so a true story about his experiences that earned him a medal of honor so i gave that to him and paul ryan's book, he wrote this biography/political book about growing up in janesville, becoming vice presidential nominee. this was before being speaker of the house. that helps get a sense of what makes us republican, how this place works, the frustrations of extremism. when i read something i really like, this will be good for the staff but it is particularly important. >> booktv wants to know what you are reading, send us your summer reading list via twitter@booktv

or instagram@booktv or post it to our facebook page facebook.com/booktv. booktv on c-span2, television for serious readers. >> carla hayden, give us a preview of the national book festival. >> this year's festival is so exciting and it will be one of my favorites because i am a big nonfiction fan. the type of father we are going to have from david mccullough to jd vance whose book is on every reading list you can imagine and every book club it is an exciting time. i am thrilled. >> host: how many authors do you invite? >> guest: oh my goodness. when you about a 1-day festival, the national book festival and you have over 100 authors from children's authors, illustrators, graphic novelists,

all of these different authors all day, over 100,000 people come in and celebrate books and reading, you can't have a better time. i am a little prejudiced because i'm a librarian but any reader or anybody's at once to get inspired, the book festival is the perfect place. >> the 17th your of the book festival, your second, your first, your second. >> it is my second. i was sworn in and one of the first things i had to do was be at the national book festival last year and it was so inspiring. this year we have even more activities for young people in particular, and we are going to have things you know about. we are going to be having live from our main stage nonfiction

others like david mccullough. >> host: tom friedman, condoleezza rice, michael lewis. >> guest: whose books have been made into popular movies and i think that is something people should think about too when they read a nonfiction book. who is going to be in the movie, especially jd vance's book? >> host: what do you spend your day doing? are you a tourist? >> guest: i am going to be opening up the book festival and that will be something because people will be lined up and it is going to be great and i will be introducing some authors participating in some workshops and then there is a poetry slam and i get to be a judge and that is really cool. i will be all around and just soaking it all in and getting a

sense of how much people enjoy it because it is palpable. >> host: the national book festival, is the creation of the library of congress? >> it is a partnership and it started in a wonderful way, first lady laura bush who you may know is a librarian started texas book festival when she was first lady in texas and when she became first lady of the nation she approached the library of congress and other literacy partners to start a national book festival and it has been going ever since. >> host: does she have any involvement at this point? >> guest: what we talk about is their legacy and the fact that it started with doctor billington, the 13th slugger in congress, i am 14, and laura bush, first lady at the time. it emphasizes the prominence of the joy of reading and promoting reading.

it actually was on the mall, it was outside. there were some concerns, if it gets rained out there you are so it has moved to the convention center in washington dc so you don't have to worry about rain. it is bigger. there are all kinds of venues. it still has that mall feel. you walk around and there are all types of things, you can buy the books and have your books autographed by the authors and that is a thrill. >> host: when does planning for the start? >> guest: it starts as soon as one festival is over, literally within a week, we are assessing what happened, what worked, what didn't work, what we are going to do and improve and start working on it right away. >> host: you have direct involvement? do you get updated? >> i have to tell you, i have

more involvement probably than you might think, because this is the essence of what we are about at the library of congress and so being involved, making sure we have a balance, types of authors and programming, i get my hand in there. >> host: booktv will be live at the main stage and the history and biography 10 doing call ins. >> that is what is so wonderful, to have a call ins people can participate in. everybody can't make it physically in washington dc but to be able to view and participate with authors live while it is happening. that adds so much and gives everybody that experience and they feel part of it. >> host: what are the pro-plaps and cons? >> last days of summer before

school is kicking in some schools start before labor day, i am old enough, you might be, when everybody went to school, that last weekend, to have books and reading and that type of activity, something you can do that saturday of labor day weekend, when you are having your cookout or school supplies, all of that is a great way to get the mind working again but in a fun way. >> host: who are the partners for the library of congress? >> the library of congress, one partner, a person who has been so supportive over the years is mister rubenstein, he has been a major supporter of this effort. when we look at the literacy groups and other groups that are part of it including c-span, it adds to what we can have.

>> host: have you thought of doing two things? >> guest: we thought about it and we are wondering if we can do it. we are finding having one day especially now with live capacity so people don't miss out, it might be good to think about having it in this concentrated day, it is a festival, so people have been asking, we will look into it. >> host: is a costly undertaking? >> guest: i mentioned mister rubenstein and he has been one of the major funders of the festival and that has helped quite a bit and it helps with being able to provide a lot of the support. there is a lot of staff involved. people will see folks with t-shirts and head phones and making sure everything is okay and being able to make sure we

have the security that we really have all the things you need. >> host: carla hayden, have states approached you about the national book festival wanting to create their own? >> yes. i am attending the mississippi book festival and i understand it is the third year the state of mississippi is having its book festival and other states, texas is one of the first. wisconsin also. we are trying to make sure we reach out as library of congress and support that. >> host: booktv will be live at the 17th annual national book festival in washington dc convention center saturday, labor day weekend. we will be live with other events and call ins, full schedules available at

booktv.org. >> booktv visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what they are reading this summer and here's a look at the books arizona senator john mccain is reading. first unless german novelist's all quiet on the western front. next pulitzer prize-winning historian james mcpherson's analysis of the civil war, battle cry of freedom followed by the late journalist david halverson's accounts of how america became involved in the vietnam war in the best and the brightest. earnest anyway's novel for whom the bell tolls is on the list as well as ingush poet robert graves's autobiography, goodbye to all that. arizona senator mccain's reading list continues with the pulitzer prize-winning recount of the first month of world war i in the guns of august. ..

washington bureau chief for real clear politics, his book on this date provides a history of the united states through 365 events. one for each day of the calendar year. >> how did you end up choosing -- >> i know these guys.