Thanksgiving Day is Thursday, and the Vietnam Kitchen awaits the Confidentials. There may be a George Clooney movie, too. I also have a column slot on Thanksgiving Day, and it’s been filed, sealed and delivered to Coach K. Dave Matthews will appeciate my compassion in defining the words he can’t understand. He isn’t going to like it much, anyway.
Friday is Black, and best ignored by sane people.
New Albany’s Holiday Fest is on Saturday, and this year it is accompanied by a nifty wine and beer “Jingle Walk,” in which retailers host wine samplings (just one brewery).
Also on Saturday, there’s a marathon X-mas story reading at Destinations Booksellers. As enticement for those readers who enjoy counter-intuitive playing against type, well, I believe my slot starts at 11:00 a.m. Here’s the pitch:
Destinations Booksellers, 604 East Spring Street, will host a marathon reading relay of Christmas stories as part of the downtown New Albany “Holiday Fest” on Saturday, Nov. 28, beginning at 7 a.m. and running throughout the day until midnight.
Volunteer readers from throughout the community are being recruited to sign up and read from selected novels for 30 minutes and to solicit pledge donations to benefit the Community Alliance to Promote Education (CAPE).
A Christmas Story, by Indiana’s Jean Shepherd, will kick off the reading relay. Everyone knows this story from repeated airings of the 1983 film starring Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, and Melinda Dillon.
When readers conclude that one, the reading team will begin reading from Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, followed by Wally Lamb’s new Wishin’ and Hopin’: A Christmas Story. Finally, after dark, readers will pick up with Charles Dickens’ immortal A Christmas Carol, reading on until midnight.
CAPE is an Indiana program whose administrative operations are funded by The Lilly Foundation and operated by the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated Schools Corporation, but additional funds help the initiative to purchase books for pre-schoolers. All pledged donations will be used to further the distribution of books into the homes of targeted families in order to foster literacy.
Eager volunteers are encouraged to contact Randy Smith at Destinations Booksellers, in person, by e-mail, or by phone, as listed below.
Destinations Booksellers
604 E. Spring St.
New Albany, IN 47150
(812) 944-5116
