CANNON BEACH – “The Inheritors” by William Golding and “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson are respectively the May and June selections for “Cannon Beach Reads.” The discussions take place at 7 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month at the Cannon Beach Library.

On Wednesday, May 16, readers will discuss “The Inheritors” by William Golding. This books tells the tale of eight Neanderthals who encounter another race of beings like themselves, yet strangely different. This new race, “Homo sapiens,” fascinating in their skills and sophistication, terrifying in their cruelty, sense of guilt and incipient corruption, spell doom for the more gentle folk whose world they will inherit. Golding, author of “Lord of the Flies,” won the 1983 Nobel Prize for literature.

On Wednesday, June 20, the selection is “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson. This is the story of how, in 1993, Greg Mortenson was an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya, the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time – Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools.

The Cannon Beach Reads series is sponsored by the nonprofit Cannon Beach Library to encourage reading and discussion of significant books. The library is located at 131 N. Hemlock St. and discussions are open to all interested parties at no charge. Books in the series may be checked out from the Cannon Beach Library or purchased at the Cannon Beach Book Company. For more information, call (503) 436-1391 or (503) 436-2196.