Bill Humbert, a former Park City Library board member, read lines from “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” — lines that awakened his sense of adventure, leading him into danger and saving his life.
The words that inspired Humbert come from a passage that describes Tom, Huckleberry Finn and their friend Joe leaving to be pirates on an island for a weekend. They didn’t tell anyone about the excursion and their parents thought the boys drowned in the river.
“Tom said, ‘Boys, I know who's drowned. It's us. They felt like heroes in an instant. Here is a gorgeous triumph. They were missed. They were mourned. Hearts were breaking on their account,’” read Humbert.
Following their lead, in May 1969 Humbert and some friends set out to hitchhike 15,000 miles from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. By early August, the adventurers were in Los Angeles, driving toward cult leader Charles Manson’s ranch just days after his clan committed a series of murders.
“We got a ride with Manson's girls in Santa Monica, and they tried to recruit us to the Spahn Ranch,” Humbert said. “The driver said, ‘In a half a mile, we're going to turn up the canyon road to the ranch. Do you want to come with us or are you going to go to San Francisco?’ And I told her, we set a goal to hitchhike from L.A. to San Francisco in 24 hours, because we want to stand on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. And she said, ‘That's such a cool scene, you need to do it.’”
That’s when Humbert and his friends went their own way.
Humbert shared his page-turning story to some laughs and gasps at the “Favorite Lines and Pies” festival event, which is part of Utah’s wider celebration of National Book Month.
Both community members and authors came together for “lines and pies,” with some reading their own work and others sharing broader messages.
Friends of the Park City Library board member Bonnie Hembrock’s message was for the next generation.
“I look at young girls today and worry about their future, and how do they become strong women? When I read books, I can pick things out of there about a strong woman, and I can put that into my life and experience it and I hope that young girls can do the same thing,” she said.
Hembrock shared a passage from Paula McLain’s novel “Circling the Sun” which follows a young woman in colonial Kenya in the 1920s.
“‘We're all of us afraid of many things, but if you make yourself smaller or let your fear confine you, then you really aren't your own person at all, are you? The real question is whether or not you will risk what it takes to be happy,’” Hembrock read.
Karen Zanetti’s recitation from Sue Monk Kidd’s novel “The Secret Life of Bees” shared a similar sentiment.
“‘When it's time to die, go ahead and die, and when it's time to live, live. Don't sort-of-maybe live, but live like you're going all out, like you're not afraid,’” Zanetti read.
Others — like Humbert — regaled the crowd with personal stories they said proved the power of good books.
Despite differing themes, each speaker shared their love and appreciation for books and literature. The youngest attendee summed up this appreciation with a quote from Anna Quindlen: "Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home."
