After lamenting the absence of a One Book, One City program in Boston, the Globe decided to launch an experiment: a citywide reading program of its own. The comments that followed the story after it ran in the Books section and on Boston.com confirmed what we suspected — local citizens are certainly among the country's most opinionated readers. What better place to host a reading program than Boston? Here's how the Globe online book club works: What follows is a list of 10 books, many of which were culled from readers' suggestions. The list — we hope — had something for everyone; each book certainly has plenty of meat for discussion. The only theme: All the books have local interest. Readers had one week to vote for their pick (voting closed at 5 p.m. on July 13). Now that the winner has been announced participants have all summer to read the book. In September, Boston.com will host a discussion with an expert moderator (stay tuned for details). —Nicole Lamy, Globe Staff


America's Athens shrugged
(Sam Allis, Globe Staff)