‘Corvette’ has readers on same page

In the reading room of the Bowling Green Public Library’s main branch, Diana McQuady gave a taste Thursday of prose much of the community will soon be reading.

“We are introduced to some interesting Southern characters,” said McQuady, an adjunct professor in the English department at Western Kentucky University, when introducing “Days of the Endless Corvette” by Man Martin.

The Southern Kentucky Book Fest Partners kicked off its fifth annual One Campus-One Community-One Book project Thursday with book give-ways and readings.

The events started at 11 a.m. at Bowling Green Technical College and continued at 2 p.m. at the Helm Library on the WKU campus.

Tracy Harkins, community outreach manager for WKU Libraries, stood at the podium in room 100 in Helm and read an excerpt from the book that focused on the character’s first date with the girl he loves.

“It sounds like it would be a funny story,” said freshman elementary education major Jordan Stewart, 18, of Bowling Green.

“I would read it.”

Stewart accompanied freshman elementary education major Sarah Lightfoot, 18, of Bowling Green, who had to pick up a copy of the book for her English 200 class.

“I think it’ll be interesting,” she said.

The event headed to the Bowling Green Public Library at 6 p.m. At all locations, information about the book and author was provided, along with free copies of the book.

“Days of the Endless Corvette” - which Martin describes as a tall tale and love story and extremely Southern - takes place in the 1970s in imaginary Humble County, Ga., where a genius mechanic attempts to build a Corvette from spare parts to win back the girl next door, who broke his heart.

“You all will be rooting for Earl to get the girl and the car in the end,” McQuady said.

“This sounds like an interesting story,” said Bowling Green resident Teresa Curtis. “I love to read and I’m looking forward to reading it.”

Born in Ocala, Fla., Martin and his family moved to Sandersville, Ga., when he was a child.

“I could ride everywhere on my bike,” he said.

Martin, a cartoonist who produced the syndicated comic strip Sibling Revelry, said memories of the time spent in a small Southern town and his need to fix things led to his first novel.

“Around the house, I’m like the fix-it man, but every time I fix something, there’s always spare parts left over,” Martin said. “I told my wife - half-jokingly - one day I’d have enough leftover parts to build some completely new thing.

“That was the seed of this story. That’s where the tall tale comes in.”

Martin is the first author chosen for the One Book project who is not a native of Kentucky. His mother is a Kentucky native.

“That’s the connection,” Harkins said.

Martin, 48, lives in Atlanta with his wife, Nancy and two daughters, Catherine, 22, and Spencer, 20.

Harkins said the committee was interested in the idea of the Corvette, since Bowling Green is the home to the Corvette assembly plant. “We thought it was a nice tie-in to our area,” she said.

“Corvettes have a real mystic quality to them,” Martin said. “When I was thinking of a car for Earl to rebuild, the only one it could have been was a Corvette.

“Being selected for this project has been wonderful. I feel honored in every way possible.”

The author is set to visit several locations for public discussions Feb. 28. He will begin his visits at 10 a.m. at the National Corvette Museum, where free museum tours will be available for discussion participants. Later that day, he’ll be at the Helm Library at 2 p.m. and the Bowling Green Public Library Main Branch at 6 p.m.