Monday, April 23, 2012

World Book Night 2012 in Texas

World Book Night 2012 is being celebrated today with some 500,000 books to be handed out to readers across the U.S. (another 2 million books are being shared with readers in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany).  I was one of the 25,000 U.S. "Givers" - and I have found a perfect home for all but four of my copies of A Prayer for Owen Meany.  The remaining four copies will be shared with a few reluctant readers I know at the office because I figure if this John Irving masterpiece can't convert them into regular readers it will never happen for them.

The picture below is of some of the book recipients at The Conservatory, a Senior Living complex located near my home; this has, in fact, been my father's home for the last two years.  These ladies, plus George, showed up to talk books and grab their copy of Owen Meany.  They were also kind enough to pick up copies for four book club members who did not make it to the giveaway (there's a lot going on at The Conservatory, sometimes causing conflicts).  As always, click on the pictures in order to see larger images.



This one is a shot of the main entrance to The Conservatory.


And this is a shot of the loot I started with this afternoon - thanks to Barnes & Noble's (Champions)  flawlessly organized pick-up WBN books for a number of us.  Special thanks, also, to Tessie Carter, Lifestyle Director, for helping coordinate everything for me.

I love the idea of World Book Night and hope that arrangements can be made to give away a full million books next year.  After all, the U.K. has only 20% of the population of the U.S. but managed to produce and give away that many.  This was all great fun but the best part was my "book chat" with the ladies...maybe, they will make me an honorary resident.

8 comments:

  1. Sam,
    I gave out Zeitoun at the Feed&Grain Elevator where I work. I loved doing this. Had so much fun. I was a bit surprised how many people were reluctant to take it.
    All in all, a wonderful experience!

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  2. Hey Sam, glad you enjoyed WBN. Owen Meany is one of my favourite books. I was a giver here in the UK for the 2nd year and my book was The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.Its great being able to share titles that we got so much out of too. I hope this event continues for many years.

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  3. Kayo, I was a little surprised at the relatively light turnout I had at The Conservatory but I gave away the remaining five books this morning to a few coworkers who were thrilled to get them. None of them knew about World Book Night beforehand, so the media seem to have let us down a bit on getting out the word.

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  4. Leah, I hope it does go on for a long time. BTW, The Book Thief was my second choice for a giveaway book, so we must have very similar reading tastes.

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  5. Sam,
    How long were you at The Conservatory?
    It took me 8 hours basically to give them all away. Of course, I had to work as well. lol

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  6. Kayo, I was at The Conservatory for a little under one hour, and most of that was spent discussing several books I had in common with the ladies. I did give them some details on World Book Night, but that only took about 15 minutes. I'm looking forward to discussing A Prayer for Owen Meany with some of them later on.

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  7. Participating in World Book Night is on my bucket list. I love the idea of giving a random stranger the gift of a book.

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  8. It's definitely worth doing, Kathleen. I'm looking forward to next year's giveaway already.

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I always love hearing from you guys...that's what keeps me book-blogging. Thanks for stopping by.