Nick Kristof of the New York Times op-ed page came up with his own summer reading list early in July. The headline ? Action, Romance, Social Justice! ? intrigued me. And a number of the books on the list: Uncle Tom?s Cabin, The Grapes of Wrath, Les Mis and others, were books I had always thought I should read ? or at least get the flavor of.
When I went to the Cincinnati Library website, I couldn?t find most of them! A few were audio books, most were just not in the catalog any more. I found Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, a spoof of the spy business, and a book about Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I had them sent to my Walnut Hills branch.
When I went to pick them up, I talked to the librarian about the fact that most of these classics were not available. Then I started getting notices from the library to pick up books ? many of those from the list that hadn?t been available when I searched. Turns out Macy, the friendly librarian, had checked out the New York Times story, and then worked hard on my behalf ? and found most of them.
What an unexpected summer treat! Thanks, Macy!