TUNKHANNOCK — Two different worlds to explore and compare.

Two acclaimed authors to take readers into their time and lives.

Two acclaimed and visually exquisite movies.

Six reasons to join fellow readers and film appreciators for the 13th annual Wyoming County Reads, a collaboration of the Dietrich Theater and the Tunkhannock Public Library.

This year’s program will feature “Out of Africa” by Isak Dinesen and “A River Runs Through It” by Norman Maclean. The beauty and mystery of nature is celebrated in both, transporting the reader to the warmth of Africa and summer in the Rocky Mountains.

All are invited to start reading the books now to be ready for discussions at the Tunkhannock Public Library at 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Feb. 1 and 15 for “A River Runs Through It” and Feb. 15 and March 1 for “Out of Africa.”

Movie showings will also be held at 1 and 7 p.m. Feb. 8 for “A River Runs Through It” and Feb. 22 for “Out of Africa,” at the Dietrich Theater.

People do not have to reside in Wyoming County to participate. The discussions and movies are all free and sponsored by the Wyoming County Commissioners.

Both books are memoirs of the authors’ lives in the early part of the 20th century – with different settings and different experiences, but many threads that are the same or similar. It will be the challenge of resident scholar Bill Chapla, back by popular demand, to guide the discussion to identify these threads and lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of these two books.

“A River Runs Through It” begins, “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.”

Out of Africa begins, “I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.”

The books are available at the library or on one’s e-reader. For more information, call 570-996-1500.

A scene from ‘The River Runs Through It,’ which will be shown, free of charge, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Dietrich Theater as part of the 2017 Wyoming County Reads project.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_ABJ-Wyoming-Reads-1.jpg.optimal.jpgA scene from ‘The River Runs Through It,’ which will be shown, free of charge, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Dietrich Theater as part of the 2017 Wyoming County Reads project. Submitted photos

A scene from ‘Out of Africa,’ which will be shown, free of charge, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Dietrich Theater as part of the 2017 Wyoming County Reads project.
http://www.theabingtonjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_ABJ-Wyoming-Reads-2.jpg.optimal.jpgA scene from ‘Out of Africa,’ which will be shown, free of charge, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Dietrich Theater as part of the 2017 Wyoming County Reads project. Submitted photos

For Abington Journal

Information provided by the Dietrich Theater.