Edited by Glenna Nowell
|
Edited by Glenna Nowell |
Dear Readers,
This is the 12th annual “Who Reads What?” reading list offering great suggestions. Many of our noted people are very inspired by reading. Kathy Bates claims, “if you can read, you hold the key to the secrets of the universe. Imagine.” Judy Blume says, “Books helped me learn to understand other people and they taught me a lot about myself.” She writes that she “loved getting lost in books” when she was young, and that she still does. George W. Bush notes that “our capacity for discovery is never lost as long as we continue to read, both for learning and for pleasure, throughout our lives.” Please try the suggestions offered here, talk about reading to your friends, read to your children, and help libraries promote lifelong reading in your community. Check our web site http://www. gpl.lib.me.us for many more reading suggestions by noted and respected people.
Regards,
Glenna Nowell
“Who Reads What?” Editor
Gardiner Public Library
Gardiner, Maine 04345
| Bryan Adams
singer, recommends |
Klee Wyck by Emily Carr | Brilliant book on Canada's west Coast |
| Muhammad Ali
boxer, recommends |
The Qu’ran | My favorite book is the Qu'ran. It is a spiritual, guiding book, revealed to the prophet Muhammad by Allah (God). The religion of Islam is based on the teachings of the Qu'ran. I highly recommend reading the Qu'ran--it is a wonderful book! Keep reading, my friends. |
| Alan Bates
actor, recommends |
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy | It seems to be a story that covers just about all our emotions one way or another |
| Kathy Bates
actor, recommends |
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Beyond the Paw Paw Trees: The Story of Anna Lavinia by Palmer Brown The poetry of Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and T.S. Elliot The plays of Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare |
I love to read! When I was growing up, I always received books at Christmas and on birthdays. When I finished reading those, my mother took me to the library to check out others. I loved to read aloud, to pretend to be different characters in a play. And now reading is my work. Reading scripts and contracts. Reading books that might be made into films, that might help me research a character. These days everyone in Hollywood complains that it’s getting harder and harder to find a good screenplay, that it’s hard to find a good writer and I believe that’s because good writers are good readers first. Good movies are well written scripts first. We all love to hear a good story. Learning to read is discovering a secret language so all the storytellers in the world can whisper their stories to us. True stories about everything that’s ever been experienced by a human being on the face of this earth since time began. Imagined stories told so well that when we read them we travel so far into the story’s world that the real world disappears like magic! Secrets about how to do all the things we’ve learned to do since we stood up on two legs and imagined the symbols that became the words to save our stories. We save our stories in books. We save our books in libraries. Libraries are the storyhouses” full of all those stories and secrets. If you can read, you hold the key to the secrets of the universe. Imagine. |
| Judy Blume
writer, recommends |
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Oz books by Frank Baum Nancy Drew mysteries by Caroline Keene Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace |
Dear Friends at the Gardiner Public Library.
When I was small my mother took me to the public library in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where I would sit on the floor and browse among the books. I not only liked the pictures and the stories but the feel and the smell of the books themselves. My favorite book was Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. I loved that book! I loved it so much I hid it in my kitchen toy drawer so my mother wouldn’t be able to return it to the library. Even after the overdue notices came I didn’t tell my mother where the book was. If only I had asked I’m sure she would have bought me my own copy but I didn’t know that was a possibility then. I thought the copy I had hidden was the only copy in the whole world. I knew it was wrong to hide the book but there was no way I was going to part with Madeline. I memorized the words in the book and though I couldn’t really read I pretended that I could. When I did learn to read I was very proud. Not only could I read Madeline but I could read the back of the signs in the store windows and I could read the words in the schoolbooks. In class we were divided into reading groups with bird names. I was a bluejay in first grade and a robin in second. But the stories in our readers about Dick and Jane and Spot weren’t nearly as much fun as the stories in the books I chose myself. I loved getting into bed at night with a favorite book and reading until my father said it was time to put out my light. Books opened up a whole new world to me. Through them I discovered new ideas, traveled to new places, and met new people. Books helped me learn to understand other people and they taught me a lot about myself. Many years have passed since I hid that copy of Madeline, and I’ve never done that again, but I can still recite the story by heart. And when my daughter was born Madeline was the first book I bought for her. Some books you never forget. Some characters become your friends for life. I loved getting lost in books when I was young. I still do! I hope you love to read too! |
| Eileen Brennan
actor, recommends |
Harper’s Magazine | every issue from cover to cover. Authors: only the best we have. I read constantly— if I read Harper’s, I find I soar!! |
| George W. Bush
governor of Texas, recommends |
The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston by Marquis James
The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement, 1945-1995 by Robert J. Samuelson The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties Legacy to the Underclass by Myron Magnet The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Sarah’s Flag for Texas by Jane Alexander Knapik James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling |
When I was growing up, I preferred reading biographies about historical
figures and baseball players. I still enjoy books about history, especially
Texas history. I also like studying forces that helped shape today's
economy and social structure. The Good life and its Discontents:
The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement, 1945-1995 and The
Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass each
provide food for thought and discussion.
