Happy Tenth Anniversary, Book Club

The Environmental Book Club, hosted by Cape Fear’s Going Green magazine and Old Books on Front Street, is happy to announce its tenth anniversary! At our inaugural meeting, in April 2011, we discussed The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson—an acknowledgement of our coastal location.

We’ve been connecting around good books ever since, reading everything from classics to new releases. We were looking forward to throwing a big party to celebrate, but perhaps we’ll aim instead for a big party on, say, our 12th anniversary, by which time we hope we don’t have to worry about how many people are together in one space.

The “library” is a little like the “Little Free Library” concept, in that we are not concerned about getting our books back, necessarily; if they wend their way into the community and are enjoyed, we consider this a success.

At our most recent pop-up event, a family that stopped by was initially reluctant to take any books, because they were about to finish their vacation and get back on a plane to Ohio. We were delighted to think our Lending Library books would wind up west of the Mississippi!

We anticipate holding another couple of pop-up lending library events later this year—perhaps at one of the upcoming festivals where Going Green will have an exhibitor table. You’ll find the whole list of our book selections since 2011 at https:// madmimi.com/p/96b6321.

photo by Lesley Gourley: Publisher Valerie Robertson, left, and Gwenyfar Rohler, owner of Old Books on Front Street, greet members of public as they come to peruse the pop-up lending library options. Rohler’s store has hosted the monthly Environmental Book Club discussions since they started in April, 2011.