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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Library awards adults for reading, too

Summer reading programs are mostly for kids.

Not so with the Spokane County Library District. As part of the district’s summer program, adult readers can win prizes for their reading efforts.

Adults who sign up, either at the SCLD branch of their choice or online at www.summerreadingspokane.org, will be asked to read at least three books before Aug. 31. Successful completion will win a coupon worth a two-for-one admission to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

A calendar of events associated with the summer program can be found online at www.scld.org. For further information, call (509) 893-8200.

For information about the MAC, which is at 2316 W. First Ave., go online at www.northwestmuseum.org. Or call (509) 456-3931.

•Still, summer does seem to be a time for students to complete those pesky reading lists that teachers and professors are always throwing at them.

For example, incoming freshmen at the University of Idaho are being asked to read the nonfiction book “1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina” by New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose. But this sounds like a book that anyone might want to check out.

Compiled from the columns that Rose wrote following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, “1 Dead in the Attic” is a look not only at the destruction of a city but of Rose’s descent into depression.

“Rose wrote disarmingly direct, funny, and fully loaded essays about the horrific aftermath of the storm, the terror and loss, injustice and irony,” wrote a reviewer for the literary-review journal Booklist. “An intrepid explorer of the wreckage, Rose chronicles the decimated city’s horrible smell, daunting debris, and ‘Twilight Zone’ atmosphere.”

“This program will provide a common academic experience for all incoming students and will encourage reading and critical thinking over the summer,” said Adrien Loehring, of UI’s Dean of Students Office. “This book also will allow students to look at an issue across different disciplines and to examine a variety of social issues through discussion.”

For more information on UI’s summer reading program, go online at www.students.uidaho.edu/summerread.

Writers corner

Writing classes of all types are being offered for seniors over the summer through the seniors program of the Institute for Extended Learning. Teachers such as Lisa Conger, Anne Selcoe and Lynda LeBlanc will offer classes that include writing methods, a poetry workshop and a writer’s workshop.

For information, call (509) 533-4756.

Take a 2nd Look

I just received an e-mail newsletter from 2nd Look Books, the Lincoln Heights used-bookstore that boasts having 100,000 searchable titles on its Web site. You can see for yourself, plus check out the latest special deals, by going online at www.2ndlookbooks.com. The store is at 2829 E. 29th Ave. Call (509) 535-6464.

Book talk

•Auntie’s Morning Book Group (“Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time,” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin), 11 a.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 459-5483.

•Auntie’s Evening Book Group (“The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey,” by Candice Millard), 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Tin Pencil Fiction Writers Group, 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Tinman Gallery, 811 W. Garland Ave. Call (509) 325-1500 for information on how to participate.

•Literary Freedom Book Group (“Thunderstruck,” by Erik Larson), 1 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Renaissance Readers (“Leonardo da Vinci,” by Sherwin Nuland), 2 p.m. Saturday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

The reader board

•Lori B. Girshick (“Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Jane Porter (“Mrs. Perfect”), reading, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Auntie’s Bookstore.