Big Read BookSlam--You Know You Want to Slam-along!

The Big Read BookSlam
Friday, March 15
6:30 p.m. 
Vigo County Public Library 

Be creative and join The Big Read BookSlam on March 15 at 6:30 pm at the Library. Explore any theme from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, though poems, craft, paintings, and more. Options are as varied as your interpretations of the book. Call 812–232–1113 ext. 2320 by March 10th to reserve your space. Please limit presentations to 5 minutes and participants must be over age 16. 

Here's a  taste of what you may (or may not) hear and see at this soon to be famous Big Read BookSlam:

GO HERE



. . . and an early review is in  

aaronc158 

I'm guess[ing] tom sawyer disliked this lol

What's your guess?

My all time favorite Mark Twain quotation.

Anyone care to disagree with, add to, or modify this pearl of wisdom?

It's the story of our times.  Everyone is looking for an "edge" in this hyper-competitive world and good books are just sitting there, unread.  "Can't read them" is not the real problem.  Alliterates are the norm today. Alliterates being  people who can read good books but choose not to.

A Birthday Wish to Samuel Clemens

165 Madison Avenue
New York City
November 30th, 1907

My dear Mr. Clemens:
I have seen in the New York Tribune this morning that to-day is your birthday – and it is mine too!
I am writing to wish you many happy returns of the day and to tell you that I think Tom Sawyer is the nicest boy I have ever known.

Sincerely yours,

Florence Benson

[Twain responded, telling her, "I have always concealed it before, but now I am compelled to confess that I am Tom Sawyer!"]

This is from a new book Dear Mark Twain: Letters from His Readers,” edited R. Kent Rasmussen.

Did Mark Twain ever smile for the camera?

Mark Twain was the most photographed celebrity author of his time.  And this was before digital cameras, iPhone pics and bona fide paparazzi. Twain had this to say about facing the camera:

"If a man tries to look serious when he sits for his picture the photograph makes him look as solemn as an owl; if he smiles, the photograph smirks repulsively; if he tries to look pleasant, the photograph looks silly; if he makes the fatal mistake of attempting to seem pensive, the camera will surely write him down as an ass."
-- Letter from Mark Twain to the Daily Hawaiian Herald, Sept. 5, 1866

You can find pages of images of Twain online by searching Google Images and Bing Images.  Can you find one of Twain looking "pensive" or, heaven forbid, "pleasant"?  Pleasant and pensive may be in the eye of the beholder.  The real challenge is to find a photo of Mark Twain with a smile on his face.  If you can, please post it or the source/internet url in the comment section.


Here's what you're up against:

"Half twain! Quarter twain! M-a-r-k twain!"

For most people, the name "Mark Twain" is virtually synonymous with the life along the Mississippi River immortalized in the author's writing. Clemens first signed his writing with the name in February 1863, as a newspaper reporter in Nevada. "Mark Twain" (meaning "Mark number two") was a Mississippi River term: the second mark on the line that measured depth signified two fathoms, or twelve feet—safe depth for the steamboat. In 1857, at the age of twenty-one, he became a "cub" steamboat pilot. The Civil War ended that career four years later by halting all river traffic. Although Clemens never again lived in the Mississippi valley, he returned to the river in his writing throughout his life. And he visited a number of times, most notably in 1882 as he prepared to write Life on the Mississippi, his fullest and most autobiographical account of the region and its inhabitants, and again in 1902 when he made his final visit to the scenes of his childhood.

Time is often compared to a river. Can you step in the same river twice? Not really. Mark Twain contemplates the river he loves and describes this melancholy fact beautifully in Life on the Mississippi. This passage is from that book,  "Two Ways of Looking at the River." 

GO HERE

Tom Sawyer -- Reader Beware, Twain Knows You!

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is undoubtedly the book of the season in the Wabash Valley.  Thanks to this year's  Big Read  programs (Go Here) and the many FREE copies being made available to the public there is no reason not read or re-read this classic work in American literature.

This book is not a children's book. It was, after all, written by Mark Twain.  Of course, the episodes in the novel will appeal to kids.  But Twain never wrote anything without some thoughtful and amusing barbs in regard to human behavior -- social,  psychological, philosophical--in it. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  is certainly no exception.  Read it and watch out for the sharp hooks he includes. Since most of the readers around here will be human, I'm guessing there is plenty in the book that will snag you. [Spoiler Alert--How did you like his take on "showing off"?  Any of it get a little too close to home or was he just describing your neighbor, co-worker and/or in-laws?]

Comment here if you want to share anything coming from your reading of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  All remarks are welcome . . . as are responses.