I had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to present “Rose City Reader’s 10 Ideas to Kickstart Your Reading Habit” at a community Speakers’ Series lunch. It was a lot of fun to talk about books and reading to a crowd of fellow book lovers!
My main interest outside the office is reading and blogging about the books I read on my book blog, Rose City Reader, which I started back in 2007. Like many lawyers, I was an English Lit major in college, and have always enjoyed reading – literature, popular fiction, mysteries, history, biographies, and lots of other kinds of books. I use my blog to keep track of the books I read, and the many lists of prize winners, Top 100s, and other Must Reads that I am working on.
The Town Club invited me in to talk with the members and their guests about ideas for how to read more and get more out of the books we read. One idea was to appreciate the many local opportunities Portland offers in the way of independent bookstores like Powell’s, local publishing companies, and local authors. Along those lines, it was great to have Liz Crain from Hawthorne Books; Judy Nedry, author of the Emma Golden mysteries; and Susan Winkler, author of Portrait of a Woman in White to join me at the event.
Big thanks to my friend, artist Mary Chomeko Hinckley, for inviting me and organizing the event!