Saxton Reads! & Reviews

On Monday, August 3rd, visit Oprah's Book Club site and get a free download of Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin. You'll have to become a member but it's free to join. The download will be available for 48 hours. Of course, you can always borrow it from our library (F McCann), on our new book shelves.

McCann's novel has been garnering lots of press since its release. It is August 1974, and a man is walking, dancing, and even leaping across a wire strung high above the ground between the Twin Towers. Imagine the hush of the crowd below as they witness this strange event. McCann's characters draw a portrait of 1970's New York, in all its glory, in all its pain.

Listen to the words of author Colum McCann as he talks about Phillipe Petit, the inspiration for his novel:

"I suppose I should tell you that I have a bad case of vertigo. I go all wobbly at the knees once I get to any height. My palms sweat. My stomach flutters. You won't find me at the rim of anything. No ledges. No cliff tops. It's hard enough taking myself to the end of a sentence!

In 1974, Phillipe Petit made his way to the top of the World Trade Center towers and strung a tightrope a quarter of a mile in the sky. He blew open the August morning by walking across the wire several times. He kneeled. He laid down. He even at one stage ran across the tin wire. He held beauty at ransom and stepped into history. When you fall you can't fall halfway."

Pair this with the dvd,  Man on A Wire (DVD B Petit), a look at the high-wire walk made by Philippe Petit in 1974, considered one of history's most artistic crimes.