Who Reads That Much?

I went to a Young Adult Literature conference this week and the presenter (a high school librarian who does this on the side) told us she reads roughly 400 books a year. Yes, you heard me correctly. That is crazy, right? Now, granted, she reads almost exclusively young adult lit., which means some of the things she reads you could finish in one sitting, but you would have to be able to if you were going to read more than one book a day! I read a lot, but not that much. At one point someone asked her about a movie and she commented on how she doesn't have time to watch TV or movies since she reads so much. This is where she and I parted ways on the Reading Express. I toted my books along to the sitcom car, where I can read during the commercials.

One thing I like to do is read local authors and debut novels. I found both in The Last Town on Earth, a novel by Thomas Mullen. The story takes place in 1918, in a small town called Commonwealth, just northeast of Everett, WA. Commonwealth is a self-sustaining mill town, and it's people are proud of what they have made there. When the Spanish flu breaks out in surrounding areas, the townsfolk are desperate for a strategy to keep it at bay and away from Commonwealth. They decide to set up a reverse quarantine. No one can enter the town and if one wants to leave, he'd better be prepared to stay away until the flu outbreak dies down. The men volunteer to stand guard on the road into town, determined to protect their families and friends. Not long after they start, a soldier wanders toward town, cold and starving, and begs for entry. The men refuse, the soldier persists, and the resulting scuffle ends with a dead soldier and a new plague on the men of Commonwealth.

This book was particularly interesting to read during an "outbreak" of the flu. Worried for the safety of my own children, I have learned to spot a cough or a headache from a distance and carry anti-bacterial hand-sanitizer in every satchel I own. I felt that, on some crazy level, I could relate to the characters' fear, even if I can't relate to their irrational behaviors. This book gave me an interesting historical perspective on a local area too, and I really liked that.