Life Is Short
Posted by: Dan Hubbs
Life is short and there are a lot of books to read and to discuss. Novels are the most popular reading group choice and there are lots of novels to choose from. In fact, there are approximately 50,000 fiction titles published every year in the United States and about 10,000 of those are new titles. If you do collection development work, like I do, you come across all kinds of fiction, non-fiction, movies, and CDs that catch your interest. On my radar right now, let’s see – there’s the new book by David Byrne, Bicycle Diaries; there’s local photographer Carl Heilman’s book on Lake George; I placed a request for the new Denis Johnson novel Nobody Move, and the new selected poems of Wallace Stevens; and then there’s the DVD Frost/Nixon . . . Well it’s a lot to take in, it takes a lot of time. And then of course one has to work, and hang out with loved ones, exercise, watch baseball, and play the banjo. So, if with all that you’d also like to develop and run a reading/discussion group at your library — what to do?
I hit on something that has really worked out for us at the Saratoga Springs Public Library in Saratoga Springs, New York and that’s a short story discussion group. It wasn’t my idea. A patron asked about it. She asked a few times. She wanted to discuss the short stories of J D Salinger because someone had told her about them. Couldn’t we offer a short story group like a book group? Hmmm. People really like short stories. I guess that’s right. Can’t you just offer a program? “Ok let me think it through,” I said to her, “and I’ll get back to you.”
Let’s see, I thought. Who’s going to do it? How often would the group meet? Is there a meeting room available? What’s a good time? What would the group read? Short stories, yes, but who would choose and what stories would be chosen, and why? Reading groups are popular; in fact our library already had a successful book group. Would anyone come? Were there a group of short story readers out there somewhere just waiting for a short story reading group to materialize? Would the library director think this a worthwhile endeavor? Was there a librarian on staff who would like this plumb of an assignment? Would the group of readers participate in a civil and engaging way? Did I want to read and discuss short stories on a regular basis?
After pondering all this, and getting the ok from the library director, I set off on my mission. I’ll share particulars of starting and running a short story reading group in my next entry.
