Reading buddies

Deirdre Newman

For the past eight weeks, Newport Harbor High School seniorJennifer

Wong and Joy Edelman, a member of the Oasis Senior Center, have been

sharing their opinions online about a book they have been reading

together, “The Last Time They Met.”

Wong and Edelman finally met for the first time on Friday at the

Newport Beach library.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time,” Wong said.

The eight-week reading and writing program called START -- Students

and Adults Reading Together -- paired 20 Newport Harbor High School

seniors with 20 Oasis center members.

The students chose books they wanted to read and wrote letters

explaining why. Seniors then perused the books and letters, and picked

the one they were interested in.

Edelman said she was drawn to “The Last Time They Met” because she had

heard of the author, Anita Shreve. Once she began the book, Edelman

became so absorbed that she couldn’t put it down. She also enjoyed

delving into the nuances of the book with her high school reading buddy.

“We talked about techniques we liked and the style of writing,”

Edelman said.

Edelman’s husband, Gil, also participated in the program, choosing a

book about physics that Dustin House selected -- “The Universe in a

Nutshell,” by Stephen Hawking.

While Gil said he wasn’t a huge fan of the book, he did enjoy

corresponding with House.

“I saw the book and said, ‘Anyone who would read that book is my kind

of person,”’ Gil said.

House said he used the opportunity to glean a lot of information from

Gil, a retired physicist, by asking him a slew of questions about the

theories presented in the book.

“Considering he has a lot more experienced than me, I still had a lot

of faith in his answers, even when he wasn’t 100% sure,” House said.

To make the subject matter a little easier on House, Gil brought him a

present -- a book written decades ago about physics that he said was a

little easier to digest.

“I will definitely read the book and still have his e-mail address, so

I will keep in touch,” House said.

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .