Little did I know that living in Santa Monica had literary benefits, sort of. Basically, Santa Monica has a “Santa Monica Citywide Reads” program.
What we’re reading for 2007: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. (Get it used via this Abebooks link, and I get a kickback).
The program’s similar to community reading programs in other cities: Basically, everyone’s encouraged to read the same book, so they can talk about it as a community. You know, on the bus, at city events and book clubs, etc.
I don’t know much ’bout the book, but apparantly one character suffers from “chrono-displacement disorder, a condition that causes him to unexpectedly jump backwards and forwards in time.”
Well, I loved Slaughterhouse Five, with its time-shifting protagonist, so I hope I’ll love this book too. I’ll read it and post a review, with which you can concur, disagree, whatev.
The program runs from mid-April to mid-May 2007, with free public book discussion groups and other events; luckily, the movie won’t be out until 2008 :) More info on the Santa Monica Library website.
My wife just finished that book and she really liked it. I did not know Santa Monica had something like that, I will have to look into it. Thanks Siel!
Comment by david — March 1, 2007 @ 8:53 am
I loved it–it made me cry and I’m not the kind who does that because of a book or movie.
Comment by Jasmin — March 1, 2007 @ 11:19 am
I absolutely loved that book!!
Comment by susan — March 1, 2007 @ 2:31 pm
I met Audrey a few years back (before she wrote the novel) while she was working at the Newbery Library in Chicago and I was doing some research there (she was intrigued by the materials I was pulling from the archives). A really wonderful person and I’m looking forward to finally reading the book, although having read another time travel book that she recommended (Time and Again by Albert Finney), I was left a bit disappointed in that.
The citywide reading programs are all over the place. I think Pasadena may have one and possibly even L.A. Chicago started theres back in 1997 or so, basing it on another program (I forget whose). Oh wait, here’s a link from the LOC. It looks like it started later than I thought (2001), and the earliest program that they have is Seattle who started theirs in 1998. L.A.’s program seems to have stopped in 2005.
Comment by don hosek — March 1, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
Hey Siel! How’s life treating you? Long time no chat. :(
Anyhow, I LOVED this program when I lived out in East Lansing. I participated during two years and was able to read The Color of Water which was a FABULOUS book! I even got to meet James McBride!
I wish LA had something like this… maybe I’ll have to be adopted by Santa Monica? ;)
Comment by Kristy — March 1, 2007 @ 11:31 pm
Kristy — You should move here and join us! We have some nice restaurants :)
Okay — Off to get book — Library doesn’t seem to have any copies yet –
Comment by Siel — March 2, 2007 @ 10:52 am
Hello,
New here and wanted to commend all the great input I have read so far. I am just converting most of my company products to green and have been learning a lot each day about new/old products I can implement into my daily operations. Is there an area on this site that deals with vehicles?
Mark
Comment by Alliance Mark — March 2, 2007 @ 11:15 am
This is the perfect time to (re?)introduce you to http://www.bookcrossing.com, a fun way to set books free for other to read and even find free books for yourself too. . . tell em Ryuku sent you . . . I could use wings again . . .
Comment by Roger, Gone Green — March 2, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
May I suggest this book : A Book Recommendation:This is the Companion book to John Grisham’s The Innocent Man, Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz. True Crime, Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Journey Toward Justice is a testimony to the Triumph of the human Spirit and is a Memoir. Dennis Fritz was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder after a swift trail.
The only thing that saved him from the Death Penalty was a lone vote from a juror. Dennis Fritz was the other Innocent man mentioned in John Grisham’s Book which mainly is about Ronnie Williamson, Dennis Fritz’s co-defendant. Both were exonerated after spending 12 years in prison.
The real killer was one of the Prosecution’s Key Witness. Read about why he went on a special diet of his while in prison, amazing and shocking. Dennis Fritz’s Story of unwarranted prosecution and wrongful conviction needs to be heard. Look for his book in book stores or at Amazon.com , Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz, Publisher Seven Locks Press 2006. .
Read about how he wrote hundreds of letters and appellate briefs in his own defense and immersed himself in an intense study of law. He was a school teacher and a ordinary man whose wife was brutally murdered in 1975 by a deranged 17 year old neighbor.
On May 8th 1987, Five years after Debbie Sue Carter’s rape and murder he was home with his young daughter and put under arrest, handcuffed and on his way to jail on charges of rape and murder. After 10 years in prison he discovered The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organization. With the aid of Barry Scheck and DNA evidence Dennis Fritz was exonerated on April 15,1999.
Since then, it has been a long hard road filled with twist and turns and now on his Journey Toward Justice.He witnessed miracles and heard God whisper “Trust Me”. He never blamed the Lord and solely relied on his faith in God to make it through. He waited for God’s time and never gave up.
Please visit me at
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Comment by Anonymous — March 2, 2007 @ 8:27 pm