Literary festival in our midst

The following story about Reading Reads is from our sister papers, Berks Mont Newspapers. I am psyched to see that Pulitzer winning author Richard Russo "Empire Falls", "Straight Man") is going to be speaking on the Alvernia campus next month as part of the festival.

Reading Reads: Reading Literary Festival enters third year

Poetry workshops and open mike sessions, children reading to dogs, programs ranging from vampires to ghosts to the reconciling of religion in the public schools, the appearance of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer-these are among the events scheduled for the third Reading Reads: The Greater Reading Literary Festival.The festival will take place throughout the month of October and throughout Berks County in nearly 30 venues. Dozens of authors, poets, illustrators, and lecturers will take part in more than 90 events during the month.

A complete schedule of events, feature articles, and updates are available at the festival web site, www.readingreads.com.

Highlights of the 2008 Literary Festival include:

• The naming of the 2008 Poet Laureate of Berks County, which will take place on Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. in the Miller Center of Reading Area Community College. A gala event is scheduled, sponsored by RACC in collaboration with Berks County Libraries, the Berks Bards poetry group, and the Greater Reading Literary Festival.

• An appearance by the world-renowned Poetry Slam titleists "Junkyard Ghost Revival" at the Berks Campus of Penn State University. The "spoken word theater experience" will take place in the Perkins Student Center at 9 p.m. on Oct.16.

• An "Author Extravaganza" with 16 local and regional writers discussing and signing their works at Borders Books & Music on Oct. 18. The event begins at 10 a.m. and continues through 8 p.m.

• Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo (Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs, and more) will speak in the Alvernia College Physical Education Center at 6 p.m. on Oct. 21.

• The Literary Festival will honor Reading's landmark Pagoda atop Mount Penn by dubbing it the "Bookoda" and presenting several events there on Oct. 24. The evening begins with a "mixer" of writers' groups from Greater Reading and the Lehigh Valley, continues with a book signing by Reading Police Chief William Heim and Reading Fire Chief William Rehr (both authors), and concludes with ghost stories by author Charles J. Adams III.

• Eli Kowalski, author of Looking Back: 75 Years of Eagles History, will sign his book and chew the fat with Philadelphia Eagles fans at Barnes & Noble at 6 p.m. on Oct. 30.

800-CEO-READ

If you truly are a fan of business books, check out this other, rather excellent and comprehensive business book blog I found (that also gives away free books and stuff).

http://800ceoread.com/blog/

This just in from WSJ...

(It's always fun to see what everyone else is reading.)

WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERS

FICTION

1. "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)

2. "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)

3. "Devil Bones" by Kathy Reichs (Scribner)

4. "The Gypsy Morph" by Terry Brooks (Del Rey)

5. "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)

6. "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (The Dial Press)

7. "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown)

8. "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown for Young Readers)

9. "Silks" by Dick Francis (Felix Francis Putnam)

10. "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski (Ecco)

11. "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" by Sean Williams (Del Rey)

12. "Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Sanction" by Eric VanLustbader (Grand Central Publishing)

13. "Smoke Screen" by Sandra Brown (Simon & Schuster)

14. "The Laughter of Dead Kings" by Elizabeth Peters (William Morrow)

15. "Moscow Rules" by Daniel Silva (Putnam)

NONFICTION

1. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion)

2. "Stori Telling" by Tori Spelling (Simon Spotlight)

3. "StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)

4. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne (Atria Books/Beyond Words)

5. "The Obama Nation" by Jerome R. Corsi (Threshold Editions)

6. "Six Disciplines Execution Revolution" by Gary Harpst (Six Disciplines Publishing)

7. "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea" by Chelsea Handler (Simon Spotlight Entertainment)

8. "When You Are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris (Little, Brown)

9. "The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate" by David Freddoso (Regnery)

10. "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Other's Don't" by Jim Collins (Collins)

11. "Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life" by Spencer Johnson (Putnam)

12. "Fleeced" by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann (Harper)

13. "You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press)

14. "The One Hundred" by Nina Garcia (Collins Living)

15. "Four Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss (Crown)

The Wall Street Journal's list reflects nationwide sales of hardcover books during the week ended last Saturday at more than 2,500 Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Bookland, Books-a-Million, Books & Co., Bookstar, Bookstop, Borders, Brentano's, Coles, Coopersmith, Doubleday, Scribners and Waldenbooks stores, as well as sales from online retailers Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.