Yann Martel just sent Prime Minister Stephen Harper a new book -- number 66 in Martel’s continuing campaign to provide Harper with bedtime reading—and Martel hopes the PM has already read it. What Is Stephen Harper Reading?: Yann Martel’s Recommended Reading for a Prime Minisiter and Book Lovers of All Stripes is a collection of the letters that have accompanied the books that Martel has sent every two weeks since April 2007 when he set out to provide a little stillness in the PM’s life. Each book in the very eclectic collection has come with a short essay explaining why Martel chose it. ...
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Shadow Play Entertainment, Conversations Book Club, The Write Stuff Literacy Campaign and their literary partners are excited to announce a historic event geared towards sharing the gift of reading and books across the United States under a show of united support in each state. On Saturday, November 21, 2009 between the hours of 10-6p.m., The Write Stuff founder and host Cyrus A. Webb is working with others in scheduling Reading Parties (see http://thewritestufftv.webs.com/twsreadingparties.htm ) throughout the country geared towards 1) speaking in one voice in support of encouraging reading, 2) supporting local authors and their books and 3) providing a positive outlet that is ...
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“Milk in the Batter! We Bake Cake! And Nothing’s the Matter!" That’s the refrain of In the Night Kitchen, one of two children’s books that Yann Martel is sending today to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The other one is Where the Wild Things Are , also by Maurice Sendak. The occasion is the 61st in Martel’s continuing campaign to provide Harper with some good bedtime reading, and, not incidentally, the birth of the first child of Martel and his partner Alice Kuipers. Both books are children’s classics, and I’d be surprised if the Harper household didn’t have them at one time, if they don’t ...
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(This is an e-mail I reposted with permission.) AllRomance eBooks turns 3 in November and we'll celebrate by making your wishes come true! Every day in November we will choose a winner at random from that day's purchasers and buy them the books they have on their wish list. * To get a head start simply fill your account wish list with books you'd like to read (be sure to log in first) and then every day that you make a purchase during the month of November, you'll be eligible to win. (Hint: Start with BELTANE by Erin O'Riordan!) Go to www.allromanceebooks.com. So what ...
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What role does the book play in the continued health of civilization? The question keeps coming up as I read and re-read books for book discussion groups. One of the striking things bout Roberto Bolaño’s astounding By Night in Chile is the way the narrator escapes from the evil abroad during the Pinochet regime in Chile by re-reading philosophers. In Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader —last month’s book at the Atwater Library—the illiterate woman whom the narrator loves is captivated by books, and may be said to find her personal salvation in learning how to read and learning to repent for what she’d done ...
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