Dutch reading campaign

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch libraries are giving away 575,000 copies of a 1973 bestseller in the hope of turning the nation into one big book group and getting more people to read long-term.

As part of a national reading campaign from Friday until mid-November, library members can pick up a free copy of "Dubbelspel" ("Double Play") by Frank Martinus Arion, the library association said.

The libraries are giving away free copies of just one title -- enough for one in 30 citizens -- so that as many readers as possible can discuss the book, inspired by the success of similar "One Book" projects in U.S. and European cities, where books became the talk of the town, campaign organizers said.

"Dubbelspel," first published to rave reviews in 1973, tells a story of four men on the island of Curacao, a Dutch dependency in the southern part of the Caribbean where the author was born.

"It's a novel you can read on several layers: an exciting and moving tale about friendship and betrayal, a political allegory and also as an atmospheric picture of the Netherlands Antilles in the 1970s," organizers said on their Web site.