I walked through Mount Vernon Square, peered into the many white tents set up around the square, looked in on book stalls, author readings and book signings. I noticed a board detailing the line up of events in the main authors tent and scanned it for any recognisable names. Walter Mosley was on the following day - that would've been something to see - but I was heading back to London that day, so I didn't have the time. I decided, given my busy Baltimore schedule of shopping, eating and taking photos of the police station used in filming Homicide: Life on the Street, I should just catch the next author in the lineup.
It was Ron Suskind, an author I had never heard of. He was entertaining though and very energetic, almost like an enthusiastic preacher, when speaking about his book, "A Hope in the Unseen", about a student growing up in a dangerous D.C. neighborhood who realises his ambition to make it to University. An inspiring story indeed and I immediately bought a copy. I haven't read it yet, but look forward to doing so.
The interesting aspect of this book is that it has been selected for One Maryland, One Book, a statewide community reading program; a kind of book club for the whole state. It runs for a whole year, with this one book being read and discussed across Maryland by students, teenagers, the unemployed, families, everyone. It's aimed at connecting communities across the state through the medium of one book, encouraging people to read and debate issues in the process.
As the First Lady of Maryland, Katie O'Malley, introduced Ron Suskind at the Baltimore Book Festival that very wet and rainy day, she explained the concept of the One Maryland, One Book program and it got me thinking: what book would be fitting for a similar program in England?
It would have to be a book that had something important to say, something that would resonate with all people in England, touch on the issues that are important to the communities within.
What book could entice people from all walks of life to pick it up and start reading? What book could create healthy debate and discussion among English communities about the issues relevant to them?
Any ideas?
2 comments:
There was a lot of noise about this type of initiative a few years ago and I remember that at the time I was quite taken with the idea of a whole town reading and discussing the same classic (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E0DA1F31F93BA1575BC0A9679C8B63).
To a limited extent we have that in England through the frequent TV adaptations of Dickens, Jane Austen etc. Ditto Richard & Judy for a wide audience picking from the same reading list. But how far those adaptations and "summer book" selections encourage us to talk about so-called contemporary issues is debatable.
I must admit though, that as I get older and increasingly cynical, I see less value in the idea.
As a fiercely independent individual, I predict that I would resist any attempt to impose on me a title that wasn't already in my TBR pile. And as a reader of the "escapist" persuasion, I would run a mile if they tried to sell it to me on the ground of deep and meaningful community issues.
Also, I don't live in a picture-postcard village full of interesting, articulate strangers. The last thing I need is to give the nutter on the bus another reason to try and strike up conversation.
And no, I don't see my lack of interest in others as a symptom of the problems of today's society. Trust me, if you lived around here you'd avoid the neighbours too ;-)
I see your point, Alison. Having a common book for everyone to read isn't such a bad idea, but how many people would actually sign up for it? As you say, frequent readers have their own TBR pile, so they wouldn't want to really start something that they might not have any interest in. Kids at school get enough books forced upon them as mandatory reading. I used to hate the books we had to read at school, because we had to read them!
As for striking up conversation with your surrounding community, that rarely happens if you are in London, unless you are either drunk, after the discarded Metro that's lying on the seat on the tube or telling someone to "move down the bloody carriage!"
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