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What Is Stephen Harper Reading?: Yann Martel's Recommended Reading For A Prime Minister And Book Lovers Of All Stripes (2009)

by Yann Martel(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0307398676 (ISBN13: 9780307398673)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Vintage Canada

review 1: Great concept!! I am Canadian. Steven Harper is Calgarian. I also live in Calgary. It was interesting enough on those levels to me at first, for those reasons. Reading it, gave me new reasons to like it. A book recommending other books is a delight. Especially when reasons for recommending them, are equally interesting to read. Loved the reality of this author's interaction with the Prime Minister. Great idea; wish I had thought of it!
review 2: What is Stephen Harper Reading? - Yann Martel - For several years Martel has maintained a private, and very one-sided, book club with Stephen Harper. This book is a record of the letters he’s sent to accompany the second-hand copies of the actual books he’s also sent as recommended prime ministerial reading... more. The list is odd, and oddly touching, two of the criteria for choosing books being that they have something important to say and that they be short - because a PM has limited reading time. Martel insists that, while a private citizen’s reading material should be private, a person who is in a position of leadership and public trust should be required to read widely and to make public what s/he reads. Makes sense to me - I’d certainly like to think that people who are making important decisions have been exposed to the thinking of thoughtful people and might, therefore, be able to make thoughtful, informed, and humane decisions. Martel uses his letters not only to give a brief an often illuminating discussion of the meaning and merits of each book, but also to muse on an array of topics obviously close to his heart - why people read, how art and life intertwine, how reading promotes and allows “stillness” (according to M. an essential quality for creativity to happen), the importance of teachers and education, how art and openness are essential to civil society, ... . Mostly the book made me feel that I have a lot left to read, and that I don’t think deeply enough about what I have read. The books on his list that I have not yet read I’ve added to my reading list. Those that I have read are: Animal Farm - George OrwellTo Kill a Mockingbird - Harper LeeThe Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-ExuperyThe Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven GallowayTo the Lighthouse - Virginia WoolfThe Bluest Eye - Toni MorrisonA Modest Proposal - Jonathan SwiftMaster Pip - Lloyd JonesThe Uncommon Reader - Alan BennetThe Good Earth - Pearl S. BuckJane Austen, a life - Carol ShieldsJulius Caesar - William ShakespeareOf the twelve books on this list, nine are books I’ve read more than once. Maybe that’s a comment of a sort on the quality of M.’s suggestions. less

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