Why We Read Literature
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- Created on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 12:38
- Last Updated on Friday, 27 January 2012 09:56
- Written by Robert Con Davis-Undiano
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Serious readers are a special breed. They are always reading. Why do they read so much? The answer would need to account for their frequent choice of “fun” over “serious” reading. Many readers report choosing “guilty pleasure” books--mysteries, science fiction, and romances—whereas they used to read “serious” and “hard” books sometime in the past, works by writers like William Shakespeare, George Eliot, and Jane Austen. They read “hard” works in school and believe that they really should be reading more of them now. If only one could cart a few pounds of Shakespeare, Eliot, and Austen to a cabin for some uninterrupted self-improvement reading!
What is the Big Read?
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- Created on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 12:01
- Last Updated on Friday, 27 January 2012 09:54
- Written by Anne Harris
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The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to give readers an opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their community and to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.
The Big Read was created in response to reports by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2004 and 2007 that found that literary reading in American was declining rapidly among all groups, especially among the young. These declines in reading had civic, social and economic implications: literary readers were more likely to perform volunteer and charity work, visit art museums, attend performing arts events and attend sporting events. Fortunately, a 2008 NEA study, Reading on the Rise, has shown an uptick in literary reading rates.
PLS Big Read The Joy Luck Club
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- Created on Friday, 23 September 2011 10:06
- Last Updated on Friday, 27 January 2012 10:33
- Written by Admin
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The PLS BIG READ: The Joy Luck Club will kick-off with a public event in the central lobby and bar area of the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, 2501 Conference Drive, Norman, OK, from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, March 29.
Join the staff of the Pioneer Library System and the convention delegates of the Oklahoma Library Association for an informal evening of live music, entertainment, and information about the activities associated with the PLS BIG READ.
Enjoy complimentary hors d’ouvres and mock-tails and receive a free copy of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan when you sign up to participate in one of the official book discussions to be held in the ten PLS hometown libraries in Cleveland, McClain, and Pottawatomie counties during the month of April.
Amy Tan will culminate the PLS BIG READ: The Joy Luck Club with a visit to Norman April 27.