A monthly interview with Bolinas Library readers
Anna Gade
Anna Gade has been living in Bolinas since 2005, when she built a house on the very property where her grandfather had lived since 1954. Originally from San Francisco, she had a long career for over 40 years teaching high school English, with her longest tenure in Fresno, alongside shorter periods in San Francisco and Germany. For the past 16 years, Anna has been a member of the Friends of the Bolinas/Stinson Libraries,, opens a new window serving as President for the last eight. The Friends raise funds to support the two community libraries and programming, as well as the school library. “I am one of those Bolinas readers who loves our library and librarians.” In addition to her work with the libraries, Anna is currently the social chairman of the Bolinas Rod and Boat Club, opens a new window and has previously served on the Bolinas Fireboard., opens a new window She enjoys visiting with her family and grandkids and yearly trips to Yosemite.
What are you reading now? What’s in your pile of books? Do you read one book at a time or several? What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
I spend part of everyday reading the New York Times, opens a new window and the San Francisco Chronicle, opens a new window (my hometown paper). I read the Hearsay News, opens a new window and New Yorker, opens a new window as well.
I just started the book, Auslander: Memoirs of a Stranger, opens a new window, by Michael Moritz, a part time Bolinas resident.
In addition, I’m reading This Side of Paradise , opens a new windowby F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s the 100th anniversary of the Great Gatsby, opens a new window, and one critic remarked that he found it to be better than the latter which I consider part of the canon of the twentieth century American literature.
Other recent reads have been James, opens a new window by Percival Everett. (I love Huckleberry Finn, opens a new window (Mark Twain), and felt compelled to read this “retelling”.) I love poetry, but never read enough; in the last month I read Why I Wake Early, opens a new window by Mary Oliver and The Hurting Kind , opens a new windowby Ada Limon. Etel Adnan’s Journey to Mount Tamalpais, opens a new window caught my eye at Pt Reyes Books, opens a new window a couple of weeks ago. As a lover of that ever present place in my life, I truly appreciate her strong observations of it.
Do you like to read paper or eBooks? Audiobooks? DVDs?
Usually I read books, occasionally an audiobook.
Are you a browser in the library or do you know in advance what you are looking for? Do you browse the library catalog or pick specific books? If so, how do you find out about them?
I don’t browse much, and usually know what I’m looking for. Although I do enjoy looking at the displays and new books and I occasionally might pick one up.
Do you have a favorite genre? Any genres that you never read? Have your preferences changed through the years.
I’ve always liked novels and poetry, particularly the classics. I don’t read much non-fiction except for magazines and newspapers.
What was your reading experience as a child? Did you grow up with a lot of books? A favorite book?
I grew up with books, making weekly visits to my neighborhood library with my father and brother to pick up a stack. The library was a classic Carnegie style building in the Sunset district, within walking distance from the house in San Francisco. My grandfather regaled us with bedtime stories when he visited; Gulliver’s Travels, opens a new window (Jonathan Swift), Tales from the Odyssey, opens a new window (Mary Pope Osborne), The Jungle Book, opens a new window (Rudyard Kipling).
Were there any books that made a big impression on you in your life? Perhaps a book that has impacted your consciousness a bit? (Maybe something you read at an impressionable age, 20s?)
In college, I always related to books about young women. In War and Peace, opens a new window (LeoTolstoy), I loved the character of Natasha, a strong female, with a main role in the story.
What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
Perhaps Howl, opens a new window by Alan Ginsberg. It was a very controversial, hard-to-find poem when it was first published.
Is there a famous author that you ever wanted to meet? Maybe back in time?
Emily Dickinson, opens a new window would be interesting because she was so reclusive.
What’s the last great book that you read and recommended to a friend?
Recently, I gave my grandson a copy of War and Peace , opens a new window(Leo Tolstoy) and Catcher in the Rye , opens a new window(J.D.Salinger). I think they are part of the canon of American literature.
What do you plan to read next? Do you plan?
A little book a friend just brought from France, Le Magician des Couleurs, opens a new window (Arnold Lobel), and a memoir a friend just recommended, A Marriage at Sea, opens a new window: A Love, Obsession and Shipwreck (Sophie Elmhirst).
I’m in a book group that focuses mainly on Shakespeare’s Plays, so the leader usually chooses the next play. We have read most of the plays over the last several years.
Is there a book that you always meant to read but still haven’t. Any highly rated books that you thought were overrated?
I haven’t read The Charterhouse of Parma , opens a new windowby Stendhal.
What books do you return to? Are there any books you like to re-read?
Books play a major part in my life. I have been rereading several in recent years. I am a member of two reading groups in Bolinas; one has strictly Shakespeare, opens a new window’s plays as its focus; the other has mostly pretty serious classics. Currently we are reading Richard II , opens a new windowin the one and Milton’s Paradise Lost , opens a new windowin the other.
The classic reading group started with all the volumes of Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, opens a new window about 17 years ago. In many cases the books we have read are ones that I read in college as an English major at UC Berkeley:, opens a new window The plays of Aeschylus , opens a new windowand Sophocles , opens a new windowand Euripides, opens a new window, the Odyssey , opens a new window(Homer) and Aeneid, opens a new window (Virgil); Russian novels including War and Peace, opens a new window (Leo Tolstoy); Cervantes’ Don Quixote, opens a new window, and many others. Rereading the classics from the perspective of advances ages is very rewarding.
Do you have a collection of books at home? If so, where do you keep them and do you re-read?
In my bedroom, I have floor to ceiling books, not really organized but books I love that I’ve had through the years. I gave a lot of books away when I moved here from Fresno. I also have a collection of art books in the living room.
When and where do you like to read? Describe your ideal reading experience.
I like to read bound paper books in bed in the early morning or by the fire in my living room. I will continue to read books for the rest of my life while I am blessed with sight.
Why read?
As my grandfather used to say, “There’s no frigate like a book”, the first line of Emily Dickinson’s poem.
Add a comment to: Bolinas Reads: October 2025