Laughter brings everyone a little closer together, but it takes an artist to take jabs at Austin’s personalities and wink at its institutions without dividing them further.
Sarah Bird has managed to do both with skill in her most recent novel, “How Perfect is That,” which skewers the city’s do-gooders, social climbers and homeless in what Booklist described as a “riches-to-rags tale with enough smart, sardonic satire and irresistibly irreverent irony to uproariously outweigh any moral misgivings.”
The Bee Cave Public Library and Lake Travis and Spicewood community libraries have teamed up to host an appearance by Bird at 7 p.m. Feb. 11, 2010, at the Bee Cave library as part of the 2010 Lake Travis Reads program. The event is free and open to the public.
The goal of the third One Book, One Community program Lake Travis Reads is to bring the community together to read and discuss a shared book or body of work by a single author, as is the case this year.
After featuring serious nonfiction works during its first two programs, the steering committee this year selected a local author whose books offer bitingly-funny, insightful looks at Austin, friendship, romance, high society and more.
Library directors are urging book clubs and other readers to pick up her books for enjoyable reads over the holidays.
“Her novels are very funny and irreverent. They are really a riot,” Bee Cave Library Director Barbara Hathaway said.
Bird’s other novels include “Alamo House” (1986), “The Boyfriend School” (1989), “The Mommy Club” (1991), “Virgin of the Rodeo” (1999), “The Yokota Officers Club” (2001), and “The Flamenco Academy” (2006).
Lake Travis Community Library Director Morgan McMillian recently finished reading “Flamenco Academy” and was impressed with how Bird captured the setting.
“I’ve never been to New Mexico or been a part of the Flamenco community there, but now I feel like I understand in a way even better than if I had visited,” McMillian said.
Bird also has written screenplays for Paramount, CBS, Warner Bros., National Geographic, ABC, TNT, Hemdale Studio, and several independent producers. Her articles have appeared in: O, The Oprah Magazine; The New York Times Magazine; Mademoiselle; Glamour; Cosmopolitan; Seventeen; Ms.; and The Texas Observer. She took over the back-page column in Texas Monthly from Kinky Friedman in April 2005.
McMillian said that the program is more than a question-and-answer session with the author.
“It encourages people to read and discuss a common body of work. It is a community-wide effort where people from different neighborhoods and socio-economic backgrounds can share in a common experience,” McMillian explained.
One Book, One Community is a national program created by the Center for the Book in Washington, D.C., and adopted by communities around the nation. The local version is sponsored by the libraries and Friends groups of Bee Cave Public Library and Lake Travis and Spicewood community libraries.
Before the libraries combined to host Lake Travis Reads, the staffs hardly knew each other, Hathaway said, but organizing the multi-library, multi-city event opened the lines of communication.
“This has really brought the three libraries together, and now we communicate regularly,” Hathaway said. “It’s been really great for the libraries and we hope to pass that on to the communities.”
The library director invited the public to meet Bird and ask her anything.
“She is very warm and funny and open to people. She’s lived in Austin for decades and is a fascinating person,” Hathaway said.
For information, visit www.laketravisreads.org or any of the participating libraries.