So Summer Read mooches on

It was awards time at the State Library on Friday night as the Summer Read, a statewide reader development initiative now in its fourth year, came to a close with presentation of prizes and awards to readers, libraries and authors selected by popular vote.
I am agnostic about popular votes, but I was not agnostic about the expression of rampant favouritism for Ann Blainey's superb biography, I Am Melba.

The list of voters' favourites included Beaten By A Blow by Dennis McNamara, the true story of a shearer's life; the Miles Franklin-longlisted Addition, by Toni Jordan; and (surprise!) Radical Melbourne (in two volumes), by Jeff and Jill Sparrow, as well as Jarad Henry's crime novel, Blood Sunset. Here is a list with links, and here's Angela Meyer's coverage of more features of the event at Crikey.

I did mean to congratulate the Sparrows at the time, so I'll do it here instead.  There's further analysis (and an invitation!) after the fold.

The five top reads as voted by participants were skewed towards non fiction this year, a change from when the program kicked off in 2006 with '20 Novels Set Close To Home'.
There's a sense too that the demographic of voters was older rather than younger - I did hear that most voted by post rather than by electronic means, which this year included SMS. However, the extension of the program through Book Mooching would suggest that the actual reader impact was across a wider section of the community. (I will release figures of the number of released books when I get them.)

An interesting exercise all around, the Summer Read is one of the more ambitious reader programs in Australian state libraries. One of the central features is author appearances at public libraries through the state - you can see here (for a while, anyhow) how extensive that coverage was, and how generous authors were with their time, travelling across the state to speak at reader events. 

I have promised to scour my sources (among other spots, that's you, readers) for fiction suggestions for the reading list for 2010, so do pass them on if the urge takes you.

There are criteria to be met: it helps if the book is in print (though this is not always a problem if it is discussed early enough in the selection process), and the novel should have Victoria as a setting, or be written by one or several Victorians

Here is the complete list for this year's program. I reviewed and recommended Bird for this year's panel, and brought Musk & Byrne and a Sleepers' Almanac along to meetings, as well as some other titles.
So have a good look, and don't be afraid to move outside any squares you see. There are some, there always are when books are selected by anybody - they might overlap a little, or have rounded corners or even slightly porous boundaries, but they are still squares.

The whole point is that people (and publishers, and libraries, YES!) should be extended by the program, as one might say in program-de-gook. So if you have some ideas, please leave a comment or talk to me further at genevievetucker@gmail.com.Let's make those boundaries bleed.

Comments

[lisa]

Interesting stuff. I have to admit I didn't know about the Book Crossing stuff until it was mentioned at the awards thing on Friday night, it makes and interesting addition to the already diverse program (blog/appearances). As you'll see on Angela's blog, I think there are many ways to improve the online presence of the program, but otherwise it's a great initiative and I'll be following along closely next year as well! (And also sending you my recommendations.)

[genevieve]

Yes, I was in the dark about the mooching too, and will have to investigate it further.
I do remember picking up one of the books in Mr Tulk in early 2008 to have a look (that would be the 2007-8 Summer Read) and being amazed when the waiter said, 'you can take it, we have been told to simply replace them if they walk'. I was at great pains to insist that I could afford to buy it somewhere, was just having a browse... But it now seems I was not being asked to steal it at all.

I think between the three of us we've started to give this year's program a good chewing over. Definitely see what you mean about the interface, it is creaky. I look forward to your suggestions, Lisa :-)

[Lisa]

Ah! I saw the books in Mr Tulk this year and thought, if they're not careful someone is going to walk away with one of those... if I'd looked closer, that someone could have been me!