O-Town Reads events are designed to bring our community together through the reading and discussion of a common book and give the members of our city -- both young and old -- an opportunity to connect and talk through a shared reading experience.
O-Town Reads brings friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers together through a common theme. Approximately 500 copies of the chosen title are given away to the community each year with the instructions to "read and pass it on"
2024
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot
by Marianne Cronin
An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories.
Seventeen-year-old Lenni Pettersson lives on the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital. Though the teenager has been told she’s dying, she still has plenty of living to do. Joining the hospital’s arts and crafts class, she meets the magnificent Margot, an 83-year-old, purple-pajama-wearing, fruitcake-eating rebel, who transforms Lenni in ways she never imagined.
As their friendship blooms, a world of stories opens for these unlikely companions who, between them, have been alive for one hundred years. Though their days are dwindling, both are determined to leave their mark on the world. With the help of Lenni’s doting palliative care nurse and Father Arthur, the hospital’s patient chaplain, Lenni and Margot devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived—stories of love and loss, of courage and kindness, of unexpected tenderness and pure joy.
Though the end is near, life isn’t quite done with these unforgettable women just yet.
Delightfully funny and bittersweet, heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot reminds us of the preciousness of life as it considers the legacy we choose to leave, how we influence the lives of others even after we’re gone, and the wonder of a friendship that transcends time.
2024 Sponsors
American Eagle Foundation
Friends of the Ottawa Library
Franklin County Community Foundation
Rotary Club of Ottawa
KOFO Radio
David Tyler
Ottawa Memorial Auditorium
Liz and Bob Reusch
Loyd Builders, Inc
Oakstar Bank
Sheryl Servatius-Brown and Rich Brown
Trent and Jody Lancaster
Charles Patry
Hepner Appraisal Service
Becky and Tomp Shrimplin
Dr. Dulos, Optometrist
Previous O-Town Reads
2023
Finding Dorothy
by Elizabeth Letts
2022
The Sun Does Shine
by Anthony Ray Hinton
2021
A Man Called Ove
by Fredrick Backman
2020
No Other Home
by Matt Besler
2019
Tough As They Come
by SSG Travis Mills
2018
The Other Wes Moore
by Wes Moore
2017
Girl In Reverse
by Barbara Stuber
2016
Out of My Mind
by Sharon M. Draper