It's National Library Week and many stars have openly revealed their secrets, well, at least when it comes to naming their favourite books.
Actors, authors, and politicians responded this year to Glenna Nowell, a Maine-based retired librarian, as she began to compile her annual list of "Who Reads What". Long before Oprah's Book Club spawned local reading groups across the country, Nowell began writing to celebrities in 1988 peppering them for responses so she could construct her annual list to coincide with National Library Week. She scours the Internet to collect a unique group of names and takes suggestions from friends and people who email her.
In past years, Nowell has received responses from an extraordinarily diverse group of celebrities: astronaut Buzz Aldrin; actors including Gillian Anderson, Mel Gibson, Armand Assante and Alec Baldwin; singers like Bryan Adams and Gloria Estefan; and politicians such as Tony Blair, Kofi Annan, and Newt Gingrich.
The responses to the 18th annual "Who Reads What" list were as intriguing as ever. Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was pleased to share that her favourite book is "The Bible". Hollywood icon, Jane Russell, who starred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe, shared that the book on her nightstand is "Hearing God" by Lory Basham Jones. Another silver-screen veteran, Eva Marie Saint, an Academy Award winner for On the Waterfront, listed "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion and "Elia Kazan: A Biography", written by Richard Schickel, about the director of On the Waterfront, as her favourite tomes. New York Governor George Pataki said "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin is his favourite book.
The full list for 2006 list as well as the celebrity reading list from past years is at www.gpl.lib.me.us
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