Heidelberg professor creates community reading series

As part of his sabbatical work, Barry Devine is working with the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library and Pay Yan Books to create a new community reading series called “How To Read a Book Like a Professor.”

The goal of the series is to help people get more out of reading and feel more confident talking about books with others. Barry said the idea came from past work he did with the library and his interest in making reading more interactive.

“A few years ago I worked with the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library on some public lectures… and I began to look for a new project,” he said. “I came up with the idea of combining my most fun college courses with small reading groups, and the idea to start How to Read a Book Like a Professor was born.”

Each event in the series has two parts. In the first part, Barry will share tips and simple strategies to help people as they read. In the second part, everyone comes back together to talk about what they noticed and learned.

“I decided to break the lectures into two parts so that I could provide readers with the tips and strategies… and then we can all go read it with these new tools,” he said. “The second meeting will be an absolutely unpredictable carnival of discovery.”

Barry said one of the most important things he wants people to understand is that everyone reads differently, and that is a good thing.

“Learning different interpretive techniques allows you to read the same book… but to see entirely new aspects of it that were hidden before,” he said. “When we come together as a community group and discuss what we found, we get to learn about everyone else's discoveries, too.”

The first event in the series will focus on this year’s Community Read book, The Astral Library by Kate Quinn. The author will speak to the community on Tuesday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Chandelier Community Event Center. Click here for more details.

Barry said the book is a great choice because it has something for everyone. “There will be something for everyone… fantasy, adventure, romance, classic literature, mystery,” he said. “I can't wait to see what the members of our community are able to dig from its pages that I was not able to see myself.”

The series is open to the community, but it also shows how Heidelberg connects what students learn in class to real experiences outside of campus.

At the end of the day, Barry said reading is something that keeps growing with you. “We never stop learning,” he said. “That’s part of what makes reading literature so endlessly rewarding.”