Shameless Self-Promotion
Well, if I can’t do it in my own blog, where can I do it?
I’m very *very* excited about my new book, Open Your Heart with Reading. I’m excited because I think that it really is a decent book, possibly even a great book; but also because I think that it might help people get back in touch with the magic of storytelling, the sense of excitement and anticipation that grips one at the beginning of what one just knows is going to be an excellent book.
If you want just a quick glimpse, check out the Open Your Heart with Reading introduction on Squidoo. But essentially what it’s about is that very magic … that, and the fact that 90 million Americans have no access to it because they are functionally illiterate. 90 million! In a developed country like ours, that’s shameful.
What can you do? Well, read the book; there’s a whole section written by literacy expert Sharon Darling. And if you want something simple and immediate, then go over to the the literacy site, where you can give free books to children who need them.
Mixing magic with desperate need isn’t easy, and I hope that the book has accomplished that. Last night I did an interview with the inimitable Lady Di on her Friday night radio show, Leggs Up And Dancin, and we were joined by Karen MacDonald, librarian here in Provincetown, Massachusetts, talking both about the need for reading and the magic that it weaves into people’s lives. Karen pointed out the many “new” authors one can meet when reading a book such as this one, and I hope that’s true; true, also, is my sincere thanks to the Library of America for introducing me to many voices I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to hear and echo.
Buy a copy and let me know what you think!
And then we’ll all be .. beyond the elements of style!
Posted in Books, Publicity, Reading, Words on November 3rd, 2007