(Artwork above by Mary Burgess)

The Sunriver Library presents an art exhibit from the Lake Oswego Reads program during the month of April. In its 12th year, the program announces a book to be read citywide, then arranges a series of literary events around this theme, much like the Deschutes County program called A Novel Idea.

This year’s book, Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton was selected by the Steering Committee for Lake Oswego Reads, consisting of librarians, community leaders, high school English teachers and high school students.

This is the story: The world has come to an end—or has it? Those on the fringes of civilization are left behind with no idea of what happened.  Up in the frozen reaches of the Arctic, astronomer Augustine is cut off with no communication by the disaster, and he has to preserve not only his own life, but also that of a strange child who has wandered into his care. Astronaut Sullivan finds herself in circumstances just as grave—her spacecraft is making the long voyage home from Jupiter when Mission Control stops talking.  Augustine and Sullivan are just two people left and bewildered by the apocalypse. As they struggle to survive, their stories gradually come together, and they are forced to face their regrets, their lives, and, ultimately, their legacies.

Brooks-Dalton is from southern Vermont. She is deeply interested in travel, writing and motorcycles, and, inspired in part by those passions, her 2015 memoir Motorcycles I’ve Loved ultimately became a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She moved to Ireland when she was 17 and worked her way around the world for 3 ½ years.  Good Morning, Midnight is her second book and was published in 2016. Brooks-Dalton has degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Portland State University.  She presently lives in New York City and is teaching at Catapult and working on a new project.

Twenty visual artists have painted their interpretation of this book, and you can see it at the Sunriver Library until April 28th. The library is open Tuesday through Saturday. This exhibit is sponsored by the Sunriver Library’s Friends of the Library group.

Lake Oswego Reads receives financial support from the Friends of the Lake Oswego Public Library, Lake Oswego Rotary Club and the Lake Oswego Review. As has been the practice for all 12 years, 800 free books were distributed to Lake Oswego Public Library card holders, thanks to the Friends of the Lake Oswego Library.