Book (club) People

This section of our site is titled Book People, as it is here that we will be talking about a variety of individuals in the book world that have inspired our reading and our show. We have already mentioned several of those people, we will introduce you to more of them, and even interview some of these amazing individuals in the months ahead.

But today I am using this space to talk about a special group of book people. Book club people. This show wouldn’t have happened without Ted and I becoming book club people.

We started as a book club for two. Walking and talking about books we read was an enjoyable pastime for both of us. Then, we had the opportunity to participate in a larger book club. Five of us read and prepared together for Battle of the Books: After Hours; an event coordinated by the Carroll County Public Library and A Likely Story Bookstore. This experience not only influenced our reading, but also strengthened existing friendships and inspired new ones. The books we read, the battle prep, the event itself, and story of our friendships with this group are things we hope to share with you in a future episode of the show. But for now, back to this idea of book club people.

Ted and I went from a book club of two, to a book club of five, and now here we are, with an opportunity to create a book club for many. We think of this site and our show as a community book club. It’s ours. It’s yours. We are looking forward to reading with you, sharing our thoughts about books, and hearing yours.

We are also interested in hearing your stories about the book people in your life and tales of your book club adventures at twosides2thestory@yahoo.com

The Amazing Lynn Wheeler

Lynn was the long time, now retired Director of the Carroll County Public Library. Carroll County has a strong reading community in large part because of Lynn. 

I first met Lynn shortly after she started as the new director. In my role as the Director of Management and Budget for the County I asked her to lunch. We met at a restaurant with some service problems. We waited a long time for someone to take our order. We waited even longer to get our meal. It wasn’t just slow; it was ‘what in the world is going on’ slow. My hair went gray while we waited.

We were there for much longer than either of us anticipated, but it was good; we got a chance to get to know each other. I can’t pretend that I remember everything we talked about. She was coming from the Baltimore County Public Library. She knew my father who worked for Baltimore County and was close with the BCPL director, Lynn’s boss. I grew up in Baltimore County and was familiar with a number of the library branches. We both grew up in just outside Baltimore areas that weren’t terribly far from each other. I don’t know what else we talked about, but we walked out with the start of a solid working relationship.

Lynn makes things happen and she sees good everywhere she looks. Lynn makes Voltaire’s Pangloss look like a bit of a pessimist. If you look up effusive in the dictionary, you will find Lynn’s picture. Lynn’s descriptions of people are filled with words like fabulous, amazing, wonderful, and magnificent. I spoke at a retirement event for Lynn. I talked about her praise and wondered what I was going to do after she retired and I became just a normal person and was no longer amazing and fabulous. Everyone there understood.

Under Lynn, CCPL was very aggressive going after State (and County) funding for library capital projects. She always thought big. Big wasn’t enough; she thought bigger. She was part of a number of major changes and improvements to the branches. Nothing got in her way. In the movie Road House, the Patrick Swayze character says “pain don’t hurt.” Lynn says “obstacles don’t get in the way.”

I was at a CCPL sponsored author interview event. I saw Lynn after and said to her, “If there was ever a chance to do it, I would like to do an author interview.” It isn’t literally true, but it kind of feels like it – A few days later I was on a stage in front of two-hundred and fifty people interviewing best-selling writer Daniel Silva. That interview turned into about thirty interviews, so far. Lynn is like that. Things happen.

We didn’t just work together, we are friends. Lory and Lynn are friends now too. They met when we put together a team to compete in an adult version of the Battle of the Books. We’ve probably at least mentioned it and will probably talk about it more sometime.

Oh yeah, we won that Battle of the Books. Lynn is like that. Things happen.

Lory and I plan to talk with Lynn sometime and devote a podcast episode to her. I can’t wait.

Do you know someone in the book world that you admire or who has greatly influenced you? Let us know at twosides2thestory@yahoo.com. Maybe your person is a future Two Sides to the Story podcast episode or blog post topic.