The launch of the new town-wide program DavidsonREADS has already sparked interest in the debut novel, The Bridge by Doug Marlette.

Main Street Books has run out of The Bridge but has an order in for 100 more copies that should be in by Wednesday. You can add your name to a list of people who want to be notified the moment the book hits the shelves by calling the store at 704-892-6841. The local book store will sell the novel at a 10 percent discount, which will bring the total (with taxes included) to $14.44.

The county library system had six copies still available Friday afternoon, though the Davidson branch volume has already been snatched up.

DavidsonREADS is a new venture in community reading designed by local resident Christina Shaul. The program will kick off Friday, Sept. 28, at the town’s “BBQ, Blanket and Bluegrass” event at Historic Beaver Dam where copies of the books will be sold and cake will be served in honor of one of the character’s birthday.

This will be followed by public discussion sessions, lectures and more later in the fall. DavidsonREADS is a partnership between the Town of Davidson Parks & Recreation Department, the Davidson Public Library and Main Street Books.

The debut novel by the late Doug Marlette is set in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and features a cartoonist on the skids.

Also on the literary calendar, Davidson College has its own Davidson Reads program, which will bring crime novelist and Davidson College alum John Hart to give a free public lecture Nov. 15. He will appear together with poet Jason Koo. Mr. Hart has just released his latest novel, Down River.

Then on Feb. 26, Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Chabon will give the college’s prestigious Joel Conarroe lecture. Mr. Chabon is the author of several novels, most recently The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.