The community has voted, and the book featured in Statesboro and Bulloch County's second "One Book, One Community" project will be Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451."
    The event was planned by The Friends of the Statesboro-Bulloch County Library after the huge success of last year's "One Book, One Community" project featuring Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
    A panel chose that book, but this year community readers voted on five books, and Bradbury's novel was the winner by a close margin, said Cora Fay, assistant library director.
    The second "One Book, One Community" project will begin in January, and events will be held throughout the month and in February supporting the project.
    The book, written in the 1950's, will be sold at a discount, and there will be book discussions and a movie shown based on the novel, Perry said.
    "The community was asked to vote for a favorite book from a list of five titles," says Dr. Bill Perry, who handles publicity for the group. Perry continues, "There were 283 votes cast and it was a close race. There was only an 18 point spread between first and last place."
    "We think it's going to be a lot of fun to do a book that was chosen by the community," Fay said. "We hope this book will hold a wide appeal."
    Seeing how the first project was so successful, Perry said "I'm real pleased top get the community involved in reading  one book" together.
    "Last year we had the most successful reading program we've ever had," Fay said. "We had wanted to do a community-wide event for some time."
    More than 1,500 people participated in the "To Kill a Mockingbird" project, she said.
    Five books vied for the choice: "The Great Gatsby," "The Greatest Generation," "The Maltese Falcon," and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night," as well as "Fahrenheit 451," he said.
    Incidentally, Perry just finished reading Bradbury's novel for the second time, he said.
    "I just finished it not knowing it was going to be our book," he said. "It is most interesting, about the danger of censorship."
    According to a summary on Web site www.imdb.com, the book's plot is set "In a terrifying care-free future" and is about "a young man, Guy Montag, who's job as a fireman is to burn all books, questions his actions after meeting a young girl ... and begins to rebel against society."
    The public should watch for "One Book, One Community" events to be announced in December and January, Perry said.