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CBC
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
This man read 3,599 books in his life. His hand-written reading list is inspiring others
Dan Pelzer's nose was always in a book. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and retired social worker made it his personal goal to read at least 100 pages every day, and he kept a list of every book he'd ever read since 1962, spanning almost any genre you can think of, totalling 3,599. "That's how he passed the time — probably too much time," his daughter, Marci Pelzer, told As It Happens guest host Paul Hunter. "We know he was sometimes reading at work. But he also read on the bus and everywhere he went. He always had a book open, a book in his hand. And it stimulated great conversations with all kinds of people." Dan Pelzer died on July 1 in Columbus, Ohio, at the age of 92, but his reading list is still sparking conversations. To honour his legacy, his family posted his entire list online at Marci says the list's reach has extended beyond her father's friends and family, and is inspiring others to read, think and talk about books. "It means the world to us," she said. Too long to print Dan's family initially planned to hand out printed copies of the booklist at his funeral, but at more than 100 pages, it just wasn't feasible. So, instead, they built a website, where people can flip through scanned copies of the yellowed pages, organised in chronological order by year, some hand-written, others typed. Beginning with Alan Moorehead's The Blue Nile in 1962, and ending with Charles Dickens' David Copperfield in 2023, the list spans almost any genre or era of literature you can think of, from the literary cannon to pulpy page-turners. There's fiction and non-fiction, politics, biographies, and dense tomes on history and religion. And almost all of them, Marci said, were library books. To honour Dan's reading prowess, the Columbus Metropolitan Library has posted a 98-page PDF of the list in alphabetical order, as well as a searchable database of 2,091 of the titles and counting. Compiling it all was no easy feat. Members of the library's information and technology team scanned the physical pages and put it through a transcription software to digitize the text. But because of the quality of the scans, that only churned out about 500 titles. After that, they manually compiled the list, adding subtitles, book covers and other useful information. "He was definitely a Renaissance guy from the standpoint of the variety of titles," said Maria Armitage, the library's manager of enterprise systems and data analytics, who helped create the digitized collection. "He read everything from, like, theologic theory to a lot of history, but then also popular fiction and had some pretty diverse tastes, overall." The library's Whitehall Branch, a place Dan visited often, has also put up a physical display in his honour, called What Dan Read. Marci says she's grateful for the library's work digitizing her father's collection. "I think he'd love to see the library getting the attention, and he's so grateful to what public institutions like libraries have done for the community," Marci said. Preferred John Grisham over James Joyce While he read prolifically, Marci says her father definitely had his preferences. "Sometimes he would talk about books being a slog. Other times he'd talk about loving them," she said. The greatest slog, in Dan's opinion, was Ulysses, the famously hard-to-read modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. He was a devout Catholic, and some of his favourite books were novels by Christian authors. He also loved to gobble up mysteries ands thrillers by bestselling authors. "He loved a real page-turner," Marci said. "I'm sure if you flip through like I did, you saw John Grisham all through the years." But he always finished any book he started. And if someone recommended a book to him, he would read it. The second-last book on his list is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a 2022 coming-of-age novel by Gabrielle Zevin that Marci recommended. "It made me happy to see that that was one of the last books he read," she said. "The ones that are special are the ones he read because I read them." 'A great comfort' Marci says her father read to connect to people, and because he was a spiritual, deep-thinking and meditative person. It was also, she says, a source of solace in later years. "I think it was a great comfort to him to go stay with my mom, who was in a nursing home the last three years, spend some time with her, and then go home to his empty apartment and read," she said. Dan's wife of 52 years, Mary Lou Pelzer, died in 2024. Marci says her dad didn't keep the list to brag or keep score. "It was just a list of the books he read that he kept personally so he could remember and think about them," she said. "It wasn't for anybody else, and most people didn't know he had it." Still, she believes he would be pleased at all the attention it's receiving.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Man Leaves Behind 109-Page List of Thousands of Books He Read After His Death at 92
