For 10 years now, Homer Public Library staff have been compiling an annual list of books to encourage more community-wide reading. Including staff picks and community member suggestions in a variety of genres, this is the library’s Lit Lineup.

Like a reading program for adults, the idea is simple — to get people to read more books, at least 15 annually. Coinciding with the Best Books of the Year nationally published lists, the Lit Lineup list is announced in January and featured books are in a special display in the library.

Supported by Friends of the Homer Library, readers are invited to submit an entry for each book they read, with submissions entered into a monthly drawing. Those who read at least 15 books are entered into the year’s grand prize drawing.

Library staffer Matthew Smith has been organizing the list since 2021.

“I enjoy connecting with people in the community and talking about books,” he said. “I love it when someone comes into the library and tells me about a book they’ve enjoyed and why. Lit Lineup encourages people to read and reading provides an opportunity to connect to both an experience beyond your own and with your imagination.”

Every year, between 100 and 120 books are chosen based on staff and community member recommendations, published book reviews and relevance to current events. Genres can include fiction, nonfiction, classics, graphic novels, short stories, essays, biographies and poetry, as well as juvenile and young adult titles.

“There is at least one book from each staff member on this year’s list,” Smith said. “We also get recommendations, particularly from volunteers and board members of the Friends of the Homer Library who sponsor the contest. And then of course there are always lots of Best Books of the Year lists and different literary awards that we consider, like the National Book Award and the Booker Prize.”

After the list is created, Smith looks for patterns and makes connections between books, creating headings from those.

“Sometimes I have to stretch it a little to put a book in a category, even though I don’t think the categories are all that important,” he said. “The main goal is to find 100 great books that will appeal to a broad segment of our community.”

This year’s list includes 10 categories, imagined by Smith and inspired by the final book selections — Adventures, Historical Reckonings, Journeys, Lost in the Stacks, Making Sense of the End, Our Amazing World, People, Ready for Battle, Staff Picks and Time: Specific or Undefined. Books featured this year include fiction, nonfiction, biography, graphic novel, poetry, juvenile and young adult.

Smith works hard to ensure there are a certain number of specific types of books on the list every year.

“I think there should always be at least two books of poetry,” he said. “I have a good friend who organizes a science fiction book club, so I think there should also be at least two books that are science fiction. I also make sure there are books from the kids’ room and teen books as well. We had a young teenager participate during the pandemic and we made a special list for her of titles we thought could be appropriate for someone her age. We also have need to have a good mix of nonfiction titles because we have a lot of readers who are really interested in nonfiction.”

In addition to simply encouraging more reading, Lit Lineup helps library patrons choose what to read, including genres new to them. The books on the Lit Lineup shelves are a high volume checkout that can expose people to books they may not normally read.

Community member Cathy Wilmeth grew up in a family of readers and has been participating in Lit Lineup since 2017.

“There are always so many books on the list that I’ve never heard of before and so I read things I wouldn’t necessarily pick up on my own,” she said. “Sometimes I come to the Lit Lineup display and pick up what grabs my eye and other times I seek out books on the list that I’ve heard about. When it gets towards the end of the year, I look at what I’ve read and pick a book from one of the categories I haven’t read yet. The lists help me narrow things down when I don’t know what to pick.”

Smith shared that in 2024, 38 participants entered reviews for the monthly drawings and completed entries for the Read 15 challenge.

“The Lit Lineup went great this past year,” he said. “The 100 books on our list and all their different versions, including large print and CD audio versions for some, circulated more than 2,000 times. Not everyone who reads these books participates in the contest by submitting entries for the monthly drawing, but we did have a total of 348 monthly entries, with nine people reading at least 15 books on our list, two people reading at least 30 and one patron read 34 books from our list.”

Smith personally aims to read 15 to 20 of the books on the Lit Lineup list and encourages others to get a copy of the list and see what catches their interest.

“Many of the ones I’m looking forward to have been recommended to me by patrons or other friends,” he said. “Those include “The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi” by Wright Thompson, “Beautyland” by Marie-Helene Bertino, “Glorious Exploits” by Ferdia Lennon and “Wandering Stars” by Tommy Orange.

”We have regular readers who really appreciate a place to go with a smaller selection of books where they know they are going to find a great book. It’s our hope that whoever comes in the library looking for something finds what they are looking for. This may or may not be on our community reading list, but if someone is looking for a good book to read and is not sure what to read next, they will certainly find one on the list.”

To participate in this community-wide initiative, simply read a book from the list in any of the categories. If you would like your readings entered into the monthly drawings, submit your book review on the Lit Lineup form in person or online at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/library/2025-lit-lineup. The list can also be found online and at the library in the Lit Lineup section near the circulation desk.

Friends of the Homer Library supports the library community year-round, including sponsoring prizes for Lit Lineup readers. They also organize KBBI’s Reading Between the Lines radio program Sunday mornings at 9:35 a.m. where someone reviews an item or service available at the library, including Lit Lineup book reviews. To listen to these book reviews, visit friendshomerlibrary.org/Reading-Between-the-Lines.

For more information on this year’s Lit Lineup, find Smith at the library or contact him by email or phone at msmith@ci.homer.ak.us or 907-235-3180.

Selections from the 2025 Lit Lineup are lined up on a shelf at the Homer Public Library on Friday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting