Speed Reads at Princeton Public Library

I have found my people!

They are retired people living in and around Princeton who enjoy reading.

I recently signed up for the Princeton Public Library weekly email list. I noticed an monthly event called Speed Reads. 

The librarian wheels in a cart filled with advanced reader's copies of current or forthcoming books. We each choose a book and are given 30 minutes to read the book in silence. If we don't like the book we choose, we can select a different one.

How heavenly!

Once the time is up we each report back to the group what we think of the book. Did it catch our interest? Was it hard to engage with? Are we familiar with the author? Does it remind us of anything else? We can say anything about the book.

The way it worked, I was the last to go. I was a bit intimidated by the people saying they chose this book because the author has received a Nobel Prize, or the Booker T. Washington Prize, or some other highly academic reason. Someone dismissed a book I recently enjoyed because in the first 20 pages she didn't feel there was enough character development. I stood up for the book. Another person dismissed a book because it was an "airport read." 

Then it was my turn. In for a penny. In for a pound. I chose "The Second Chance Hotel" because it looked like an airport read, after all, we only have 30 minutes to read the book. The main character is fired from her job and hops in a plane for Paris and beyond to find herself. I'm doing something similar in a month when I'm hopping in a plane for New Zealand and Australia to find myself. I told the group I plan to finish the book on the flight and deposit it in a Little Free Library on the other side of the globe (yes, we get to keep the book!). 

Somehow not only did they like my response, I was invited to join them for lunch. I couldn't make it, but a couple of the women (only one man in the group) invited me for next time and let me know where they go, and that the restaurant allows us to have separate bills. 

The second Tuesday of the month I have a standing date for some quiet reading time at the Princeton Public Library.