Dan Pelzer read more than 5,000 books throughout the course of his life, including one classic he called "pure torture" One man left his loved ones a very special memento of his time on Earth. Dan Pelzer, who died on July 1 at the age of 92, left his friends and family a 109-page handwritten list of all the books he's read since 1962. Though Pelzer's family considered distributing the list at his funeral, they realized it was far too long to share in that way. So instead, they scanned the list and created a website sharing his reads called, What Dan Read. In Pelzer's obituary, his family shared that his love of reading and libraries first began in 1962, when he was serving as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Nepal. ADVERTISEMENT 'After discovering a library of about 150 paperbacks, he started documenting every book he read,' the obituary reads. 'Over the next six decades, he read more than 5,000 books.' An excerpt of Dan Pelzer's lengthy list of reads as shown on the site 'What Dan Read.' But despite being incredibly well-read, Pelzer's family shared that the grandfather's reading tastes align with 'his unpretentious nature.' 'While Dan conquered all the classics and read every volume to the end, he much preferred John Grisham to James Joyce, calling Ulysses 'pure torture,' ' the obituary reads. In a post shared on the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Facebook page, Pelzer's daughter, Marci, wrote, 'ALL of his books were Columbus Metropolitan Library books. Nobody loved the library more than Dan.' 'When we were little, he took us to the downtown library every Saturday morning and enrolled us in every summer reading program,' Marci shared with the library. 'He was a regular at the Livingston and then Whitehall branches until he could no longer read. I'm sure he would be among your highest circulation and longest term borrowers.' ADVERTISEMENT Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Egan-Ryan Funeral Home Dan Pelzer Pelzer was preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Mary Lou Pelzer, who died in 2024. Dan and Mary Lou are survived by their children, Marci Pelzer and John Pelzer, and their three grandchildren, Sarah, Lauren and Owen Pelzer. In Dan's obituary, the family asked that in place of flowers, donations be made to Kinship Community Food Center, adding, 'You could also honor Dan by reading 'a real page turner.' ' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Columbus Metropolitan Library delivers nearly 5,000 postcards from patrons to OH Senate
In a bid to advocate for increased state funding for Columbus Metropolitan Library, nearly 5,000 postcards were delivered on June 2 to Ohio Senate President Rob McColley from library patrons who expressed the benefits the library system has had on their lives. The postcard campaign and delivery comes as the Ohio Senate has taken up the budget process, and lawmakers are considering replacing funding for the state's public libraries with a single line item. Columbus Metropolitan Library made the postcards available to customers at their library branches, where customers either drew or wrote about the positive impact of the system. "The library is the only place where I can use a computer to search for jobs," one customer wrote. "It gave me the tools to get back on my feet." Another customer wrote on their postcard that they were homeless, living in a tent by a river, and that the library was one of the only free places they could go to. "I've found an oasis," the person wrote. A mother described the library as a "lifeline" for her three kids, writing that it's where her kids can "learn, laugh, and grow." 'By shifting [public libraries'] funding source to a line-item appropriation as proposed in the House budget, uncertainty and stagnation are brought to communities that rely on their public library,' CML CEO Lauren Hagan said in a prepared statement to the Ohio Senate Education Committee on Monday, May 12. 'Basic state funding for public libraries recognizes our unparalleled impact on all members of our community and ensures we can continue to meet the needs of Ohioans without interruption or compromise.' Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@ at ShahidMeighan on X, and at on Bluesky. This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus library delivers 5,000 letters advocating for Ohio libraries
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Local Ohio librarians urge lawmakers to boost Public Library Fund
() Storytime came to the Ohio Statehouse as local librarians spelled out the ways budget cuts to the Public Library Fund could hurt the communities in which they work. This week, current and past staff of libraries across the state laid out for lawmakers the different ways in which the libraries have played a role in their lives and the lives of their community. Constance Evans taught high school for 25 years, using libraries in the several counties in which she taught to supplement her English lessons and other topics. After more than two decades, she went back to school to get a degree in Library Science. 'More than anything, that year taught me how libraries had morphed into an eclectic mix of technology, print, and online materials, and valuable partnerships connected to every facet of our Ohio communities,' Evans told the Ohio Senate Education Committee. One thing most library representatives who spoke brought up as an important – and popular – part of their role in the community was the age-old early literacy program called storytime. 