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From United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, leaders and celebrities are revealing their favorite books on a Maine library’s annual “Who Reads What?” list.
Also weighing in with their favorite titles on the 2001 famous readers’ rundown are actress Brooke Shields, racer Eddie Cheever Jr., singer Johnny Mathis and 13 other luminaries.
Glenna Nowell, the retired Gardiner librarian who started polling politicians, athletes, authors and actors in 1988 for the annual list, said this year’s respondents showed unusually fine taste for what they read.
“Most of these books are really of a good literary quality,” said the silver-haired Nowell, whose own three-book-a-week appetite is satisfied by anything from light mystery to astrophysics.
Nowell is particularly fond of one of the books the U.N. leader picked as a favorite: “All the Pretty Horses.” In his letter to Nowell, Annan compared Cormac McCarthy’s book to his other favorite, “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse.
“In both, the environment – the physical world – is itself a character that shapes events and the actions of the other characters,” wrote Annan, adding that “We must not lose sight of the intimate relationship between ourselves and the environment.”
Ventura, who moonlights as a football commentator, chose something with a more earthy flavor as his favorite: “Rogue Warrior,” Richard Marcinko’s book about a top-secret counterterrorist SEAL unit.
Brooke Shields is among the more avid readers on Nowell’s new list, which appears in time for National Library Week April 1-7. Shields wrote she thoroughly enjoyed “The Hours” by Michael Cunningham, “The Samurai’s Garden” by Gail Tsukiyama and “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier.
When he wasn’t speeding around a racetrack, Eddie Cheever was exploring the far corners of the universe between the covers of Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time.”
“Hawking’s formidable mind opens up a part of our universe that to many of us has remained closed due to the complexity of the subject,” Cheever wrote.
Mathis didn’t get into titles, but made it clear that the singer is also a reader. “I read biographies quite a bit and read cookbooks as if they were novels,” he wrote.
Author Ken Follett, a reader since he was 4, said he was 12 when he first read Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale.”
“It was the first James Bond story I had read, and it changed my life,” wrote Follett, who remembers being captivated by the hero’s character. In his own books, Follett said, he has tried to create the same kind of suspense he found in Fleming’s book.
Singer Janis Ian said her life was changed by “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle, and she also enjoyed “Half Magic” by Edward Eager.
William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, called “Democracy in America” by Alexis deTocqueville “the best book on America, and one of the best on politics simply.”
Actor Kenneth Branaugh is the third celebrity over the years to choose “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens as his favorite.
Singer Sarah McLachlan said “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke is an ongoing favorite “that I always come back to for inspiration.”
Actress Laurie Metcalf’s favorite book, “Amy and Isabelle,” is written by a Maine-born author. Elizabeth Strout’s story is about a mother and daughter in a small paper-mill town and the hard choices they must make.
“The Blind Assassin” by Margaret Atwood wound up as a favorite for two of this year’s readers: Nike Inc. Chairman Philip Knight and author Elmore Leonard.
Atwood’s “style and imagery draw you into the setting and you can’t wait to find out what happens,” wrote Leonard.
Actress Lainie Kazan called “Blonde” by Joyce Carol Oates “an insightful glimpse into the psychology of an American icon,” and “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant “a rich and deep novel” about women from Biblical times.
Actor George Grizzard listed Anthony Trollope’s “The Warden” and “Barchester Towers” as his favorites.
Singer Annie Lennox picked a past celebrity favorite, “When Things Fall Apart” by Pema Chodron. Lennox said the author shows how to apply ancient Tibetan teachings in stress-filled modern life.
Actress Tina Louise cited quotations penned by Ralph Waldo Emerson as she proclaimed his “Essays and Journals” her favorite.
Author-artist SARK admitted it was “difficult to stop listing books” as she rolled out her top choices: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” by Crockett Johnson and “Gone-away Lake” by Elizabeth Enright.
SARK also recommended “My Family and Other Animals” by Gerald Durrell, and “Tracks” by Robyn Davidson.
Celebrities aren’t the only ones who share their book choices with Nowell, who gets hundreds of e-mails from all over the world.
“It’s just amazing how important to people reading is,” said Nowell. “And they’re all ages.”
Or, as Janis Ian wrote, “Books rock!”
On the Net:
Gardiner Public Library: http:///www.gpl.lib.me.us/
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