Thursday, July 12, 2007

Characters come alive

The strength of book clubs to create buyers, and loyal fans cannot be underestimated. A decade ago, the Mr. joined a book club directed by two professors of English at Loyola University. While open to suggestions, for the most part, this husband and wife team were so eager to get through several dozen titles they'd been dying to bring to enthusiastic readers. We began with C.S. Lewis, Graham Greene, and Walker Percy, and then the pace and complexity quickened as we segued to authors we'd never heard of.

Mr. Obie Joe admires the surefootness of those book club directors with the intent to push their readers to embrace someone, and subjects, outside their average curiosity.

Intriguing to read of the book club envisioned by presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Of course Obama is far from the first to flog their books as campaign tools, and using book clubs as a step-up from the campaign candidate coffees is intriguing. The Mr. is amused to hear "characters" from Obama's book will visit with the book club. (Can one be a character in a nonfiction setting? Just wondering).

Mr. Obie Joe loves the idea, and the interest, via the Obama’s book club campaign, and hopes that after the phone call from the candidate, his campaign, and his characters, those book clubs will continue.

No comments: