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I’m all in favor of promoting literacy, so I’m glad that Virginia is pushing its Big Read, although if it weren’t for Charlottesville Words I don’t know that I’d even be aware that it was happening. Are there any related events in Staunton? Is anyone out here pushing it? Not that I know of. I haven’t seen any mention of it in the local paper, and I haven’t noticed any special displays in the bookstore. Maybe the word just didn’t make it this far?
And I think I won’t be playing along anyway. The chosen book, The Great Gatsby, is fine, of course, but I’ve read it at least four times, including twice in the last five years. I’ve got plenty of other stuff to read.
But if you haven’t read it, or if you’ve only read it say once or twice, by all means participate! Read! Discuss! And check out the various related events at The Big Read.
>”And I think I won’t be playing along anyway.”
This is hard for me to understand. Lets see, you’ve read _Gatsby_ five times, you consider it a great book, you recommend that others read and re-read the book, but, “And I think I won’t be playing along anyway.” Huh?
Granting that reading a book, making it your own, is a solitary endeavor, isn’t there a place for interaction with others about what you have read, how you feel about it, what it means?
>Well, Gary, I was going to be upset with you for being confrontational about this, until I visited your blog and read your views on the Iraq War, with which I whole-heartedly agree, so I guess I’ll back off a bit. I only meant that I’m not going to re-read the book, having read it five times already. And since I don’t live in Charlottesville, and don’t get over there too often, I’m not planning to visit the events that are scheduled there. I was under the mistaken impression that it was a state-wide “Big Read” which is why I wondered why where I live there was nothing happening in connection with it. If there were, I’d happily participate and promote the reading and discussion of the book.