Hello, friends
Years ago, when I worked for a magazine owned by Oprah Winfrey, I edited a feature about her home library in Montecito, California. There were many interesting aspects of her library — she has a run of first-edition Pulitzer Prize winners, all of her book club selections, the five-volume collected papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. and a number of monographs on visionary fashion folks, like editor Diana Vreeland and designer Coco Chanel.
But the part that I envied was that she had, in effect, her own librarian, a rare book specialist dedicated to making her library stimulating, well-rounded and significant. He knew what she liked and put it there.
Later I read about (and availed myself of) an online program offered by a public library in which you list books and authors you’ve loved and topics and themes that interest you and — ta-da! — a real-life librarian curates a list of 10 books recommended just for you. At the time, I was living in New York City, where libraries are different. They’re not the panaceas of community, discovery and entertainment we’ve found at libraries in Northampton, Deerfield, Leverett, Amherst, Hatfield, Florence, Sunderland and Williamsburg this winter alone.
Choosing books you are certain to like is a tricky business. That’s why a good reviewer — like our own Steve Pfarrer, who includes enough of the voice of a book to give you a sense of it — is so valuable. As is a trusted librarian, and we are so amply blessed in that department here in the Valley.
This week writer and editor Marietta Pritchard goes even deeper, into how and why we read — for escapism, for research, to connect — introducing us to a variety of readers and sharing some titles that have made a big impression on them.
It’s an especially welcome topic at this time of year, when many of us sleep in socks and sweaters and get in bed as early as possible to read because, among other things, it’s warm there.
Yours,
Katy
klukens@gazettenet.com