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The Salt Lake County Library wants everyone in the county to read a book this fall — and the library has a particular book in mind.
The library has announced the title for its annual "One County, One Book," program, which runs September through November and encourages all adults in the county to read and discuss a single book.
The title for this year's program is "The Orphan Master's Son," by Adam Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set in North Korea.
Here's a synopsis of the book, provided by the library:
"It is the story of Pak Jun Do, the haunted son of a lost mother — a singer 'stolen' to the capitol city Pyongyang — and an influential father who runs a work camp for orphans. Superiors in the state soon recognize the boy's loyalty and keen instincts. Considering himself 'a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,' Jun Do rises in the ranks. He becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his North Korean overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress 'so pure, she didn't know what starving people looked like.'"
The library system will have extra copies of "The Orphan Master's Son" on hand in paperback, audiobook on CD, downloadable eBook and eAudiobook. Discussions will be scheduled at library branches, and on the county library's Goodreads group online.