To celebrate the 25th anniversary of our community-wide reading program, we reached out to some of the individuals who have served on the One Read Reading Panel since the very beginning. Over the years, the community has read about rural life, the circus, apocalyptic America, the 1936 Olympic rowing team, nomadic seniors, a little house in the woods and other varied topics. We wondered which of the past 24 One Read books our panelists liked best and which they liked least. Here’s what we learned.
Marty Riback
I really liked five of the 25 books. It is hard to decide which one is best, but if I have to choose, then “Enders Game” by Orson Scott Card is my choice. I love reading science fiction, mysteries, thrillers and the occasional romance novel, since I prefer action characters with thrills on every page.
David Lile
Several times during the One Read process, I did not care for a book when I first read it as a reading panelist. Then, after it was chosen, I found that I really liked the book when I read it more closely the second time. Recently, that happened with “North Woods” and “Migrations.”
I struggled with “Station Eleven,” “The Tiger’s Wife” and “Ender’s Game.’’ Good books, for sure, but not in the genres that appeal to me.
I do remember my favorite One Read choices, though. On that list would be “Bettyville,” “A Gentleman in Moscow” and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” What attracted me to those books were the stories, as well as the authors. I liked hearing George Hodgman (“Bettyville”) talk about his mother who lived in Paris, Missouri and Amor Towles (“A Gentleman in Moscow”) describe the process of creating the hotel setting that his story was built around. Author Rebecca Skloot was unable to visit Columbia to discuss her book about Henrietta Lacks, but I thought Henrietta Lacks’ son, Sonny Lacks was a good guest on the stage at Columbia College.
I also want to mention the very first One Read book, “Plainsong.” It is such a gentle story set in a beautiful part of the country and built around kind, rustic characters. I have sought out other books by Ken Haruf because his style appeals to me.
But my favorite One Read selection is the 2014 choice: “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown. I liked it because I like Olympic history. Brown described the boats, the practices, the race and the time period so well.
I still remember MIB (Mind in Boat), and I have used that to channel my focus and referred to it in a talk I had to give.
Gwen Struchtemeyer
Living outside of Columbia, I am attracted to books that speak to DBRL’s broad regional reach. And, as a former high school teacher and librarian, I want young people to be attracted to One Read. In 24 years, almost half of the One Read selections have been adapted for film and television, reminding us of the shared power of a good story.
My favorite fiction was “When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky” by Margaret Verble. This novel had well-drawn, memorable characters; engaging historical background; believable supernatural elements; and I’ll never look at turtles the same way again! Overall, I thought it was a superior story to the similar circus-themed “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen, the 2007 One Read selection.
For nonfiction, “The Boys in the Boat,” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” were all excellent. After One Read, some AP biology classes adopted Henrietta Lacks as an extra-credit read, and AP history classes adopted the other two as well. These three books also taught the selection committee that our readers were willing to read a longer book if it was compelling enough. This seemed to carry over to last year’s selection “North Woods.”
A Quarter Century of Community-Wide Reading
Now in its 25th year, One Read is a community-wide reading program coordinated by the Daniel Boone Regional Library that encourages adults of all ages to read and discuss a single book. This year, nearly 75% of One Read voters chose “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt. With that level of popularity, it may prove to be a future One Read favorite! Read it over the summer, and we’ll talk more about it and enjoy a visit from the author September 22 at the Missouri Theatre. One Read is co-sponsored by a task force of local businesses, agencies, academic institutions and other groups.
What are your favorite One Read titles?
Throughout August 2026, we’re running a One Read Tournament of Champions. Vote each week on head-to-head matches between our past titles. One lucky voter will get a One Read Bookshelf (a complete collection of all 25 One Read books), and we’ll discuss the winning book at the Columbia library on September 30.