We hope you will check out the full schedule of stops on his tour here. It runs from February 15th to the 26th. You will find a variety of reviews, interviews and more articles from Mr. Richman. It is a fabulous way to learn more about a book and its author.
Now, from Mr. Richman…
It Takes But One Book To Inspire a Love of Reading
Once upon a time, I had a reading problem. Until I reached the sixth grade. I remember telling the story: “When I was sick with the flu, a neighbor and classmate who was an avid reader brought a book to my home. I was surprised since he knew my dislike of reading.
There had been a reading problem(s)—or was it resistance?—since first grade. This was characterized by a short attention span, impatience with having to read several sentences at a time and make sense of them, an inhibition when it came to oral reading and recitation, restlessness and resentment when daydreaming was interrupted. At that time, my own imagination was sufficient.
Confined to the living room sofa for a week, bored (nobody at home most of the time, no television set, a few radio programs in the evening), I opened the hardbound book to the first page and found myself devouring all of The Black Stallion in one day. I was awed by the fact that I had read a whole book in one sitting with complete concentration and satisfaction.”
Returning to school the following week, I read through everything available in the library by Walter Farley. I have not stopped reading since.
And so, when arguments persist that the Henry Potter books are not appropriate for youthful reading, or that reading a book electronically is not good for youngsters, I remember my “discovery” and I’m grateful that kids are reading, somehow, some way, somewhere.
What Henry David Thoreau wrote at Walden Pond still has validity.
“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. That at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered. These same questions that disturb and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men; not one has been omitted; and each has answered them, according to his ability, by his words and his life.”
The Tour
Book Description for Shivers & Signposts:
Shivers & Signposts: The Journey Continues is Len Richman’s second exploration of a life measured out by a distinct rhythm of his own devising. Picking up where his first memoir, Raindrops Glimpses Moments: An Unconventional Memoir of an Unplanned Journey, left off, Richman shows in Shivers & Signposts that he still has much to do, and much to say.
Richman attacks life with uncommon vigour. Never motionless, he moves forwards – and sometimes backwards – suffusing each manoeuvre with unique energy…vitality and constant evolution.
Shivers at the thought of growing old, of becoming stale…occasional alienation and loneliness, Richman, is driven onwards by “a pressing need to redefine and redirect his innermost self”, a self that he continually re-evaluates through the lens of modern technology, literature, theatre and film.
These are the signposts that guide him through his fascinating quest for renewal of spirit and self…Let us hear his decisive commentary on modern social and cultural mores, his unapologetic tackling of issues from racism to materialism to present-day psychoanalysis. Let us listen to the music of Richman’s own Love Song, about the love of a life well-lived – and still well-worth living. Let us be challenged, through Richman’s examination of his own life, to ask of ourselves: How should we presume?
From the “Introduction” by Stuart Lubarsky, M.D.
Buy the book: Amazon Barnes & Noble
Author’s Bio:
Len Richman has a long history with the Thomas More Institute of Montreal: student, course designer/ leader, Board of Directors member, and Chair of the Accreditation Committee.
He holds a teaching certificate from McGill University’s MacDonald College; a B.A. from the University of Montreal (Literature); an M.A. in education from Concordia University (Outdoor Education), and a post-graduate Comprehensive Certificate from TMI (Culture and Identity Studies.)
Travel, work and field background continue in parts of Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, South Pacific, and Canada’s northern communities. An educator in the areas of literature, wilderness/ outdoor pursuits, adult learning programs, international and multi-cultural studies for decades, a “redirection” of interests after 60 resulted in his becoming engaged in the performing arts: acting, directing, producing and writing. He is presently associated with Quebec Drama Federation (QDF), Black Theatre Workshop (BTW), Advisory Board of Pointe Claire Library, English Language Arts Network (ELAN), Quebec Writers’ Federation (QDF), Playwrights’ Guild of Canada (PGC), and Alliance of Canadian Cinéma Télévision & Radio Artists (ACTRA).
Born, bred and residing in and around Montreal (his favourite city next to New York, Prague, Budapest, and Dawson City, Yukon), he and his wife have three sons who have provided almost “free entertainment” with six grandsons and two “bonus” granddaughters from six to twenty-six years of age. He hopes to maintain sharing his wondering and wandering from his previous book, Raindrops Glimpses Moments: An Unconventional Memoir of an Unplanned Journey, to the present Shivers and Signposts: The Journey Continues, and beyond.
Connect with the author: Website
