A Library Spam

I promise to try to keep the Free Library promotion to a minimum, but I wanted to share something fun.

For years (many, many years) the Free Library has been hosting "The Summer Reading Game" for kids and teens where young people are rewarded with gifts and prizes for participating in library activities over the summer. For the first time this year, there will be a Summer Reading Game for Adults. The basic premise is that if you read a book or participate in a library activity, it earns you a raffle entry. The more raffle entries you earn, the better chance you have of winning a prize. The prizes are things like USB memory sticks, coffee mugs, clip on reading lights and the like. There are twelve branches participating (see this url http://libwww.library.phila.gov/summerreading/) or you can participate online (see this url http://host2.evanced.info/phila/sr/homepage.asp?ProgramID=8&PreviewMode=).

Josh just dropped by the library on 7th and Carpenter where I'm filling in for the day. The copy of The Road that this particular library owns is currently out. We put a reserve on the book and it should arrive here from another library in about a week. You can save yourself a trip to your local library by going to the library catalog (http://catalog.library.phila.gov) and placing a hold yourself. It will probably take about a week and you should get an e-mail when the book arrives at its destination.

I won't take up any more time and space prattling on about the wonders of the Free Library, but feel free to contact me if you have any library related questions.

--Dan

An Action Component

At our first meeting, folks were supportive of an action component to our group, probably one that is book related, but that too is open for discussion. I hope that we can have a discussion via the blog on this matter.

What do we want to work on? Rotating topics from meeting to meeting or stick to a campaign for a longer period of time? Does anyone have any ideas? We briefly talked about the shrinking libraries in public schools and prisons.

How do we do the work? In between meetings, at the meeting, both?

What are the types of actions we can take? Educating ourselves, writing letters, raising money, donating books, educating others, etc?

Thoughts/Comments?

How it All Started

Elaine, Marie, Jackie, Stacy, Joe, Josh, Joe, Shannon, Dan.

We are the "9" who came to the first book club meeting of the Philly Book Club 9. We read and discussed Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. But before bookish conversation we got to know each other over a potluck meal in the courtyard at Workmen's Place in Queen Village. While today certainly felt like summer, by the time we all gathered the sun had set enough to bring the temperature down to something quite comfortable.

This book club is, in some ways, a 2nd iteration to a Washington, DC based book club that Josh and Jackie participated in some years ago. They both now find themselves in Philadelphia and actually living around the corner from each other. This group is a mix of each's friends and family, and the group will surely grow in the coming months.

Our next books is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The next meeting is again at Workmen's Place - Front between Fitzwater and Pemberton - on Sunday July 8th at 6pm.