Read The Book

THE QUESTION Will Smith's movie, Pursuit of Happyness, is based on the real-life experiences of Chris Gardner, who also wrote a book by the same name. Do movies such as this spur you to read the book, or do you read the book first and then go see the movie? WHAT YOU SAY Sometimes movies expose us to books that we never knew were out there. I will see the film, then read the book as I've found that books are usually better than their big-screen counterparts. Nicole Mooney, Sykesville If I know that there is a book available, I always choose to see the movie first.

THE QUESTION Will Smith's movie, Pursuit of Happyness, is based on the real-life experiences of Chris Gardner, who also wrote a book by the same name. Do movies such as this spur you to read the book, or do you read the book first and then go see the movie? WHAT YOU SAY Sometimes movies expose us to books that we never knew were out there. I will see the film, then read the book as I've found that books are usually better than their big-screen counterparts. Nicole Mooney, Sykesville If I know that there is a book available, I always choose to see the movie first.

An interview with Mary Margaret Kamerman, founder of First Thursday Book Club. How long has your group been in existence? Ten years. We started in March of '92. I am a voracious reader, and I had one or two close women friends that I met with once a month for brunch, and we'd always end up talking about books, so we decided to start a book club. ... We have nine members now. Is that a comfortable size? Yes, I feel if it were any bigger, everybody would not get a chance to share and discuss.

Esly Mendez has written a book called Jasmin's Party. It's about a girl who throws a party for her friends but has a problem when one of the friends eats the food. In the end, the girls pop popcorn and cook some more food, and the party is saved. Esly said she was inspired to write the story by her sister, who recently had a party to celebrate turning 1. Esly, 8, read the book to parents and fellow second-graders on Thursday as part of an author's tea at Cradlerock School. After she read each page of the hardbound book, she showed the pictures to the audience.

"I like 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.' When Harry Potter was young, his mother and father died, and he had to live with his aunt and uncle. Harry Potter is a magician. " -- Charda Hallbey Dr. Carter G. Woodson School " 'The Amazing Panda Adventure' by A. L. Singer is about a girl, a boy and a panda getting lost. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens. I like this book because there is some adventure in it. They have to find their way back to a helicopter." -- Kevin Ryan Pine Grove Elementary "I strongly suggest you read 'Dirt Bikes' by Jesse Young for many reasons.

Two-time Newbery Award winner E.L. Konigsburg, 72, entered the working world not as a writer, but as a chemist. "I came from a small town where ... when you did go away to college, you went away to be something - an engineer or a teacher or a chemist," the author says in an interview at the Web site of her publisher, Scholastic. "I never knew anyone who went away to be an artist until I was in college." It would be many years after college before Konigsburg, who also illustrates her books, began her writing career.

Olivia Goldsmith, 54, a best-selling novelist who used humor to lighten her cautionary tales about marital infidelity, corporate corruption and the cosmetic surgery boom, died Thursday in New York City of complications from elective plastic surgery. She was best known for her first novel, The First Wives Club (1992), about three friends whose husbands leave them for younger women. The book was made into a movie released in 1996, starring Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. Ms. Goldsmith captured national attention when the book was sold as a feature film.

"I have read the book Beardance by Will Hobbs. I like this book because it is about an adventure about a boy named Cloyd who is part of the Ute Indian nation. Cloyd is in Colorado with a man named Walter searching for a gold mine. This is a cool book. You must read it!" -- Shawn Farrar Golden Ring Middle "A sad book I enjoyed reading was A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith. This book is about a boy named Jamie and his best friend. When they are in their neighbor's back yard, Jamie gets stung by a lot of bees.

AT AGE 5, Selma Levi was reading ''The Cat In The Hat.'' And reading it and reading it and reading it. So often, she says, that her 3-year-old brother memorized it and amazed his family by seeming to read the book himself.''I loved 'The Cat In The Hat' so much,'' says Levi, remembering her early affection for Dr. Seuss, who died late Tuesday at 87, leaving more than 50 books and millions of memories as his legacy.Levi, a children's librarian, also has a special fondness for ''AnTo Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street,'' Dr. Seuss' first children's book, published in 1937.

Maya Angelou's autobiographical book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" should be returned to the ninth-grade curriculum in Anne Arundel County, a school-appointed committee decided yesterday.The 13-member committee of parents, teachers and two students voted unanimously after deliberating for about six hours at Board of Education offices in Annapolis.Carol S. Parham, county superintendent of schools, pulled the 1970 book, a National Book Award winner about a young woman growing up in the segregated South, from the language arts curriculum for ninth-graders after a group of parents complained about sexually explicit passages.

