apparently nobel prize laureate yann martel is trying to encourage stephen harper to read more:
http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca/
So Yann Martel go be mailing books for some time to come
I wish I had the time to read a book to expand my stillness every two weeks
I also wonder about the case of plagiarism against Martel as cited in Wikipedia. Fuh sure the arts needs funding if Cdn artists have to resort to plagiarism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Pi#Plagiarism_ControversyPlagiarism Controversy:
“Also, I am indebted to Mr. Moacyr Scliar, for the spark of life.”
This dedication to Moacyr Scliar appears in the preface of his novel Life of Pi and sparked controversy. Many people wonder whether this book was deliberately plagiarized.
Scliar's Max e os Felinos, published in 1981, is a story of a German refugee who crosses the Atlantic Ocean while sharing his boat with a jaguar. Max and the Cats, an English translation by Eloah F. Giacomelli, was published in 1990. The striking similarity caused critics to question Martel..
Martel says he did not read Scliar's book, but he did read a negative review many years prior to writing Life of Pi. What makes it more confusing is that Martel said the review was written by John Updike in The New York Times. However, the newspaper never ran a review of Max and the Cats, nor has Updike ever reviewed the book. When the prize was awarded to Martel in 2002, Scliar said he was perplexed that Martel "used the idea without consulting or even informing him", and considered taking legal action. After talking with Martel, however, he elected not to pursue the matter.[5]