May 24

BOTNS Podcast #130: One Book for All Eternity

By Michael Kindness Podcasts Add comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:28 — 10.6MB)

It’s a Peach of an anniversary, with something fun to do. What if you could only choose one book to have with you for the rest of eternity? What would it be! And two books we can’t wait for you to read.

Millions of Peaches

It’s the 50th Anniversary of James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, a book I just love, and I know I’m not alone! Puffin Books, the publisher, has started a very cool campaign to send virtual and paper peaches whizzing around the world. Just visit  www.followthatpeach.com to find out how you can get in on the peachy keen action. Now is probably a good time to re-read this classic, or read it to a child, or read it for the first time!

One Book for All Eternity (3:21)

When Ann and I recorded this episode, we weren’t sure that anyone would ever hear it, because we were recording the day before the predicted Rapture on May 21. I’m thrilled that I’m writing these show notes on May 24. The world did not end (that’s now scheduled for October, in case anyone wants to mark their calendar). Facebook and Twitter were filled with Rapture comments last week, but one really caught Ann’s attention:

Hmmm…. What book would you want with you for the rest of time? I’m torn between something I’ve read and loved, and would want to read again, or something huge that I’ve never read. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare? The OED? Infinite Jest? War and Peace? What book would you choose to spend all eternity with? Leave us a message here, on our Facebook page, in our Goodreads group or call our voicemail line at 209.867.READ.

Two Books We Can’t Wait for You to Read (9:45)

Ann just loves Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson, which features a twelve-year-old narrator called Blessing. After Blessing’s mother catches her father with another woman, she moves Blessing and her brother into their grandparents’ primitive home in the Niger Delta. Erik Larson is a master of narrative non-fiction and he’s done it again with In the Garden of Beasts, an amazing look at the American Ambassador to Nazi Germany’s first year in Berlin.

 

  • http://snow-feathers.blogspot.com/ Ally

    A book for all eternity? That’s not possible :)
    If it were, I would go with Henry Miller and Anais Nin’s letter exchange…

  • Laura

    Pride and Prejudice. I’ve read it so many times and I always find something new in it. Also thinking about Darcy would keep me more than occupied.

  • Bob

    Harry Potter series. No doubt…well, maybe starting with Prisoner.

  • Andrea

    My book for all eternity would have to be “The Tale of Genji,” by Lady Murasaki. I stumbled upon this book when searching through the archives at Houghton Mifflin, took it to my desk, and over the next weeks of lunch-hour reading became engrossed in the world of the Japanese Imperial Court at the turn of the first millennium. It is so rich in the strange and beautiful subtleties of Japanese culture while saturated with the Buddhist concept of the evanescence of human life, I’m sure this book could keep me happily occupied for age after age.

  • http://vsreadingjournaley.blogspot.com/ Vanessa from Goodreads

    Anyone with whom I’ve discussed books with would wearily be able to answer that.

    It would be “Cannery Row” by my favorite author, my beloved John Steinbeck. I love this book so much I want to crawl inside it and live there. I get all stupid and teary-eyed when I try to explain how divine and full of humor and love it is. If I were walking in the rain and saw it sitting in a dumpster, I would fish it out from underneath the coffee grounds and wet leaves and take it home and dry it page by page. He’s just that author for me. I get everything he’s saying.

  • http://www.booksdistilled.com Brooke (Books Distilled)

    I’m not sure I could pick just one, but since it’s a peach-themed post I’ll go with the book I just finished, The Peach Keeper, by Sarah Addison Allen. Absolutely fantastic!

  • http://www.subliminalintervention.blogspot.com Dreamybee

    Okay, I’m no expert on how this Rapture stuff works, but if you are one of the chosen ones, won’t there be a complete library waiting for you, one from which you can pick and choose for all eternity? If not, it seems like kind of a bum deal. :)

  • http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/ Sheila (Bookjourney)

    I so wanted to get a copy of In The Garden Of Beats at BEA but missed it – ahhh well :) That would be one I am excited about and Night Circus…. another one I missed out on… :)

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  • Patricia Snyder

    I just finished “In the Garden of Beats” and I have to say that it covers much more than Dodd’s first year as ambassador to Germany. Although Larson concentrates a large part to Dodd’s first year, it follows Dodd through to his death in 1940. There are many side stories also recounted allowing for a look into the political lives of Hitler, FDR, members of the US State Department among so many others.

    I didn’t get the idea that Dodd wanted his daughter with him “to calm her down.” He wanted both his children with him and his wife in Germany because he felt that they as a family had little time left in their lives to be together. The book is as much a story of his daughter’s intrigues as it is about Dodd official insights about the horrors unfolding in Hitler’s government.

  • Pam

    Since this is just make-believe, I would choose to take along the make-believe complete works of Stephen King. That should keep me busy for awhile. Maybe I could take along my Kindle…

  • http://www.alisonsbookmarks.com Alison’s Book Marks

    My son just finished James and the Giant Peach last night! His teacher and I are trying to come up with a fun project for him – I have a feeling there will be tons of fun ideas with the 50th anniversary celebration going on!

    I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of In the Garden of Beasts – as soon as my head is clear (I also picked up a wicked cold at BEA) I will read it!

  • Rebekah

    Due to suitcase constraints, I only brought one book with me when I left for my Peace Corps stint. It wasn’t eternity, but Outlander did keep me entertained for 2 years.

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