Reading Steinbeck urged en masse

Sonoma County organizers hope 'Grapes of Wrath' will spark conversation

By ANDREA A. QUONG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

July 12, 2002

It started in Seattle, met with wild success in Chicago, and caused acrimony in New York. The idea was to get people from all walks to life to read the same book at the same time.

Sonoma County residents may be next. They're being asked to slip into the current with their own monthlong reading fest in the fall.

Organizers launched Sonoma County Reads last month and are now filling the shelves in the county's 13 branch libraries with 1,000 copies of the book of choice, John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

"Some of the books have been checked out already," said Melissa Kelley, who is co-chair of the event with City Councilman Steve Rabinowitsh. "People are getting a head start."

The selection of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel chronicling the cross-country journey of the migrant Joad family came on the heels of an endorsement for the book by Sharon Davis, the governor's wife, for a statewide reading event spearheaded by the California Council for the Humanities.

Kelley, who heads the Sonoma County Public Library Foundation, which is raising money for the program, said funding considerations influenced the decision, but that it came "a few weeks" in advance of Davis' announcement.

With the centennial of Steinbeck's birth this year and resources already provided by the humanities council, Kelley said, "it made a whole lot of sense to use the same book."

If the county adopted "The Grapes of Wrath," in line with the state program, she said, it ould apply for funding from the state. In the end, Sonoma County Reads received a $500 grant to show John Ford's 1940 film adaptation of the book. Books by other authors weren't in the running, she said.

Those in favor of the book said its themes resonate with contemporary Californians, half of whom have come from other places.

"The Joads were the ultimate outsiders," said Amanda Holder, marketing director of the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. "So it speaks to a lot of people who have come to California from other states, even other countries."

The choice steered clear of the nail-biting surrounding book selection in other places. New York's selection committee was split between Korean-American Chang-Rae Lee's "Native Speaker" and "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother," James McBride's memoir.

Seattle's Washington Center for the Book started the national craze with Russell Banks' "The Sweet Hereafter."

Chicago popularized it, staging mock trials with passages recited from Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" last year and Elie Weisel's Holocaust memoir "Night" this year.

In California, people in Bakersfield, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena and Stockton chose their own books to read together, and more than 140 libraries across the state have opted for the state-endorsed Steinbeck behemoth "Grapes of Wrath."

Sonoma County will do its own experiment with county-wide reading starting Sept. 21, at the Literary Arts Guild's Book Fair.

It will include films, a Woody Guthrie music show, singalongs and photo exhibits aimed at inspiring residents, from ninth-graders to adults, to read or re-read the novel, celebrate Steinbeck's centennial and discuss his book's themes of poverty and migration.

Kelley said planners envision a "decentralized" series of discussions in coffee shops, on the radio and in libraries, and they hope to spark conversations between people who wouldn't normally have a reason to speak to each other.

So far the 20-member, volunteer steering committee, which includes the Sonoma County Library, the Santa Rosa school board, City Council, Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University, has raised $8,000 out of its goal of $20,000.

Roughly half of the county's residents hold library cards, said Sonoma County Library Director Thomas Trice, so planners hope the 1,000 books -- 100 of them from a new Spanish-language edition -- will get snapped up.

When asked how many people she hopes to encourage to read the 600-plus page novel, Kelley replied, "How many adults are in Sonoma County?"

You can reach Staff Writer Andrea A. Quong at 521-5274 or aquong@pressdemocrat.com.