That Happiest Moment

“It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it.”  So begins Orhan Pamuk’s novel The Museum of Innocence.  The date of that happiest moment was Monday, May 26, 1975.  All of that information is in the very first paragraph of the book and I was hooked.  I want to know what happened to make him so happy, why he didn’t know, and why he was never that happy again.  Reading The Museum of Innocence allowed me to find out a little about Turkish culture, history, and the difference between collectors, hoarders, and founders of museums.  It also makes one think about their happiest moments and if they only realized it in hindsight or if at the time you knew that was the happiest you were ever going to be what a difference that would make to the moment.

If just reading a really good book is one of your happiest moments then read The road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson.  First if you can judge a book by its cover, the prettiest face that is bound to make you smile graces the Bryson book.  The road to Little Dribbling is filled with fun facts about the British Isle and amusing adventures some happen at museums.  Also please remember if you are out hiking or taking long walks this summer beware of cows.

A mystery treat for June is The Highwayman by Craig Johnson a novella that combines technology and Native American mysticism to make for an eerie stretch of road.  Anyone who reads C.J. Box and or Tony Hillerman will enjoy the Longmire series written by Craig Johnson.  The library also has the first season of the TV show Longmire on DVD.  The show is surprisingly good but the mystery remains Wyoming is such an important part of the story why is it being filmed in New Mexico?  Still it makes for a beautiful setting and the TV shows are different stories than what you have read in the books.

Exercise your mind, read all summer long and perhaps along the way you will find…….you are participating in the Lewistown Public Library’s summer reading program.  Ah, true happiness at last.