Good grief! It’s still summer, and that’s the way I like to see August – full of sunny possibilities for reading. However, two of the tomes that await me might actually block out the sun. 

One is Annie Proulx’s “Barkskins,” a 713-page exploration of the woodcutters and loggers in the New World from 1693 onward. The second is Eleanor Catton’s Booker Prize novel, “The Luminaries,” weighing in at 832 pages, in which New Zealand’s goldfields attract miners and murderers alike. 

The final book, Eddie S. Glaude Jr.’s “Begin Again,” will challenge me to confront racism in America from a James Baldwin scholar’s point of view.

Book, books, and more books – the Library’s Fourth of July book sale at the Stone Chapel drew in lots of readers and buyers, relieved to once again participate in this annual ritual of scanning titles from all directions at once. Talk about happy! 

Of course, sharing the space with the strawberry shortcake concession didn’t do us any harm. 

This year the event was a giant undertaking, given three years of accumulated donations and weedings. It began with collecting and sorting in each Library and ended with the pick-up of leftovers two days afterward. Below is a list of everyone who helped make this year’s event such a success:

Many, many thanks to Priscilla Poulin, Gene, Michaela and Santigie, Lee, Ken and Katrina Wells, Caroline Moulton and Mario Ratzki, Ann Parke, Susan Chase, Tina Wagler, Connie Ressler, Jon Mishcon, Kim and Charlie Baer, Adam Brand and son, others whose names I did not catch, Proctor Academy and their security team – the list goes on, as this event requires a monumental effort! 

Priscilla Poulin and Lee Wells have developed into an extraordinary team, and I have no doubt that Priscilla could run this with her hands tied behind her back. As she said: “When you have five children, you learn to be organized!”