Wed 5/6 @ 7:30PM

Do you make a summer reading list? That hasn’t been a thing for me since I was in college. I prefer to spend my summers doing stuff and if I took reading material to the beach, it was usually a fashion magazine that could double as a face coverup to block the sun. (Didn’t those magazine tell you that tanning your face causes wrinkles? It’s true!) So I have a winter reading list where I curl up on the sofa with a blanket, a cat or two, a cup of hot tea and a good book about Chicago, nothing better to do when the snow is coming down heavy, especially when you have a minor ankle fracture like I did this winter that kept me down for a couple of weeks. But you do you.

The next “Happy Dog Takes On” program, a series of panel discussions in partnership with the City Club that take place at the Happy Dog in Gordon Square so you can enjoy a loaded hot dog, some excellent tater tots and a couple of beers while you listen, is called “The Happy Dog Takes on Your Summer Reading List.” Four literary professionals will purport to tell you what books are “must reads” for this summer, including kids’ books and “Young Adult” books. In fact, there are no “must reads”: go with your own interests and tastes, whether it’s poetry, history, biography, murder mysteries or weighty tomes about the roots of the Middle East conflict. (I personally never read fiction, but you probably don’t want to read about Chicago history, sociology and culture!)

The speakers include Cuyahoga County Public Library Adult Programming Manager Bill Kelly; the Cleveland Public Library’s Senior Director of Outreach & Programming Erica Marks; Mac’s Backs—Books on Coventry store manager Rosa Ransom; and Literary Cleveland Programming Director Michelle Smith.

Registration for the free event isn’t required, but it’s helpful. Go here. The forum will be livestreamed on the City Club website starting at 7:30pm. You can text questions to 330-541-5794.