Joyce, a novel about a record store owner in the 1980s with an uncanny skill for matching people with the music they needed to hear.
For children and teens, the selected books include “Parker Looks Up,” a picture book by Parker and Jessica Curry (illustrated by Brittany Jackson); “Maybe Something Beautiful” by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell (illustrated by Rafael Lopez) for grades K-3; “Garvey’s Choice” by Nikki Grimes for grades 4-8; and “The Sun Is Also A Star” by Nicola Yoon for teens 14 and up.
These selections are available for curbside and electronic checkout at branches of the Santa Clara County Library District and the San Jose Public Library. For more information, visit www.siliconvalleyreads.org.
Reid Myers is the Silicon Valley Reads coordinator.
