This happens today! World Book Night 2014. We celebrate our love of reading by giving books to folks who might have a hard time accessing them. Authors waive their royalties for books given away this day, and publishers make it happen.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that World Book Night happens so close to Earth Day. Books – and all art forms – help us see the beauty in our world.
In my town, over two dozen people will gather to give books. Worldwide, the number of givers will be in the thousands. I’m giving Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. You can see all the 2014 books here.
And here, if your cheaters are high-powered enough.
I’ll leave you with a favorite quote from Tales of the City:
“If you’re going to be degenerate, you might as well be a lady about it. Don’t you think?”
Elizabeth Fountain, Author 
That’s awesome. I heard about this last year, but I haven’t done it. I would love to know how it went. 🙂
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It’s been a blast so far, Sonya. We do it as a group here, organized by one of the wonderful librarians at the university. This morning we were at a local senior center, and had great conversations with the folks there as they picked their books. Then we went to an alternative high school classroom and talked to the kids, and they scarfed up the free books! One more session tonight in our historic downtown – if we have any books left!
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I vaguely remember a show on PBS called “Tales of the City,” but I only saw the previews. I just remember a pretty redhead, that’s all. 😦
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That’s the one! Mary Anne Singleton is the name of that main character. She was played by Laura Linney, I think. This morning at our senior center during a lull, I started re-reading this book. It is hilarious. I’m going to have to check it out of the library and read it again – and the whole series.
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