It’s been a pretty good summer, reading-wise.
I managed to get through two Stieg Larsson books and two Tim Dorsey novels. I know, to some, getting through four books doesn’t sound like a lot. But you have to remember that almost all of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball games are on TV, and that most of those games are played at night. It didn’t used to be that way. It used to be, at least in this area, that only a couple of Cardinals games a week were on TV, leaving me ample time to read while I listened to the games on the radio. It’s hard to read while you’re watching a baseball game on TV.
I know what some of you are thinking. Some of you are thinking that I should just turn off the TV and read instead of watching baseball on TV. But some of you don’t know me that well.
So for me, getting through four books in the summer is a pretty big deal. And, with any luck, I may get through two more before the summer is over. I’m currently reading another Tim Dorsey novel, and then I’m going to tackle got a neat book about Mark Twain.
By the way, I lent my brother Mark a Tim Dorsey novel a couple of weeks ago. I told Mark that Tim Dorsey was like Carl Hiaasen on acid. Mark — who, like me, loves Carl Hiaasen — wasn’t sure that anyone could be like Carl on acid. But, last Sunday, Mark sent me a text. This is what the text said:
“OK. Tim Dorsey writes some funny (bad word).”
I counted that as a positive review.
I was thinking about my summer reading while I was talking to Danya Walker. Danya works at the Joplin Pubic Library, and we were chatting about the library’s summer reading program for adults.
I remember public library summer reading programs when I was a kid. But I don’t think, back then, anyone thought to have adult summer reading programs. Maybe they did, but I don’t know.
Anyway, most libraries have them now, and they sound like neat deals. Danya told me that this summer, at least 84 folks took part in the library’s program. She said the program began on June 1 and ends Saturday. To celebrate the end of a successful reading program, Danya said, the library is sponsoring a murder mystery on Aug. 6.
Danya said the book club members were a pretty diverse group that shared one common goal: a desire to do some reading. The neat thing about the reading program is that folks weren’t asked to read specific books. Instead, they were challenged to read books of a specific type.
By the way, I was going to use the word “genre” instead of “type,” but I don’t know. I really don’t come from “genre”-using people. I’m afraid some people might think I’m getting above my raisings if I started throwing around words like “genre.”
Basically, what the book club members did was take a reading tour of the library using the Dewey Decimal System. One week, the folks in the book club might be asked to read a science-fiction book, and the next week, they might be asked to read a history book.
“We even asked them to read something from the teen section, and they loved what they found there,” Danya said.
Danya said the library staff is already making plans for next year’s reading program. She also said that if folks are interested, the library sponsors a book club that meets on the fourth Monday of every month. Next month, the club members will read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
For information about the book club and any of the other programs and services at the library, you can call 623-7953.
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