Wow! After much planning, gathering, moving, and organizing, the Fourth of July came and went. Kudos to our librarians, Michelle Bengivengo and Priscilla Poulin, and to Kathy Bennett’s Boy Scouts for hustling many, many boxes of books over to the Stone Chapel, where they were sorted and tabled. Andover residents alone contributed a great deal to our “Book Donation Event” on the evening of July 3, after which Don Watson entertained the crowd with his own New Hampshire favorites.

Next day saw a significant increase in patrons and donations; money isn’t everything, but it does allow us to replace the moldy oldies with scintillating new titles. Thanks to the volunteers who ran the event: Pat Moyer and Kim Hallquist, Gail Richards, John Cotton, Marilyn Gould, Pat Cutter, and Shirley Currier, whose family boxed up at the end of the day.

Daniel Silva’s new Gabriel Allon book is out, The English Girl, and Khaled Housseini has published a new story, And The Mountains Echoed. I noticed an appealing cookbook on Amazon’s best books page, Seasons, by Donna Hay, and under history, American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms by Chris Kyle, fallen sniper, and William Doyle.

Head to the libraries and read, read, read.