When Dan Pelzer died last month at the age of 92, he left his family and friends an incredible gift: a 109-page handwritten list of all the books he’d read since 1962. And now it can be viewed by the world.
Pelzer’s list details the more than 3,500 books that he read, beginning when the Ohio resident discovered a love of reading and libraries while serving as a Peace Corps. volunteer in Nepal in the early 1960s.
The list was mostly handwritten, save for a few years written by typewriter in the late 60s and early 70s. Pelzer read just about every genre, from books on religion to celebrity memoirs, classic fiction to political science analysis.
Pelzer’s family shared in his obituary that his reading tastes aligned 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.
Pelzer’s family considered distributing the reading list at his funeral, but they realized it was too long to share in that way. Instead, they scanned the list and created the website What Dan Read to share his reads.
In a post shared on the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library’s Facebook page, Pelzer’s daughter, Marci, recounted her father’s love of the library.
“ALL of his books were Columbus Metropolitan Library books,” she wrote. “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. “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.”
Columbus Metropolitan Library has shared multiple tributes to Pelzer on their Instagram page. The library has also digitized Pelzer’s list, allowing patrons to browse and check out selections.
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Pelzer frequented the Whitehall and Barnett (formerly Livingston) branches of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, frequently reserving new titles.
“He is a staple in our brand and in our community,” Barnett Branch Manager Eternity Ballour told WOSU Public Media. “He’s not very talkative, but if you’ve got the opportunity to talk to him, he’s a great person and he was just someone who you knew you’d see him every week or at least every other week.”
Ballour said that she always saw Pelzer with his list of what books he wanted to reserve next and a bag full of books that he had finished and wanted to return.
The Whitehall and Barnett branches, along with the main Columbus Metropolitan Library branch, have set up displays featuring books from Pelzer’s list, along with signs explaining the list.
In Pelzer’s obituary, his family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Kinship Community Food Center, adding, “You could also honor Dan by reading ‘a real page turner.’”
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Image: A page from Dan Pelzer’s book list and Pelzer (right), courtesy of Columbus Metropolitan Library/Facebook.
