Pretty sure I’ve posted along these lines before, but it bears repeating: Very little can beat the fun of readings and book-signings in small-town libraries.

I’ve had three in the last week, on the shore of Flathead Lake in Polson, in downtown Stevensville, and a couple of blocks off the main drag in Superior, and each was wonderful in its own way.

At the largest, North Lake County Public Library in Polson (population, about 5,000), several members of a short-story book club showed up and asked the pointed questions I knew to expect after attending one of their meetings earlier this year. These folks meet weekly, and are working their way through a short-story anthology. They don’t mess around, and their queries about craft were sharp and insightful.

 

At the North Valley Public Library in Stevensville (pop., about 2,000), a librarian rendered me temporarily speechless by saying my writing reminded her of James Lee Burke’s. (Cue fainting.) And fellow writer Ralaine Fagone had some great advice on how to better use my author’s page on Facebook, which generally mystifies me. Luckily, Fagone had it figured out, and generously shared her knowledge.

 

And the wonderful folks at the Mineral County Public Library in Superior (pop. 826) provide a cake with an image of a visiting author’s book, thereby ruining any claims we might try to stake as starving artists. They also moved the reading outdoors to take advantage of a bright and breezy end-of-summer day, making the occasion even more festive.

 

In each place, there were great discussions about books, and in each, I left feeling as though I’d made new friends.

I’ve heard people complain about small audiences at readings, but I’ve found those to be some of my best experiences, as the reading nearly always turns into an intimate, in-depth discussion, one that leaves me in awe of my great good fortune to be part of the passionate reading community that is rural Montana.