Schools in session. Why not read a classic?  Do we read differently today what we read at 18?

 The moon is down [large print]  by John Steinbeck

        Northanger Abbey [large print] by Jane Austen

      O pioneers!: [large print] by Willa Cather

      To have and have not [large print] by Ernest Hemingway

To wrap up this year’s Great Michigan Read, the Michigan Humanities Council will host a grand finale event on Monday, June 25 in Traverse City. This finale will be held at the Dennos Museum Center and feature Arc of Justice author Kevin Boyle. This will be an amazing event, providing an opportunity to reflect on the conversations and discussions generated by the Great Michigan Read throughout Michigan.

Tickets are available for $35 and $100. More information is available at the Michigan Humanities Council. For immediate event updates, keep an eye out on the Council's Facebook page.

The Great Michigan Read 2011-2012 is drawing to a close. This year's selection has inspired displays and discussions across the states in public libraries and schools. The author, Kevin Boyle, received his undergraduate degree from University of Detroit-Mercy and his doctorate from University of Michigan. He is presently teaching at Ohio State University. Arc of Justice won the National Book Award in 2004 and was named Michigan Notable Book in 2005.

Arc of justice: a saga of race, civil rights, and murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle — the story of a Detroit physician of African-American descent, his family, and trying to move up in the world. The consequences of purchasing a home in a Detroit, middle-class neighborhood in 1925 by Dr. Sweet were terrifying and not a shining moment in Detroit's history.

Has your book group considered reading a book and watching the movie?

The good earth [videodisc] by A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture

The good earth [kit] by Pearl S. Buck; introduced and edited by Peter Conn

To kill a mockingbird [kit] by Harper Lee

To kill a mockingbird [videodisc] by a Universal International presentation of a Pakula-Mulligan, Brentwood Productions picture

The kite runner [kit] by Khaled Hosseini

Note: Tickets for this event are sold out as of Thursday, April 7, 2011.

Everyone's Reading author, Michael Connelly will talk about his life and experience writing The Lincoln Lawyer, part of the Mickey Haller series. Mr. Connelly will speak on Thursday, April 14 at 2:00PM at The Community House in Birmingham and at 7:30PM at The Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. Tickets are free and available to Canton Public Library cardholders at the library's Adult Reference Desk.

Copies of The Lincoln Lawyer will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of the Book Beat bookstore.