July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

A good excuse to read (2/18/04)

Dear Reader

By By Jack [email protected]

Read any good books lately?

Chances are, you’ll have an answer for that question by the time spring rolls around.

The Jay County Public Library, with financial support from the Ball Brothers Foundation, is sponsoring its first “Jay County Reads” event, a countywide experience in which as many people as possible read and discuss the same book.

Sound a little crazy? It’s not.

In fact, the concept has worked in scores of communities across America, bringing folks together in a mutual discussion from a shared vantage point.

The result is a better informed community and a feeling of consensus.

It works this way. The library is taking orders for “Tuesdays with Morrie,” Mitch Albom’s best-seller. The Ball Brothers Foundation support keeps the price an affordable $2, a steal.

Then, during February and March, people will be encouraged to sit down with the book. Later in the spring, the library will host and initiate a number of events to prompt discussion of the book and expand on the reading experience.

“Tuesdays” has a reputation for being a very good read. It’s accessible enough that it’s used at Jay County High School, and it deals with issues such as aging that are universal to us all.

(For awhile, my family almost had me convinced that I’d already read it. But the book they had in mind was “Fridays with Red,” a memoir by National Public Radio’s Bob Edwards about his friendship with veteran sports broadcaster Red Barber.)

So I stopped by the library last Saturday to order my copy, and I can’t wait until it gets here.

That’s in part because I’m looking forward to reading it and also because I’m a little bogged down in a very dry volume called “Transformation in Central Asia.” “Tuesdays” will be a welcome alternative.

When I’m finished, I’ll pass it to my wife. Our daughter thinks she’s already read it, but she’ll look between the covers to check.

And when we’re done, we’ll probably pass it along to someone else. If all goes well, every copy purchased through the library ought to be read by two or three people.

If you can’t find a copy in late March, give me a call and I’ll lend you mine.[[In-content Ad]]
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