Book of the Month: The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
Ocean Pines Library - Ocean Pines, Maryland (Runs through: 02/10/2012)
A family's conflict becomes a battle for life and death in this novel based on family history from a descendant of a condemned Salem witch. Kelly Rouse will lead discussion.

Writing with Ruth
Ocean City Library - Ocean City, Maryland (Runs through: 02/16/2012)
Monthly gathering of local writers share independent work (poems/essays/memoirs/prose, etc.) and receive encouraging feedback from fellow participants. Ruth Alcorn will lead the group.

Book of the Month: Of Love and Other Demons
Berlin Library - 220 N. Main Street - Berlin, Maryland (Runs through: 02/17/2012)
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Cynthia Hanagud and Gail Samis, Salisbury University, will lead discussions.

Delmarva History Series: Frederick Douglass
Nabb Center Gallery - Salisbury University - Salisbury, Maryland (Runs through: 02/21/2012)
A unique look into the lives of Eastern Shore men of the 18th-20th centuries. This series focuses on the lives of individuals who brought about change on the Eastern Shore and will include insights into the lives of businessmen, philanthropists, abolitionists, ambassadors, ministers and governors from the Eastern Shore. Some of the presentations will be lecture-oriented, others will be book discussions. Dr. Clara Small, professor of History, will speak on the life and times of Frederick Douglass and lead the book discussion on Douglass' autobiography.

Regret to Inform with Kelley Rouse
Pocomoke Library - Pocomoke City, Maryland (Runs through: 03/13/2012)
Film & Discussion, Big Read Event - In this film made over ten years, filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn goes on a pilgrimage to the Vietnamese countryside where her husband was killed. She and translator, Xuan Ngoc Nguyen explore the meaning of war and loss on a human level. The film weaves interviews with Vietnamese and American widows into a vivid testament to the legacy of war.

Book of the Month: The Things They Carried
Berlin Library - 220 N. Main Street - Berlin, Maryland (Runs through: 03/16/2012)
By Tim O'Brien - A ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam.

Author Discussion
Wicomico Library - Salisbury, Maryland (Runs through: 03/19/2012)
Local author Loudell Insley will speak on her book, "Life on a Road Less Traveled: Or, Memoirs from Behind the Scenes of History."

Big Read Event: History and Legacy of the Vietnam War - Part I
Ocean City Library - Ocean City, Maryland (Runs through: 03/19/2012)
Program begins with Vietnam's long struggle against foreign invaders, picking up at the end of World War II when France reemerged as a colonial power in Vietnam. The presentation traces the eventual French withdrawal from Vietnam as part of the 1954 Geneva Agreement, the growing American financial assistance over the remainder of the 1950s, and the introduction and buildup of American military presence in Vietnam during the 1960s. Program ends with the Tet Offensive of 1968, when Viet Cong forces attempted to overrun American and South Vietnamese positions. Part II, March 26.

Big Read Event: History and Legacy of the Vietnam War - Part I
Ocean City Library - Ocean City, Maryland (Runs through: 03/26/2012)
Events from 1968 to the end of the war are covered, including the 1968 presidential election and its impact on the Vietnam War, the drawdown of U.S. forces, the 1973 Paris Peace Accords which led to American withdrawal from Vietnam, and the victorious 1975 North Vietnamese offensive which unified Vietnam under a communist government. The legacy of the war for the respective governments, soldiers, and citizens of America and Vietnam is discussed. U.S. participation in the Vietnam War is compared to several subsequent conflicts.

A Big Read Event: A Musical Review of the 1960s
Berlin Library - 220 N. Main Street - Berlin, Maryland (Runs through: 04/04/2012)
Frank Nanna and fellow musicians perform the songs of the 60s. The music of the 60's tells the story of what is happening to families and the human spirit as Americans engage in the Vietnam War.

A Big Read Event: Platoon
Ocean City Library - Ocean City, Maryland (Runs through: 04/09/2012)
A young, naive American gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers. As the war continues, he struggles for survival; he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict among the men within his platoon.

A Big Read Event: Vietnam Mailbag
Berlin Library - 220 N. Main Street - Berlin, Maryland (Runs through: 04/11/2012)
Young reporter, Nancy E. Lynch, relayed the hopes and fears, the joy and the tears, of hundreds of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from Delaware through the Vietnam Mailbag column she wrote in the Wilmington Morning News. Now, nearly 40 years after she began writing her column, Nancy is reopening the Vietnam Mailbag to give a new generation a fresh look at the first-person accounts of troops in the combat zone.

The Art of Racing in the Rain
Ocean Pines Library - Ocean Pines, Maryland (Runs through: 04/13/2012)
By Garth Stein - On the eve of his death, Enzo (a dog) tells what amounts to his master's life story. Nancy Mitchell, Salisbury University, will lead discussions.

Book of the Month
Berlin Library - 220 N. Main Street - Berlin, Maryland (Runs through: 04/20/2012)
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

A Big Read Event - Film: Born on the Fourth of July
Ocean Pines Library - Ocean Pines, Maryland (Runs through: 04/23/2012)
Born on the Fourth of July is the biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam War, Ron becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.