'Our storytimes are so popular that it's not uncommon that our parking lot is full and people have to park elsewhere in the city to get to our library,' said Chauncey Montgomery, director of the Community Library in Sunbury. For the Columbus Metropolitan Library, storytime is a stealthy way to slide learning in alongside entertainment and engagement. 'What seems like a fun-filled 30-minute reading, singing and dancing session to the untrained eye is a well-planned kindergarten readiness program designed around the four cornerstones of reading — letter recognition, beginning letter sounds, rhymes and vocabulary,' said Lauren Hagan, CEO of the Columbus library system. Storytimes are fairly universal among libraries in the state, but there are other programs that are more tailored to the particular area of the state the library calls home. New Carlisle is an area with a poverty rate of 20.5%, compared to the 13.3% that stands as the state average. Food insecurity is a significant issue for families who come to the New Carlisle Public Library, according to director Beth Freeman. 'We have begun offering a dinner storytime, where all family members are able to have a good meal provided by a local restaurant and hear an entertaining story one evening a month,' Freeman told the committee. Programs of all kinds could be on the chopping block if funding changes are implemented, in a day and age when libraries have already had to be creative with existing funds as library demand and demand for more modern resources goes up. The Public Library Fund, which is currently a percentage of the state's General Revenue Fund, saw a $27 million loss last year. 'Public funds have given our library the ability to be innovative, creative and enduring,' said Aimee Fifarek, director and CEO of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. 'All these services and programs were all made possible because our elected leaders invested in our community.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The House's version of the budget would eliminate the 1.7% the Public Library Fund gets from the General Revenue Fund, and create a line-item appropriation. Legislators argued that would be a better deal for libraries, because they would avoid the fluctuations of state tax revenue from year to year. 'I'm not wanting to cut funding for libraries,' said state Sen. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, a member of the Senate Education Committee. 'But we have a hard time understanding how a percentage of a fluctuating GRF somehow makes it easier for you.' Advocates fear going to a line-item appropriation rather than a percentage of state tax revenue could put them at risk for 'across the board cuts' if the state needed to tighten its belt, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Michelle Francis, head of the Ohio Library Council. 'We've seen lots of programs that are line-items get eliminated, and so I will tell you that that is a strong concern going forward,' Francis said. The budget approved by the House also rejected a proposal from the governor's executive budget that would have raised the PLF distribution to 1.75%. An increase of that size would amount to another $15 million each year for public library coffers, according to Jay Smith, director of government and legal services for the Ohio Library Council. With the rise in visits to libraries, up 3.4 million to 48 million visits statewide in 2024, according to the council, advocates have taken to comparing the crowds who visit their facilities to audiences at football games. Francis has frequently used Ohio Stadium as a model, saying the statewide number of visits to libraries could fill the Shoe more than 400 times. 'I haven't compared that (2024 increase) to the Browns stadium, but that's our next goal,' she told the committee. Fifarek said 2024 numbers for Youngstown/Mahoning County libraries showed a population that would fill Youngstown State University's Stambaugh Stadium more than 30 times. Despite the consistent crowds, libraries only see funding through the Public Library Fund and local levies, with the exception of 48 library systems who don't have levies on the books. 'We are responsible for our own buildings, but yet we do not receive money in the capital bill,' Francis said, referring to the state's separate spending bill for infrastructure and other projects. 'We also don't get county sales tax, city income tax, no casino revenue, we didn't get any direct (American Rescue Plan Act) funds, and we don't have inside millage. So, that state funding is incredibly critical, and we rely on it more and even greater than our partners do the (local government fund).' The Senate is currently working on its draft of the budget, which could contain changes to the House's version. The two chambers will come together after the Senate approves a draft to bring forth a final draft for the governor's signature before July 1. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
COTA giving free admission to COSI Science Festival
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Here's an opportunity to get into the COSI Science Festival for free. COTA is giving away free day passes for the festival. All you need to do is visit your nearest Columbus Metropolitan Library to get your pass, but hurry before they run out. The festival runs this week from April 30 to May 3. There are a number of COTA bus lines to get to COSI. For more information, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
