Omaha Reads

Posted on August 29, 2005 by Tito

Online voting is now open through Sep 19th for Omaha’s city-wide reading club. Apparently anybody can vote, regardless of location. So if you’re the kind of sicko who gets off on foisting your reading preferences on heartlanders, have at it. The  choices:

  • “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo: Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Jay Gatsby still adores Daisy Buchanan although she has married someone else, and he risks everything to lure her back.
  • “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams: Chronicles the journeys, notions, and acquaintances of reluctant galactic traveler Arthur Dent.
  • “Local Wonders” by Ted Kooser: Season by season, Kooser reflects upon life in, around, and beyond his home nestled in the rolling hills of eastern Nebraska, an area he slyly calls the “Bohemian alps.”
  • “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston: Meet the unforgettable Janie Crawford, an articulate African-American woman in the 1930s. Traces Janie’s quest for identity, through three marriages, on a journey to her roots.
  • “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee: Scout’s father defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in a small Alabama town during the 1930s.

Which all brings some questions to mind:

  1. Who went through high school without already reading The Great Gatsby and To Kill A Mockingbird?
  2. Why do all titles get the "quotation" except The Great Gastby? Possible favoritism at work?
  3. No Otis Tweleve? Perhaps his book isn’t on paperback yet. Maybe next year.
  4. Will the provincialism of Omahans prevent them from picking up Shelbyville’s Lincoln’s Ted "Hollywood" Kooser?
  5. Will the titles that have been made into movies get an edge in backing from the powerful Blockbuster lobby?
  6. Articulate African Americans? I thought Colin Powell was the only one who "speaks so well"

See also: September 16th/17th Lit-fest.

» Filed Under Books, Turf Wars

Comments

One Response to “Omaha Reads”

  1. ed on August 29th, 2005 11:58 am

    And what the hell is “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” doing on there? It’s a fun book, but seems a strange choice as a literary title.

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