Spokane Is Reading ‘Ender’s Game’

Sometimes, life is a game.

But for Ender Wiggin, life is much more than a mere game. It’s a question of survival.

Wiggin, for those of you who don’t have a developed sense of science fiction, is the protagonist of Orson Scott Card’s novel “Ender’s Game.” And “Ender’s Game” just happens to be the book chosen for this month’s Spokane Is Reading project.

This is the third year for Spokane Is Reading, co-sponsored by the Spokane Public and Spokane County library systems and Auntie’s Bookstore.

The first book chosen was Kent Haruf’s novel “Plainsong.” Last year it was Charles Frazier’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Cold Mountain.”

“Plainsong” is a tale of life in contemporary Colorado, of people struggling to find happiness and fulfillment in a remote part of America that Haruf uses as a microcosm for the whole country. “Cold Mountain” is a look at life during the Civil War and what people had to go through in battle and back at home just to survive.

And there’s that word again, which also can be applied to “Ender’s Game,” a 1977 short story that was published as a novel in 1985. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, the highest honors the sci-fi community hands out, and has remained in print over the years.

“The book has really survived,” says Eva Silverstone, communications coordinator for Spokane Public Library. “It’s been a popular book for years and years. It doesn’t seem to go out of style.”

In fact, Silverstone says, the book was suggested for the first Spokane is Reading. But, she adds, “There may have been some reluctance to go with a sci-fi title the first year. And then we kept getting it suggested to us. So by year three, we said, ‘Maybe we should look at it.’ “

The deciding factors were, one, that the publisher, Tor Books, was fully supportive. Two, Card himself was willing to come to Spokane (he’ll make two appearances on Oct. 28).

“A big criteria was, after last year with Charles Frazier not coming, we said that we’ve really got to have the author,” Silverstone says. “It makes a big difference. And so when we found out that Orson Scott Card could come, we said, ‘That’s our book.’ “

The month will be filled with lots of opportunities for readers to discuss the book. At noon on Tuesday, Angela Rasmussen, an English instructor at Spokane Community College, will lead a brown-bag-lunch discussion in the college library, 1810 N. Greene St. The event is free and open to the public; for further information, call 533-8821.

For a full list of events, go to www.spokaneisreading.org.