cread | read & see

You would not be surprised to find Catcher in the Rye , Gone with the Wind , Huckleberry Finn or even Catch 22 on a definitive list of books that shaped America but the "Big Book" of Alcoholic's Anonymous would probably not have easily come to mind. The Books that Shaped America list was developed by the US Library of Congress for an on-site exhibition it is holding as part of its multi-year "Celebration of the Book". Alcoholics Anonymous, on reflection a very apt choice considering the devastation of addiction in US (and human) existence, was written by co-founders Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith to help people recover from alcoholism. It has spawned many other 12-step programs but they all can be traced to the original inspiration for Wilson and Smith - the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew 5 . Other interesting inclusions Christopher Colles' A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (1789) and Amelia Simmons' American C

Fresh from winning three out of 12 of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards announced on July 26, Allen & Unwin have also picked up two awards in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year. In the PM's Awards, Gillian Mears' novel Foal's Bread won the fiction category, Luke Davies' Interferon Psalms won the poetry category and Bill Gammage received the Prize for Australian History with The Biggest Estate on Earth . In the CBCA awards, Kate Constable’s Crow Country and Scot Gardner’s The Dead I Know were award recipients. Meanwhile, A & U's Top 10 Sellers right now are:   1 Between the Lines Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer  2 The Happiest Refugee Anh Do    3 Fit, Fifty and Fired Up Nigel Marsh  4 Hannah & Emil Belinda Castles    5 Life Without Limits Nick Vujicic  6 My Droving Days Pe

One of Sydney's most popular pre-loved book, CD, poster and sheet music fairs is run by community radio station, Fine Music 102.5 FM (formerly 2MBS). The fair has various incarnations each year and is currently filling Leichhardt Town Hall with wordy life and will do so until next Sunday, August 26, 9am - 6pm. It will then rise again in Balmain from November 22. A visit to the fair today revealed the usual well organised and prolific array of books covering fiction and non-fiction - with strong military, history and art sections, a few early editions, posters, CDs, records and sheet music to satisfy most tastes. And every purchase helps raise funds for the community radio station. Photo: $14 worth of light reading picked up by Cread at the Fine Music 102.5 FM book fair in Leichhardt.

Thorpe's 2002 autobiography, The Journey There always seemed to be a missing plot-line or two to the story surrounding Ian Thorpe's retirement from swimming and it seems those details are about to be revealed. A new "tell-all" autobiography will be published by Simon & Schuster on October 1 (according to News Ltd) or November 1 (according to S & S website) and extracts already sold to magazines reportedly disclose battles with depression and alcohol. His new manager James Erskine seems less interested in the tell-all approach, making it clear to News Ltd reporters that it was "not your  divine right to know what's in the book" along with more colourful statements. More here

Five Mile Press, an Australian publisher now owned by Swedish media company, Bonnier AB, is making the most of Father's Day with some well targeted titles in Australia Post stores. A range of newly released books such as Wild Colonial Boys and Off The Track and other anthologies are carefully positioned (in some POs at least) next to the counter queue. As men are notoriously hard to buy for and it is their book-loving wives or mother's most likely scratching their heads as to what to get for the bloke in their lives, more than a few of these 'blokey' but beaut books are likely to walk out the door. Meanwhile, Five Mile Press's Top 10 selling titles right now are: Running Pink   - Deborah DeWilliams and Megan Norris   Australian Crime File 3   - Paul B. Kidd Woolsheds   - Andrew Chapman Wild Colonial Boys - Geoff Hocking  Blackened Tanner: The Dennis Tanner Story  - Ron Irwin The Things I Love About Pets  - Trace Moroney   Missing You   - Justine Fo

Harry Potter author JK Rowling's first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, goes on sale worldwide on September 27. Considering the phenomenal interest in the book and allowing for a 10 hour time difference, it's quite likely some Australian readers will have finished reading the book before Rowlings has attended her first book signing at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London, 7.30pm. Here she will chat with BBC journalist Mark Lawson, followed by a book signing and will follow this up on October 6 with another interview and signing at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. Meanwhile Australian booksellers are trying to get in on the action with pre-orders from Dymock's offering The Casual Vacancy for $25.99 (Hardcover, 480 pages) and Readings for $32.95 - but you get 512 pages by their count... Readings are also offering the audio CD for $55. In the meantime, debate rages over the final version of the cover although in the long run, it could be plain-pa

"Before time itself was measured, The Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God." So reads John 1:1 from Thomas Nelson's The Voice Bible translation which is written as a screenplay to be accessible to people who have never read the Bible. Bible translators have sought for hundreds of years to present the ancient Bible texts in the language of the day. King James 1 version from 1611 came alive in Shakespearean English so it is perhaps fitting that one of the world's newest translations reads like a play (of course some people believe Shakespeare himself was a translator for the KJV). The familiarity of today's reader with graphic novels, comics and more to the point, movies and television, means they could be right at home with a dialogue-led text: Disciple: "It's a ghost!" Another Disciple: "A ghost? What will we do?" Jesus: "Be still. It is I; you have nothing to fear." (From Matthew 15's account of Jesus wal