elizabeth before we came up here this is one of the first books -- i do this every year here at the litfest. this is the first time i'd actually read the book before they assigned me to interview the author. i was an eager -- an eager reader of this book when it first came out as a lot of people in illinois have been because the story of our governor is a fascinating and ever-changing story with so many different dimensions. i will ask elizabeth some questions. we'll have a conversation here for a short time and then i'd like some of you to come up and take the microphone about halfway through and i'd like to hear your questions as well. the first thing i want to talk about -- i want to start this conversation with something that's been in the news in the past week and that is patti blagojevich, the ex-governor's wife is now on a reality tv show called "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here." i don't know -- have anybody been watching that besides me? this is a very highbrow crowd. i have not missed a minute of it. [laughter] >> and i wanted to know, elizabeth, have you been watching it and w

. >> today on in depth, bill ayers joins book tv for a live three-hour interview at the litfest. we'll take your calls at noon eastern. ♪ >> this summer, book tv is asking, what are you reading? >> congressman culberson, what are you reading this summer? >> i always have two or three books going at the same time. one person who i always read on a regular basis is my hero, thomas jefferson's writings. frankly, a day doesn't go by that i don't read something that he's written. i'll continue to work my way through his letters in particular. mr. jefferson wrote so much that although i've probably spent the last -- my gosh, almost 30 years reading through his works i've only made it maybe about halfway through. so i'll continue to work on reading thomas jefferson's letters. i've always had a particular fascination with history so i'll continue to read works by a number of different authors, one i'm working through right now is james mcpherson's book on lincoln's role as commander in chief during the civil war, which i have found particularly relevant to the debate going on today with

. >> today on in depth bill ayers joins book tv for a three-hour interview at the litfest. we begin to take your calls at noon eastern. >> marsha blackburn of tennessee talks about her book, "life equity." she provides advice on how women can realize their full potential and take advantage of the opportunities available to them in the u.s. the event hosted by the heritage foundation in washington, d.c., is about an hour. >> so we're just delighted to have you here today. we have an outstanding program for you because we have a star from the congress of the united states of america. and that's always a terrific opportunity for us. my name is becky norton dunlap. i'm the vice president here at the heritage foundation and it's just a delight to have you here at the heritage foundation. our speaker today is united states congressman who's also a congresswoman, she's a woman who's a congressman, marsha blackburn and she has written this fantastic book which we want everybody to know about and we are offering today for sale after our event. but congresswoman, congressman -- how d

this is part of the printers row litfest. it's about 45 minutes.

the "chicago tribune" printer row litfest. >> for a complete schedule of this weekend's programs and times, go online to booktv.org. >> our party needs, obviously, a lot of work. >> sunday, on c-span's q & a. indiana republican governor mitch daniels on revitaling the gop. >> it needs to look inwardly and think about how it can speak more meaningfully to the problems of today and to the -- and to the americans of today, to the young people of the day specifically. maybe i can be a little part of that. you don't have to be a candidate to do that. >> q & a with governor mitch daniels sunday night on c-span. also on xm radio or download the c-span podcast. >> how is c-span funded? >> private donations. >> taxpayers? >> i don't really know. >> from public television. >> donations. >> i don't know where the money comes from. >> federally. >> contributions from donors. >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative, no government mandate, no government money. >> now margaret hamberg the head of the food and