Program hopes to draw in male readers, for a change

One City One Book selects Ron Carlson's 'The Signal' in hopes of attracting a balanced group.

November 01, 2012|By Daniel Siegal, daniel.siegal@latimes.com

La Canada Flintridge's One City One Book program… ((Courtesy of Penguin…)

Men, stop what you are doing and pick up a good book.

That is one goal of La Cañada Flintridge's One City One Book program, which this year selected Ron Carlson's acclaimed novel of the outdoors, “The Signal,” as the work to read, contemplate and celebrate in November 2012. Carlson will discuss the book in La Cañada on Sunday.

Carlson's 2009 novel, which received enthusiastic reviews, follows troubled rancher Mack and his soon-to-be ex-wife Vonnie as they take one last trip into the wilderness in western Wyoming's Wind River Range. Mack has ulterior motives for the trip, however, and the novel rushes toward a thrilling conclusion while weaving in flashbacks that detail Mack's relationship with his father — a combination of themes that One City One Book organizers hope will lure a balanced group of readers.

“We wanted a book that would appeal to men, as well as women,” said Kathleen Kenna, the campaign's publicity chair. “Our event is usually 99% women, and we really wanted to get the men involved.”

Carlson said he didn't set out to draw in male readers, but his own experiences growing up in Utah led him to develop tales of adventure.

“There's men and there's work and there's fishing and the outdoors,” he said. “I'm also using nature and work and all the trials they have, to [write about] what makes a man tick.”

As it has since launching the program in 2004, the One City One Book committee is staging an author appearance in conjunction with the La Cañada public library.

On Sunday, Carlson will drive up from Orange County, where he is co-director of UC Irvine's creative writing program, for a question-and-answer session facilitated by local author Mark Salzman at the La Cañada Unified School District board chambers, on Foothill Boulevard at Cornishon Avenue.

Librarian Mark Totten, who is a member of the committee that chose the book and coordinated the program, said Carlson's ability to recreate the natural world on the page is what drew him to “The Signal.”

“I really thought his descriptive elements were outstanding, they helped me really visualize what was going on,” he said.

Totten said the committee expects about 90 attendees at Sunday's discussion.

The city underwrites the event with a $1,500 grant that covers advertising, a sound system, maintaining a One City One Book website and offering a transportation stipend to the author.

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