Love of Literacy Luncheon by the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition March 8

 Award-winning "New York Times"-bestselling author Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, The Magician's Assistant) returns with a provocative novel of morality and miracles, science and sacrifice set in the Amazon rainforest--a gripping adventure story and a profound look at the difficult choices we make in the name of discovery and love.In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, State of Wonder presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional resonance and moral complexity.As Dr. Marina Singh embarks upon an uncertain odyssey into the insect-infested Amazon, she will be forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits within the jungle. Charged with finding her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a researcher who has disappeared while working on a valuable new drug, she will have to confront her own memories of tragedy and sacrifice as she journeys into the unforgiving heart of darkness. Stirring and luminous, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss beneath the rain forest's jeweled canopy. REF:  www.goodreads.com/book/show/9118135 Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In Grealy's critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face, she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn't Lucy's life or Ann's life, but the parts of their lives they shared. This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans twenty years, from the long winters of the Midwest, to surgical wards, to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined . . . and what happens when one is left behind.This is a tender, brutal book about loving the person we cannot save. It is about loyalty, and being lifted up by the sheer effervescence of someone who knew how to live life to the fullest. REF:  www.goodreads.com/book/show/3686 Since her first publication in 1992, celebrated novelist Ann Patchett has crafted a number of elegant novels, garnering accolades and awards along the way. Now comes a reissue of the best-selling debut novel that launched her remarkable career. St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs.When Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth's extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose's past won't be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth's; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving. REF:  www.goodreads.com/book/show/15957View the list »
The Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition is a not for profit organization committed to ensuring that every resident of Palm Beach County, Florida is able to read.

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It’s a sold out affair for the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition with its “2013 Love of Literacy” luncheon which will be held on Friday March 8 with the feature speaker being Ann Patchett at the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

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As it appears on the Coalition’s website, Ann Patchett is a noted American author of several outstanding works dear to the hearts of her readers. Her inaugural novel, The Patron Saint of Liars, was named a New York Times Notable Book for 1992. The Magician’s Assistant, earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship while her next novel, Bel Canto, won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002. It has sold over a million copies in the United States and has been translated into more than thirty languages.

Truth & Beauty, a memoir of her friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy, won the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize. Her fourth novel, Run, was a New York Times Bestseller. Her latest work, State of Wonder, is a gripping adventure story and a profound look at difficult choices.

The attached list contains brief reviews of a few novels by Ann Patchett.

The Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition is a not for profit organization committed to ensuring that every resident of Palm Beach County, Florida is able to read. Their philosophy is best expressed by Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations: "Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope... (it is) the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential."

REF: pbcliteracy.org

REF: www.annpatchett.com

View the list
  •  Since her first publication in 1992, celebrated novelist Ann Patchett has crafted a number of elegant novels, garnering accolades and awards along the way. Now comes a reissue of the best-selling debut novel that launched her remarkable career. St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs.When Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth's extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose's past won't be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth's; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving. REF:  www.goodreads.com/book/show/15957
  •  Ann Patchett and the late Lucy Grealy met in college in 1981, and, after enrolling in the Iowa Writers' Workshop, began a friendship that would be as defining to both of their lives as their work. In Grealy's critically acclaimed memoir, Autobiography of a Face, she wrote about losing part of her jaw to childhood cancer, years of chemotherapy and radiation, and endless reconstructive surgeries. In Truth & Beauty, the story isn't Lucy's life or Ann's life, but the parts of their lives they shared. This is a portrait of unwavering commitment that spans twenty years, from the long winters of the Midwest, to surgical wards, to book parties in New York. Through love, fame, drugs, and despair, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined . . . and what happens when one is left behind.This is a tender, brutal book about loving the person we cannot save. It is about loyalty, and being lifted up by the sheer effervescence of someone who knew how to live life to the fullest. REF:  www.goodreads.com/book/show/3686
  •  Award-winning "New York Times"-bestselling author Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, The Magician's Assistant) returns with a provocative novel of morality and miracles, science and sacrifice set in the Amazon rainforest--a gripping adventure story and a profound look at the difficult choices we make in the name of discovery and love.In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, State of Wonder presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional resonance and moral complexity.As Dr. Marina Singh embarks upon an uncertain odyssey into the insect-infested Amazon, she will be forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits within the jungle. Charged with finding her former mentor Dr. Annick Swenson, a researcher who has disappeared while working on a valuable new drug, she will have to confront her own memories of tragedy and sacrifice as she journeys into the unforgiving heart of darkness. Stirring and luminous, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss beneath the rain forest's jeweled canopy. REF:  www.goodreads.com/book/show/9118135
View the list
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, West Palm Beach Tutoring Examiner

Teresa Myers is a former classroom teacher and business professional. Currently, she is semi-retired and working through a tutoring agency as a professional tutor. Teresa is a native Floridian and received both her graduate and undergraduate degrees in her home state. Ms. Myers has broad...

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