County residents go against the grain in ‘Great American Read’

Readers in Chickasaw County evidently are not “followers,” at least if the Great American Read says anything.The winner of the nationwide PBS competition for the best book — among 100 selected as finalists — was “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the classic by Harper Lee, which made the “top 10” in a contest sponsored by the Carnegie Cultural Center but was outdistanced by “Gone with the Wind,” the winner of the local event.The results were announced at a recent program at the Carnegie that was led by retired New Hampton Public Library Director Pat Ipsen, and while the results were a part of the program, what made this a fun event was the fact that it was a different kind of “book discussion.”— For more on this story, see the Nov. 20 New Hampton Tribune.