The five-part course on Zorro, sponsored by the library and the Rivier Institute for Senior Education, began last week with 30 people attending. I wasn't able to attend the first session, but discussion was lively at the second one on Tuesday, where we discussed parts one and two of the book.

Not everyone loves the novel (Penny preferred Paula, a memoir by the same author), but the general reaction seemed to be that people are enjoying it much more than they expected to. Some readers said they would prefer to read about historical events in nonfiction, where they didn't have to sort out what's true from what's not. But others said that they like having the story of Diego, Bernardo, Regina, White Owl, and the others, as a vehicle for stimulating their interest in the history. What do you think?

(By the way, you can get some of these historical questions answered by coming to "Spain in the Time of Zorro," a lecture on the history of Spain in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It will be held on Tuesday, March 27, at 7 pm at the library.)

If you're free during the day, try to come to the next discussion on Tuesday, March 6, at 10:45 am in the library theater. If you aren't, maybe the discussion on Thursday, March 22, at 7 pm, also in the library theater, will work better for you.