Lots of Book News

Last Tuesday, June 22nd, Mattie Stepanek died. He was a 13 year old muscular dystrophy advocate who wrote several best-selling books of inspirational poetry while suffering from the disease. In his short life, Mattie wrote five volumes of poetry that sold millions of copies. Three of the volumes even reached the New York Times' best-seller list. He wrote books that sound a bit cheesy by their title, but that are pretty incredible considering Mattie's situation and medical condition. Heartsongs is his first book of poetry and I was able to read some of it in Barnes & Noble. I was definitely touched by the simplicity and truthfulness of the words.

Boston.com has published its list of quality books for Summer Reading. They break it down into categories like Popular Fiction and Non-Fiction, Mysteries, Romance and Classics and the reviews of books are by regular people. There are some great suggestions in all categories.

From Publisher's Weekly: The New York Times will serialize four "great books" in the New York market over the next two months, in a new book promotion called "The Great Summer Read." The program will launch on July 12 with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner), followed by Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (Modern Library/Vintage) on July 26; Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate (Anchor has English and Spanish editions) on August 9; and James McBride's The Color of Water (Riverhead) on August 23.

Each book will be published in its entirety, in seven installments that will begin on a Monday and culminate the following Sunday. The daily excerpts will appear in a 16-page newsprint supplement similar to the New York Times Book Review, though typeset in a slightly larger font and without illustrations.

For the Times, which sees itself as "a natural advocate for fostering literacy and a passion for reading," the program is a way to reward its current readers and perhaps draw new ones, said marketing v-p Alyse Myers.

Pretty cool!