Capital Area Reads One Book Project 2010

Capital Area Reads One Book is our annual reading project designed to encourage discussion and spark the exchange of ideas across Ingham County. Each year, committee members read widely and debate the strengths and weaknesses of many books before agreeing on a reading experience they most want to share with the community.

The Book

For 2010, committee members have chosen Carolyn Jourdan’s best-selling memoir Heart in the Right Place. By turns poignant and hilarious, it chronicles the ultimate case of “downsizing.” Jourdan left a high-powered career as a Washington, D.C. attorney and returned to her East Tennessee hometown, where she helped her father in his medical practice while her mother recovered from a heart attack.

Heart in the Right Place was honored as "A Best Book Club of 2007-2008" by Book Sense and "A Best Book of 2007-2008" by The Literary Guild. The Booklist review says, “With lavish affection, genuine respect, and exuberant humor, Jourdan offers a zestfully compassionate portrait of a poor community rich in the ways of true humanity.”

We invite you to join with other readers in experiencing this humorous and inspirational story. Visit your library or place a hold on Heart in the Right Place in our online catalog. It’s available in print, on CD or as a downloadable. To talk about the book with other readers, join one of the discussion groups at our 13 locations.

 For a list of selections from previous years, click here.

The Author: Carolyn Jourdan

Carolyn Jourdan is a former U.S. Senate Counsel to the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Governmental Affairs (now Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs). She now lives on the family farm in East Knox County, Tennessee, with four dogs and three cats. Heart in the Right Place is her first book and took 19 years to write. She is currently working on a sequel. Check out her website and blog for more about Jourdan.

The Event

On April 19, Jourdan will visit CADL for a special Capital Area Reads One Book event. Free tickets will be available at all CADL locations. More information will be available soon.