Laura and I often read to our daughters when they were young. One of their top requests was The Very Hungry Catapillar Our capacity for discovery is never lost as long as we continue to read, both for learning and for pleasure, throughout our lives. |
| Julie Christie
actor, recommends |
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen
Explosion in the Cathedral by Octavio Paz The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf. Any book by Noam Chomsky |
Anyone who saw Out of Africa (another favorite book by Isak
Dinesen) will remember it was about a story-teller. Anyone who saw Babette’s
Feast will attest to the magic of her stories. Anyone who reads Seven
Gothic Tales will enter into the magic heart of these straange stories.
Explosion
in the Cathedral by Octavio Paz Part novel, partly history, the great
Mexican writer whirls you through the French and Haitian revolution, part
of the incredible journey he takes you on.
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf. Because our view of history is so narrow—a first step towards refocusing. Any book by Noam Chomsky. Each one serves to further uncover the fog of disinformation with which government and multinationals obscure their reasons for their actions. |
| BILL COSBY
Actor |
When I was a young man, I was unsure of what I wanted to become, but I knew I wanted to become something or somebody! I told my teacher that I didn’t know what to do with my life. I didn’t know what the various employment possibilities required, nor did I know how I could qualify to meet those requirements. She told me that the best place to go is to the library. It is quiet, therefore I would have to be in touch with myself. If a thought occurred that I wanted to become a designer, a scientist, an engineer, a law enforcement person, go into forensic medicine, become a social worker, a househusband, an entrepreneur, a chef, a chess champion, a basketball player, a coach, a marathon runner...she could go on and on, but I got the point—the information is in the library. And, she said to me, that by reading, I would be in control of my own mind—and I have been reading ever since | |
| Barbara Eden
actor, recommends |
London and Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd | An exciting journey through the life of a city. Both these books put me in another world—just as Frank Baum did with his Oz books when I was a child. |
| Geraldine Ferraro
politician, recommends |
Seasons of Her Life: A Biography of Madeleine Albright, Secretary
of State by Ann Blackman
Framing a Life: A Family Memoir by Geraldine A. Ferraro with Catherine Whitney |
This is a story of a fabulously successful woman who should be a role model for anyone, male or female. The book is a quick read. I have also written a book which has just been published...It is also the story of a fabulously successful woman but not the same kind of success as Ms. Albright’s. My book is about my mother, a daughter of immigrants who was prohibited from going to high school because she had to go to work to help support younger brothers and sister. Her success was in raising two children as a single head of household in a world that was hostile to women. She too, should be considered a role model for both males and females. |
| Billy Graham
evangelist, recommends |
The Bible | The book Mr. Graham reads most is the Bible. He reads it regularly,
and he bases all his sermons on it. Mr. Graham has always been interested
in reading books about history and also biographies. He started reading
a lot when he was 10 or 11. He traced the history of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire before he turned 14.
In They Call Me Mother Graham, a book written by Billy Graham’s mother, it says, “Billy’s favorite spot for reading was right in the middle of the living room floor. He’d lie on his back, put his feet up, and read. At Christmas-time Billy read 10 or 11 historical books from the library. Sincerely, Mrs. Constance H. Hales Executive Assistant, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association |
| Kelsey Grammer
actor, recommends |
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster | A brilliant insight into colonial India. A clash of two worlds and the friendship of two men which sounds the depths and shortcomings of both cultures and captures a beautiful and tragic vision of history. I loved this book |
| Alexander Haig, Jr
former White House chief of staff, recommends |
Politics Among Nations by Hans J. Morgenthau | |
| Shirley Jones, actor, recommends | Contagious Emotions: Staying Well When Your Loved One is Depressed by Dr. Ronald Podell | The book came in the mail when I married Marty Ingels! |
| Jerry Lewis
actor, recommends |
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand | It’s a very profound book...Makes you think! |
| Martin Mull
actor, recommends |
Three Novels by Samuel Beckett: Molloy,
Malone Dies, and The Unnamable |
The ultimate drama of human existence. |
| The Muppets
entertainers extraordinaire, recommend |
Green Mansions by William Henry Hudson
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn The Greening of America by Charles A. Reich (Kermit’s choices) Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (Miss Piggy’s choice) cookbooks (upside down) (the Swedish Chef’s choice) |
Jim Henson’s favorite children’s books were Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne and The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber. Jim’s favorite puppetry book was My Profession by Serge Obratzov. |
| Patricia Neal
actor, recommends |
Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther | An extraordinary book that I read years ago. I recommend it. |
| Jim Palmer
baseballplayer, recommends |
The Era by Roger Kahn | The book presented baseball in the perfect world. Players that played the game for their love of it, fans that could identify and relate to their heroes in the most passionate way!! |
| Shimon Peres
Israeli politician, recommends |
In Light of India by Octavio Paz | I consider this work to be brilliant, opening windows of understanding between East and West. |
| Cokie Roberts
broadcast journalist, recommends |
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy | |
| Morley Safer
broadcast journalist, recommends |
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler |
 |
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