Meet Jeff Kinney Tonight @ Anderson’s February 6, 2008
Meet Jeff Kinney, originally uploaded by Litandmore.
Jeff Kinney will speak and sign books tonight at 7:00 P.M. at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville.
Wimpy Kid Interview February 6, 2008
Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid has spent 40 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Rodrick Rules, the second book, came out a few weeks ago. Andrea Seabrook of NPR spoke with Jeff Kinney about the inspiration behind his comic books. Wimpy orginally started online for adults and it quickly found a strong following among elementary and middle school students. Three more books are in the works. Listen to this great interview with Jeff Kinney @ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18591415&ft=1&f=1032
Literago: for a literate Chicago February 3, 2008
Literago.org provides news and information about literary events happening in the Chicagoland area. It is founded and maintained by Sussannah Felts, a magazine editor and author, and Maria Villanueva, a librarian at the Harold Washington Library.
Naperville Reads (Illinois) February 1, 2008
Naperville Reads is modeled after the popular Seattle Public Library program. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind:Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future , and Brian Selznick, author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, are the Naperville Reads authors of 2008.
Brian Selznick will appear at Naperville North High School on February 4 at 7:00 P.M. Daniel Pink will appear at North Central College on February 25 at 7:00 P.M.
Tickets are available at Anderson’s Bookshop.
Visit www.napervillereads.org for more information.
Elizabeth Berg’s Resolutions January 7, 2008
It’s always a treat when Elizabeth Berg’s essays appear in the Chicago Tribune. Her first essay of ‘08 discusses her New Year’s resolution to read more. I’m adding to my lengthy list of resolutions to get caught up on Berg’s books. I used to pre-order them on Amazon and now I’m three books behind. Thank you for the inspiration!
Every year, for the last several years, I have made the same New Year’s resolutions: Don’t criticize. Don’t control. Don’t complain. By five minutes after midnight, I usually have broken every one. Imagine the scenario: The ball drops, I give my honey a little smooch, take a little sip of champagne and remind myself of my worthy resolutions. Then I say:”Jeez, I’m tired. I’m so tired, I get tired so easily now. I’m so tired of how tired I get. Let’s go to sleep. Turn off that television; you don’t need to watch anymore. You watch too much television. You should go to sleep too. You must be tired. Come on, you’re going to bed.”It occurred to me that it might work better if I have only one resolution this year, one that might be easier to keep. And here it is: read one hour a day. I know. It sounds like nothing, right? But today I got up at 6:30 a.m. while everyone was still sleeping. I turned on a light in the living room, found a book of short stories, put it on the arm of my best reading chair and went into the kitchen to make coffee. My idea was that I’d have a cup of coffee and read Alice Munro — not even for an hour, I’d just read one story. It is now 4:47 p.m. and I haven’t read a word. In a few hours, I’ll be too tired to read (see first paragraph), and another day will go by when I didn’t read at all. What else is new? Find me a person who is able to read as much as he or she would like to. Yet there are so many reasons to read.
It may be true that music hath charms to soothe the savage soul — I think it is true, actually. But books soothe our souls too. They’re like comfort food without the calories or the dishes to clean up afterward.
Books inspire us, because they suggest things we might never have thought about before, and they give us ideas for things we might never have conceived of otherwise, and they make us want to try things, or be things, or make things, from creme brulee to sensible foreign policy.
Books educate us about art and politics and people and ideas. This happens in non-fiction and fiction. And in poetry, of course. So many of us have been moved to a deeper understanding of things — or many things — by taking in a few dark lines on a cream-colored page.
Click here for the rest of the essay.
Visit Elizabeth’s personal website at http://www.elizabeth-berg.net/ .
