One day perhaps I'll pull an Oprah and start (or maybe even join) a book club. That day ain't today. Mostly, I don't read novels. But on Thursay, Jane and I were off at the Crowell Public Library in San Marino doin' our thing with the Friends of the Michael White Adobe board and well, one thing led to another.
Before I could even say "mysteries are lame," Jane had checked out San Marino's "One City, One Book" for 2012, which is "The Sherlockian" by Graham Moore, and we'll be reading it over the next couple o' weeks.
The concept of "One City, One Book" was started in Seattle in 1998, and since then about 400 different cities across the country have joined in. The idea is that everyone in a community is encouraged to read the same book, attend discussions or maybe meet the author. Sometimes the book chosen is written by a local, or the story is set in that town. Sometimes they just go for a classic like "Grapes of Wrath" or "To Kill a Mockingbird." Anyway, it's supposed to encourage the community to read more, support the local library (or community center or city hall or whoever's promoting the event) and get people talkin' about books. The Library of Congress keeps a list of who's participating and what they're reading, but it's pretty badly out-of-date.
So we don't really read a lot of novels, or who-done-its, but that's not really the point of being in a book club, is it? You can read what you want to read any old time, this is about getting out of your rut and reading something different. Apparently young Graham Moore, over there on the left, is an LA guy, so maybe we'll be running into him one of these days. So here's one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012: Join the City of San Marino in reading "The Sherlockian." Can't hurt, might help. I'll let y'all know how it goes.
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Sherlockian update: I like the idea of a community book better than I like the execution, however, at least in this instance, I was surprised. I'd planned to give it the benefit of a 50-page pity read and just see if I wanted to keep going. The whole concept of a socially awkward Sherlock Holmes nut just wasn't doin' it for me, quite frankly. Then after about the fourth chapter we were totally hooked. Spent all of Sunday reading the entire book cover-to-cover out loud in bed. Got done a little after midnight. It's a page-turner, I assure you. The Crowell Library in San Marino has a bunch of Arthur Conan Doyle / Sherlock / mystery events planned culminating in the arrival of author Graham Moore in mid April. Hate to say it, but I can't wait for his next book!
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