For the third consecutive year, the South Carolina Center for the Book will participate in the Route One Reads initiative, a program under the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. In 2017, the theme of the initiative will be memoirs and biographies, and the selected book to represent South Carolina is The Other Mother: A Rememoir by Teresa Bruce.
The Other Mother is a true story of TV reporter Teresa Bruce and the bond she forges with Bryne Miller, an 82-year-old modern dance pioneer from Manhattan and former Great Depression era burlesque dancer. Bryne and Teresa's friendship is a dance between love and madness, loyalty and truth, and speaks to anyone who has ever needed and cherished the love of an "other mother."
Bruce said the town of Beaufort and the South Carolina Lowcountry region are "characters, not just settings" in the memoir.
"Some of the most memorable revelations come when I'm driving down rural back roads, crossing over tide-sucked rivers and meandering through kudzu-covered forests," Bruce said. "It's impossible to tell the story of a person's life without place. Geography is the permanence behind the personality."
Andersen Cook, coordinator of the SC Center for the Book, said the work sheds a penetrating light on a region that represents South Carolina for many living outside the state.
"When people think of South Carolina, what immediately comes to mind for many is the Lowcountry," Cook said. "Teresa Bruce captured the personality of this place wonderfully, and I hope that everyone who reads it will appreciate the humble beauty infused throughout the story."
The diverse reading list created by Route One Reads highlights each individual State Center for the Book while celebrating the East Coast as a whole. By participating in Route One Reads, readers can travel across 15 states and the District of Columbia without taking a single footstep, or load selected books into the car for a literary road trip. The full list of featured books for the 2017 Route One Reads initiative is available along with a map of participating states at Route1Reads.org.
Route One Reads is a partnership between the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and its affiliates in: Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; Virginia; and, Washington, D.C.
About Route One Reads: Connecting the 2,369 miles of U.S. Route 1 from Ft. Kent, Maine, to Key West, Florida, the Route One Reads initiative is a partnership between 16 affiliate Centers for the Book to promote books that illuminate important aspects of their states or commonwealths for readers travelling the major and meandering highway. The initiative was launched at the 2015 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit Route1Reads.org or follow #Route1Reads on Twitter.
About The South Carolina Center for the Book: The South Carolina Center for the Book celebrates South Carolina's rich literary heritage and brings public attention to the importance of books, writers and reading. To learn more, visit readsc.org.
About the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress: Established by Congress in 1977 to "stimulate public interest in books and reading," the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is a national force for reading and literacy promotion. It sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages through its affiliated state centers and collaborations with nonprofit reading-promotion partners and through the Young Readers Center and Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. The Center for the Book is part of the Library's National and International Outreach service unit. For more information, visit Read.gov.
