Posts Tagged ‘Ray Bradbury’

From the Desk of Paulette

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

August 5, 2009
Washington, DC

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  A display from San Antonio Public Library’s Big Read of Fahrenheit 451.

Not surprisingly, I’m not the only writer that has a huge crush on Ray Bradbury. The admirably prolific Alice Hoffman recently spoke on NPR’s All Things Considered about the significant impact Bradbury has had on her writing life.

Here’s just a snippet:

I have always believed that the books of youth stay with us in a unique way. The fairy tales, nursery rhymes and novels we read when we’re young become part of our DNA. Perhaps that is why I was led back to Fahrenheit 451 after 9/11. It was a brilliant remedy for restoring my faith.

Read and/or listen to Hoffman’s paean to Fahrenheit 451 and Bradbury in its entirety on NPR’s Web site.

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WHAT PAGE ARE YOU ON?

Monday, July 6th, 2009

 July 6, 2009
Washington, DC

A careful observer of personnel on The Big Read audio guides will notice that The Big Read authors often show up on each other’s guides talking about the ways they’ve inspired and encouraged each other, either in person or through the example of their work. Ray Bradbury, for example, modeled the structure of The Martian Chronicles after John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. I think it’s fair to say that The Big Read is not just a community of readers, but also a community of writers.

Here’s Amy Tan (from an interview with the NEA) on Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine:

Love Medicine is a collection of stories around a community of people, and they happen to be Native Americans who often refer to themselves as Indians.  It’s about, I think, five generations of family and their relationships are not necessarily through the traditional lines. They may be [related] through secret affairs or liaisons that not everyone in the family knows about. They are united by these secrets and tragedies as well as a kind of love that is different I think from what we normally think of as love. It’s love that goes through misunderstanding and through history and through, sometimes, violence, anger, grudges, but it’s an enduring kind of love.

Read more from The Big Read authors on The Big Read Web site.

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FROM THE DESK OF PAULETTE

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

June 30, 2009
Washington, DC

I admit it: I have a huge crush on Ray Bradbury. Not only is he a superfan of the public library system, but I hear he’s written a classic book or two (or nearly 100 and counting!), like Fahrenheit 451, one of the four novels that helped us launch The Big Read back in 2006.

Maestro Bradbury’s on my mind for a few reasons: I recently saw a vintage episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour based on Bradbury’s short story ”The Life and Work of Juan Diaz” (Note to self: There’s a reason you don’t go to scary movies, remember?), the NEA and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs just announced that Bradbury is one of the featured authors for the 2009 Guadalajara International Book Fair, and Jennifer Steinhauer just wrote a great piece about Bradbury and his support of the Ventura County Public Libraries in the June 20 issue of The New York Times.

More than two dozen fan clubs—better known around here as Big Read projects—will be launching on Fahrenheit 451 between this September and next June. Can’t wait till then to get your Bradbury fix? Stop by The Big Read Web site to check out the great man himself in our Big Read Conversation with Ray Bradbury before heading to your local library to frontload your summer reading list with a Bradbury book or two or 100!

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