Barnes & Noble Debuts 3 Reading Groups
Three new drop-in book clubs will make their debut in June at Barnes & Noble at the Spokane Valley Mall.
The Horror Book Club will meet Thursdays at 7 p.m. starting June 17 and the first book to be discussed is “The Blood Countess” by Andre Codrescu.
A Great Nonfiction Book Club, which will discuss 200 of the best nonfiction books of the 20th century, will meet Fridays at 7 p.m. starting June 25. The 200 books have been picked by readers at the Barnes & Noble corporate headquarters. The first book is Barbara Tuchman’s “Guns of August.”
The Great Fiction Book Club (again, 200 works of fiction chosen by Barnes & Noble) will meet Tuesdays at 7 p.m. starting June 29. The first book to be discussed is J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye.”
Remember, the book clubs are open to anyone interested in discussing the designated book for the evening, or just sitting in and listening to the discussion. They are free, with no memberships or signups; just show up and find a chair.
An evening of new literature
The second annual “Evening with Writers in the Community: A Reading by Authors in the InRoads Anthology” will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council Chambers, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The “InRoads Anthology” is produced by the Eastern Washington University Creative Writing Program. Copies of the anthology of student writings will be available at the reading. For more information, call 623-4227.
Hats off to B&N
Nearly 50 school-age children will get to pick out a children’s book of their choice on June 26 at Barnes & Noble at the Spokane Valley Mall as part of the book chain’s First Book Party program.
A percentage of the sales receipts from the grand opening of the book store was designated for the one-time party. Then, children were chosen as recipients. The kids will pick out their book and of course have some fun before getting back on the bus to head home and read.
It’s all part of this corporation’s efforts to improve literacy among children.
Discounts in cyberspace
The folks at the online bookseller Amazon.com are looking directly at the New York Times best-seller list and this week started offering 50 percent discounts of all the books - about 68 titles - on the list. The discounted books, of course, will vary from week to week as the New York Times list changes.
The bookseller can be found only on the Web at www.amazon.com.
Sign up for summer reading
The Hastings StoryTime program at all Hastings stores will be expanded into a summer reading program for schoolchildren. The program is designed to encourage kids to read even though they aren’t in school. The program includes a discount on books that are included in the StoryTime Club. Hastings will also hold a Summer Reader Club party each month for participants in the program. For details, call the Hastings nearest to you.
Reader review
Michael Kirkhorn, the director of journalism at Gonzaga University, offers this review of “Dominique Lapierre, A Thousand Suns: Witness to History” (Warner Books, $25):
The prostate gland has become the lodestar of male identity. It even slips into the autobiographies of foreign correspondents, who once were able to down a half-gallon of gin, mount a sharp-spined burro and, never flinching, jolt their way across the Himalayan foothills to get a story.
But Dominique Lapierre should be forgiven his moment of clinical self-absorption. His autobiography includes a string of fascinating stories from his long career as a journalist, author (“Is Paris Burning?” “O Jerusalem,” “The Fifth Horseman”) and humanitarian who, inspired by Mother Theresa, has saved lives in the slums of India.
He writes engrossingly on any topic. His description of successful surgery on a cancerous prostate is more vivid than a lesser chronicler’s account of an expedition up the Amazon.
A thoughtful globetrotter whose career as an observer of great events began early, he recalls the liberation of Paris, his home, in 1944, then goes on to recount his six interviews with the famous convict Caryl Chessman before he was put to death in the gas chamber at San Quentin, his pursuit of the story of Japanese terrorists in Israel, his interviews with Lord Mountbatten, Jawaral Nehru and Indira Ghandi about the end of colonialism in India, and a dozen other events.
He has one talent any journalist would envy: He knows how to stretch a deadline and get paid for it. Reader’s Digest sent Lapierre and his writing partner, Larry Collins, to Spain to write an article about the legendary bullfighter El Cordobes. The matador was a cauldron of Iberian passion, a riotous partier braver than a herd of bulls. With a good reporter’s exactitude Lapierre notes that “our hero’s body was covered with four-and-a-half feet of scars.” Weeks stretched into months.
Great reporters are passionate story-tellers who have more fun than anyone has a right to; here’s one of the breed.
Reader board
Jerry Pavia, the photographer for a book by Jeff Cox titled “Decorating the Garden,” will give a slide show of his work on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Pavia lives and gardens north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho.