Today’s book clubs in the news post features lives being changed by books, books being changed by technology and Karl Rove. What more could you ask for?
The Guardian: Novel approach: reading courses as an alternative to prison
Funny that I just wrote a piece about using the “Shackles On, Shackle Off Test” to determine if you should stay with your current reading group. In this case, it’s books with shackles or books instead of shackles. Pretty interesting program – and pretty amazing that it works!
Luxury Reading: Picture a Book Changing Lives Campaign
Penguin has launched the Picture a Book Changing Lives campaign to raise money for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit organization started by the author of the internationally bestselling novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns to aid the people of Afghanistan.
The Christian Science Monitor: Is Karl Rove the new Oprah?
I’m quite sure Oprah is not concerned, but former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove is teaming up with Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Clayton Morris for a summer book club of sorts. Isn’t there some rule about separation of books and state?
USA Today: Ken Follett's 'Pillars of the Earth' becomes a packed Apple app
So basically you read along and then watch interspersed videos from the upcoming miniseries. I’m all for new and emerging technology and have no problem with ebooks on the whole, but this idea of video enhanced books just seems weird to me. I want to use my imagination to “see” the characters and settings not have them shown to me on video. That’s one of the things that makes reading a truly unique form of entertainment. And that’s why I almost always try to read the book first before I see the movie. But hey, that’s just me. To each his own I say!
-- Dana Barrett, Contributing Editor
