Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
88 Books That Shaped America, According To Library Of Congress
Posted: 06/25/2012 HuffPost Books
On Friday, the Library of Congress released its list of the "books that shaped America." There are 88 books on the list, and there will be an exhibit in Washington that opens Monday. According to the AP, Librarian of Congress James Billington said that these books are not meant to be the "best" books. Rather, the library hopes to ignite conversation around the books that influenced the nation.
The Library Of Congress has asked the general public to nominate more titles for the list. You can give your input at the Library of Congress website. At first glance, we thought this list was pretty comprehensive. But then we realized: where are Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Flannery O'Connor, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon and Henry James? If "Goodnight Moon" makes this list, then how does "The Age of Innocence" get overlooked? There also seems to be a lot of Native American and Asian American perspective missing.
The list begins with Benjamin Franklin's "Experiments and Observations on Electricity" from 1751. It includes Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," novels "The Scarlet Letter," "Moby-Dick," "Little Women" and "The Great Gatsby" and other famous titles like "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and "The Cat in the Hat." More at HuffPost
On Friday, the Library of Congress released its list of the "books that shaped America." There are 88 books on the list, and there will be an exhibit in Washington that opens Monday.
According to the AP, Librarian of Congress James Billington said that these books are not meant to be the "best" books. Rather, the library hopes to ignite conversation around the books that influenced the nation.
The Library Of Congress has asked the general public to nominate more titles for the list. You can give your input at the Library of Congress website.
At first glance, we thought this list was pretty comprehensive. But then we realized: where are Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Flannery O'Connor, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon and Henry James? If "Goodnight Moon" makes this list, then how does "The Age of Innocence" get overlooked? There also seems to be a lot of Native American and Asian American perspective missing.
The list begins with Benjamin Franklin's "Experiments and Observations on Electricity" from 1751. It includes Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," novels "The Scarlet Letter," "Moby-Dick," "Little Women" and "The Great Gatsby" and other famous titles like "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and "The Cat in the Hat."
More at HuffPost