Longboat Key readers rejoice in time enough at last

On Longboat Key, even a pesky thing like a global pandemic can’t stop book clubs from digging into their favorites.

Temple Beth Israel has continued its club organized by its women’s group, joining the Grand Bay community in video chatting with its readers. In the Whitney Beach condos, semi-formal book clubs have popped up as residents trade tomes. But for Whitney Beach resident Anne Roberts, even a few book clubs can’t keep her busy enough to neglect her own personal reading. 

Roberts, a Longboat Library volunteer and former librarian and children’s literature teacher, found the silver lining of the pandemic: Time enough to read. And read. And read. 

“Reading, in a way, served me during this,” Roberts said. “You can only knit so many sweaters and watch so much TV.” 

In the beginnings of the pandemic, Roberts found herself reaching for the classics, her old Jane Austen favorites — “Emma,” “Pride and Prejudice” — the sort of familiar, comforting entertainment that many reached for in the disquieting early days of the new normal.

“I reread a lot of Jane Austen,” Roberts said. “I got sort of panicky in the beginning alone and I found Jane Austen very reassuring.” 

When asked what she’d recommend to others for their reading list, a veritable flood of titles poured from Roberts. Though she loved the classics, there was really no restriction on genre or anything else as Roberts read ravenously. She had a period of Greek myth reading, from Homer and the Iliad to modern takes on ancient classics like “Circe,” which follows the Greek witch from the Odyssey and reimagines her journey. 

“I think I’m a freshman in college again (reading Homer),” Roberts said. 

Along the thin thread of “classics” binding much of Roberts’ reading together are her own personal classics, like the author Wallace Stegner, whom she said reminded her of her late husband Warren.

He’s a hidden treasure, she said. She manages to keep up with the bestsellers, too, having picked up “American Dirt” and discussed “Little Fires Everywhere” with other library folks. Nonfiction has also slipped into her voluminous diet, as she read a biography of Winston Churchill at one point. All the time staying away from others is reminiscent of when Roberts would take a weekend out of her busy life with kids and her career to just spend time with her books. 

“I (would) take a box of books and just go off and read out in the country and so I’m almost thinking that it's sort of a positive thing for me,” Roberts said. “I don’t have to be anywhere, I can just sit and read.”

One of the benefits for Roberts has been getting to know her neighbors better as they create informal book clubs. Roberts and her daughters trade books across state lines while she and her neighbors trade books around the complex.

“I’m 82 and everyone else (neighbors) is in their 60s, like my kids’ age, but it’s fun because we share books,” Roberts said. “I’m reading things I wouldn’t normally read, and then I’m trying to get them to read things that I find interesting.” 

Zoom isn’t her strong suit, though, so she sticks to talking to the grandkids on the computer rather than fellow readers — reading and talking later sounds just fine to her. Though the Longboat Library offers book clubs during the winter season, Roberts said they’re often so crowded that she doesn’t often attend. 

“I still love talking to people about books and their reactions when they read them,” Roberts said.