Lunch hour is story time for grownups at Olympia library

Story time at the Olympia Timberland Library isn’t just for kids anymore.

Once a month, the library offers “Listen Here: A Lunch Break Story Time for Adults” featuring short stories read by professional audiobook narrator Corey Snow of Olympia.

“You can get totally involved in the story when he’s reading it,” said Lila Sjodin of Olympia, who attended July’s event. “There’s more drama, I think, hearing it read by someone with a wonderful voice.”

Programs like “Listen Here” have sprouted up in libraries all over the country in recent years, according to adult services librarian Sara Peté.

“People associate story time with the library and think of it for kids,” she said. “But many people enjoy audio books and reading to each other even as adults and so we just wanted to provide a place where people could do that on a regular basis.”

Olympia’s program was inspired by Seattle Public Library’s “Thrilling Tales: A Storytime for Adults,” which began about 11 years ago.

“We took their program and even the stories they read, and it was successful here,” Snow said.

After several months, Olympia’s staff branched out and began planning their own programs. Many of the stories that have been featured were requested by the program’s participants, Peté said. The Aug. 5 Listen Here will feature “Don’t Eat Cat” from Northwest author Jess Walter’s collection of stories, “We Live in Water.”

Joyce Hauk of Tumwater said the program has helped her develop a new appreciation for short stories. Plus, it’s an opportunity to spend time with some of her friends who also participate in the library’s book club.

“It’s just really fun,” Hauk said.

Snow was in the Army before spending about 20 years working in software development. He started recording professionally about five years ago.

Some of his bigger audio recording projects include recording Marky Ramone’s “Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone” and an autobiography of Phil Hartman.

“I’ve done a lot of World War II, 20th century history, military history, military nonfiction,” he said. “I tend to get more nonfiction than fiction books just because of my voice. I have the deeper, more professorial tones.”

But it’s solitary work. Snow said he approached the library staff about volunteering so that he could boost his social interaction, and when they learned about his background, they decided to create the lunch time story program for adults.

During a recent program, some attendees ate lunch, one person knitted, and everyone in the dimly lit meeting room seemed genuinely captivated as Snow read two murder mysteries.

“It’s a very different experience to read something on the page, versus hearing it,” Peté said.

Snow said his favorite part of the program is getting instant audience feedback on his work in the form of gasps, chuckles and the occasional “Oh my!” during passages.

“The opportunity to come out and speak to actual people and let them hear a story, and let them feel the emotion, and let me feel their emotion — it’s really cool,” he said.

About a dozen people attended July’s event. Snow said he hopes the program will continue and gain a bigger following.

“Many adults have either forgotten what it’s like to sit down and have a story read to them, or never thought that after you’re say, 10 or 12 years old, that that was a thing,” he said. “But there are millions of great stories out there that aren’t for kids.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Lunch hour is story time for grownups at Olympia library."