Sitting on the floor in Westminster's library among a group of children from the Head Start program, Leah Kozoidek listened to the rhymes in the book Little One, Little One, What Do You See? She eagerly answered questions about the animals in the story and counted along with her classmates. At the end of the reading, Leah, 4, and nearly 40 other children in Carroll County Head Start received their own copy of the book - personalized with their name on the title page and throughout the story.

You've seen the movie, now read the book - for free! The movie is Spider-Man 2, which opened Wednesday and pulled in a record-breaking $40.5 million, meaning plenty of you were there. And if that's not enough Spidey to satisfy you, simply truck on over to your friendly neighborhood comic-book store today and take advantage of the third annual Free Comic Book Day. If the store is one of thousands participating in the nationwide promotion, you can walk away with a comic book - Spider-Man is one of about 30 titles being offered - without plunking down a cent.

VERO BEACH, Fla. - Jose Canseco was one of the players who knocked the cover off baseball's dirty little steroid secret. Now, he wants to get back into the game he claims has blackballed him since his disturbing revelations helped persuade Major League Baseball to take a stand against performance-enhancing drugs. Canseco showed up yesterday at an open tryout camp at the Los Angeles Dodgers' spring training facility, but he raised more questions than he answered with his eight-hour showcase in front of several Dodgers executives.

Olivia Goldsmith, 54, a best-selling novelist who used humor to lighten her cautionary tales about marital infidelity, corporate corruption and the cosmetic surgery boom, died Thursday in New York City of complications from elective plastic surgery. She was best known for her first novel, The First Wives Club (1992), about three friends whose husbands leave them for younger women. The book was made into a movie released in 1996, starring Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. Ms. Goldsmith captured national attention when the book was sold as a feature film.

NBC's Today show, ABC's Good Morning America and Live With Regis and Kelly all started their own high-profile TV book clubs recently after Oprah killed off hers. But meanwhile hundreds of thousands of people quietly continued doing what they had been doing, Oprah or no Oprah: getting together to talk about books. Reading a good book is fun. But nothing beats reading a good book and then getting into a lively discussion about it. Rachel Jacobsohn, author of The Reading Book Handbook (Hyperion, 1998)

Two-time Newbery Award winner E.L. Konigsburg, 72, entered the working world not as a writer, but as a chemist. "I came from a small town where ... when you did go away to college, you went away to be something - an engineer or a teacher or a chemist," the author says in an interview at the Web site of her publisher, Scholastic. "I never knew anyone who went away to be an artist until I was in college." It would be many years after college before Konigsburg, who also illustrates her books, began her writing career.

An interview with Gayle Bragg, founder of Book Nooks book club. How did your club get started? My daughter was in Stevens Forest preschool, and a lot of the moms and I would get together afterward while the kids were playing on the playground ... and we would talk about everything, including books. ... And [we realized that] we really missed having intelligent conversation with other women that went beyond diapers, etc. Does your club have a structure to it? Did you start with any rules?

An interview with Lorraine Morgan, member of Chat `N' Chew book club. Does your club specialize in a certain kind of book? Our ages in the group range from - the youngest person is probably 37 and the oldest is about 57 ... so it's made for a real wide scope as far as what books people are picking. For a while there, we were picking Oprah's [Book Club] books, and I suddenly thought they were a little whacko. ... They're ultimately about somebody conquering evil or terrible circumstances.

An interview with Mary Margaret Kamerman, founder of First Thursday Book Club. How long has your group been in existence? Ten years. We started in March of '92. I am a voracious reader, and I had one or two close women friends that I met with once a month for brunch, and we'd always end up talking about books, so we decided to start a book club. ... We have nine members now. Is that a comfortable size? Yes, I feel if it were any bigger, everybody would not get a chance to share and discuss.

"I have read the book Beardance by Will Hobbs. I like this book because it is about an adventure about a boy named Cloyd who is part of the Ute Indian nation. Cloyd is in Colorado with a man named Walter searching for a gold mine. This is a cool book. You must read it!" -- Shawn Farrar Golden Ring Middle "A sad book I enjoyed reading was A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith. This book is about a boy named Jamie and his best friend. When they are in their neighbor's back yard, Jamie gets stung by a lot of bees.