Photos by Rick Hiduk
Wyoming County Cultural Center director Erica Rogler (above, left), Cultural Center program director Margie Young (center) and Tunkhannock Public Library director Kristin Smith-Gary addressed the Wyoming County Commissioners about an enhanced 2017 Wyoming County Reads program at the Wyoming County Courthouse on Tuesday.
Those looking for a good book or two to read are invited to take part in the 13th annual Wyoming County Reads initiative. This year, instead of ‘one book and one movie,’ the promotion features two books perfectly suited for winter reading – Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen and A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean – and the films that they inspired. The beauty and mystery of nature is celebrated in both, transporting the reader to the warmth of Africa and summer in the Rocky Mountains.
“They are worlds apart,” Wyoming County Cultural Center director Erica Rogler said of the environs in which the two stories are set.
Participants are invited to start reading the books, copies of which are available at the Tunkhannock Public Library, as soon as possible to be ready for discussions at the Tunkhannock Public Library on Wednesdays, Feb. 1 and 15 and March 1, each gathering at 7 pm.
The film versions of each movie will be screened at the Dietrich Theater on Wednesday, Feb. 8 for A River Runs Through It and Wednesday, Feb. 22 for Out of Africa, both at 1 and 7 pm. Discussions and movies are free and sponsored by the Wyoming County Commissioners, who read a proclamation for Rogler, Margie Young of the Cultural Center and Library director Kristin Smith-Gary at the commissioner’s regular meeting on Jan. 10.
Both books are memoirs of the authors’ lives in the early part of the 20th century, although in very different settings, very different experiences.
But there are so many threads that are the same or similar. It will be the challenge of resident scholar Bill Chapla, back by popular demand, to guide the discussion to identify these threads and lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of these two books. Bill handpicked these treasures, because they are particular favorites of his, and the selection committee was unanimously enthusiastic.
The novella A River Runs Through It begins, “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.”
Out of Africa begins, “I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up; near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.”
Two different worlds to explore and compare. Two acclaimed authors to take you into their time and their lives. Two acclaimed movies that are visually exquisite. Six reasons to join fellow readers and film appreciators for Wyoming County Reads, a colloboration of the Dietrich Theater and the Tunkhannock Public Library. Books are available at the library or on your e-reader. Information about the program is at 570-996-1500.
Wyoming County Reads coordinators (backs to camera) address the Wyoming County Commissioners about a county-wide book and film initiative that runs through March.
(To read more about the Wyoming County Commissioners Jan. 10 meeting, click here http://www.endlessmtnlifestyles.com/?p=6549 )