"ONE BOOK, ONE COMMUNITY KICKOFF FRIDAY"
Tuesday 15, 2009
MARQUETTE, Mich.—Marquette’s One Book, One Community program will host a kickoff event that ties into the 2009 featured selection, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. It begins at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at the Peter White Public Library.
The event will feature catered Vietnamese food and music provided by Derrell Syria and band. There will also be book giveaways. Participants are asked to bring used or new books with a one-dollar bill tucked inside to ship to military service people overseas.
The Things They Carried is O’Brien’s fictional account of a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. It was published in 1990 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book is a series of linked stories. O’Brien mined his experiences as a foot soldier in Vietnam to write a powerful American classic that examines the myriad effects of war on man: fighting, waiting, monotony and the aftermath. Also this month, in conjunction with the NMU Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) conference, three related One Book events are scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30, in the Whitman Hall commons. The film A Soldier's Sweetheart, starring Kiefer Sutherland, will be shown at noon. It is an adaptation of a chapter from The Things They Carried. At 2 p.m., Eric Hammerstrom will give a multi-media presentation on war memories and memorabilia from a soldier who served in Vietnam. And at 4 p.m., there will be a facilitated discussion of The Things They Carried.
One Book, One Community is designed to bring Marquette County residents and Northern Michigan University students together to read and discuss the same book. Updates on the program will be posted at www.nmu.edu/onebook.
The Things They Carried is O’Brien’s fictional account of a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. It was published in 1990 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book is a series of linked stories. O’Brien mined his experiences as a foot soldier in Vietnam to write a powerful American classic that examines the myriad effects of war on man: fighting, waiting, monotony and the aftermath. Also this month, in conjunction with the NMU Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) conference, three related One Book events are scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30, in the Whitman Hall commons. The film A Soldier's Sweetheart, starring Kiefer Sutherland, will be shown at noon. It is an adaptation of a chapter from The Things They Carried. At 2 p.m., Eric Hammerstrom will give a multi-media presentation on war memories and memorabilia from a soldier who served in Vietnam. And at 4 p.m., there will be a facilitated discussion of The Things They Carried.
One Book, One Community is designed to bring Marquette County residents and Northern Michigan University students together to read and discuss the same book. Updates on the program will be posted at www.nmu.edu/onebook.