Author Tony Horwitz will be in Duluth on Oct. 18 for the Gwinnett Reads finale. File photo

The Gwinnett County Public Library just announced its 2009 Gwinnett Reads selection, “A Voyage Long and Strange,” by Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Horwitz —and a long list of community events to accompany it.

2009 Gwinnett Reads

For the book, Horwitz retraced the path of Europeans who traveled to the United States between Columbus’ 1492 journey and the pilgrims arrival. From the library bio:

Tracing this legacy with his own epic trek—from Florida’s Fountain of Youth to Plymouth’s sacred Rock, from desert pueblos to subarctic sweat lodges—Tony Horwitz explores the revealing gap between what we enshrine and what we forget. Displaying his trademark talent for humor, narrative, and historical insight, A Voyage Long and Strange allows us to rediscover the New World for ourselves.

Here are reviews of the book from The New York Times and Salon. You can also see a video of a lecture Horwitz gave at Margaret Mitchell House last year.

Horwitz, the author of “Blue Latitudes” and “Confederates in the Attic,” will speak at the Gwinnett Reads finale on Oct. 18. Before the shared reading project finale, there are free and cheap talks about early settlers and ancient dwellers of North Georgia, tours of an ancient city and a Spanish artifact display. Here’s a full list of Gwinnett Reads events.

Want to go? Gwinnett Reads finale with music, hors d’oeuvres and author Tony Horwitz, 3:30 p.m. Oct. 18. $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Red Clay Theatre and Arts Center, 3116 Main St., Duluth. 770-978-5154, www.gwinnettpl.org.