Why read local?

The Charm You Only Find Locally

We all have chain restaurants we enjoy. Huge brand-name stores we’ll go clothes shopping at, or outlets we go to when we want a standardized experience. Yet, when we think of our favorite restaurant, it’s almost always going to be one local to South Bend. One you can’t get anywhere else. One where you know the owners by name and they give you a discount because you both went to the same college; that sort of thing.

Finding Community in Local Stories

It’s a natural human desire to seek out community wherever you go. To find spaces within spaces to make your own. Maybe that’s a trendy coffee shop or a specialty hobby store. Or, like so many of us here at the library, you’ve found your community within the pages of books. 

Reading books penned by local authors means stepping into stories written by people who have also walked the River Walk downtown. Reading words written by someone who’s biked the same trails you have, or eaten at the same restaurant. You might have passed by them on the street while they were brainstorming their next chapter.

Reading local means engaging with your community in a new way. Inviting in storytellers that are just like you and have lived lives like yours. Seeing the beauty that is all around us, but especially at home.