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Community Corner

Lively Literature at Swissvale Public Library

A local book discussion group revels in the fun of reading.

“They’re pretty rambunctious,” says a librarian in a hushed voice at the Carnegie Free Library of Swissvale. “It gets lively in there.”

Then she points to an anteroom with a closed door. There, at an L-shaped table, sits five women who are deep in frank discussion. 

“I think it would be hard to be the child of a famous person,” asserts one.

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“Privacy doesn’t matter anymore,” claims another.

“I’m not interested in the turmoil of her soul,” said a third. 

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The book is Audition: A Memoir, by Barbara Walters, and for nearly two hours these women of a certain age attend the Swissvale Book Discussion Group and debate the merits and themes of Walters’ autobiography. The air is electric with quips and pointed remarks. The members behave less like close friends than competing sisters.

They pause only long enough to nibble a cookie or pour a cup of juice, a feast of junk food that has been communally arranged on the table. 

“She says she’s bad at marriage,” one member observes, “and I would believe it, since she’s been married three times.”

“Boyfriends will help you,” says one woman, “but husbands are something different.” Everybody laughs knowingly.

None of them wish to be identified. As one member puts it, “Think of us as a group. We do this together. There’s no need for names.” 

For 12 years, the Book Discussion Group has gathered at Swissvale Public Library. There are usually 10 or more attendees, and they pick apart book after book, once a month, all year. They favor novels, but they dabble in nonfiction as well. Many volumes are mysteries and thrillers, but others, like Mackenzie Ford’s The Clouds Beneath the Sun, qualify as “contemporary literature."

The group is the brainchild of Bonnie Egli, a 59-year-old children’s librarian.

“I like to read books,” Egli says, shrugging.

The Braddock native has lived for 30 years in Swissvale, and although she has worked on a number of similar book clubs, some aspects are constant: They are always open to the public, participants can recommend and vote on the reading list, and the membership is loyal.

There are other literary covens as well, such as the Junior Book Discussion Group for children and the Wilkins School Community Center Discussion Group, which has been in continuous operation for 20 years. The Swissvale Library is small but plucky, and the staff prides itself on community involvement.

“It’s harder with kids,” Egli concedes. “It’s hard to get kids to think as far ahead as a month.”

Luckily, Egli has a degree in education and has worked with children for years. The junior edition of the discussion group is also thriving. 

As for the book selection, regulars are asked to nominate 12 titles, and these titles are composited into a master list. Then they vote. In the end, one title is picked for every month of the year. When the next November rolls around, the process is repeated. 

As the conversation continues, the topic drifts from celebrity culture to multiple divorces to the art of interviewing and, ultimately, the awfulness of television.

“‘20-20’ is soft porn on violence!” declares one member. Then the conversation turns to “20-20” for a few minutes, before veering back into Walters’ family life.

For such a simple concept, the Book Discussion Group has enjoyed great success and a long history. Egli has logged every book read for the past decade and she has strong opinions on each one. She despised The Wind Done Gone, Alice Randall’s parody of Gone with the Wind, for example. But Egli is an avid reader, and some members insist “she’s read everything.” Somehow, Egli had missed reading Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, and her group gave her the chance to pick it up.

In forthcoming months, members will read such books Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffennegger, The Likeness, by Tana French, and The Girl Who Played with Fire, the blockbuster novel by Swedish author Steig Larsson.

“But this one was very good,” says Egli, soon after the discussion has wrapped and the snacks have been stashed away. “They’re not always this good.”

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