WBN – I’m a giver

Did you know Monday, April 23rd is World Book Night. On that evening I will be part of an international effort to give away 1,000,000 books. Successfully launched in the UK last year, readers in the United State will spread the joy for the first time this year. I am extremely proud to be part of the effort to celebrate reading by GIVING AWAY FREE books.

Volunteers were offered a list of 30 titles from which to choose. We requested first and second choices, hopefully of titles we had read so we could share our love of a certain title. WBN worked with publishers to produce 1,000,000 specially designed paperbacks which we will give away in every state.

I picked up the box of books my mom is giving out yesterday and will get mine at the library tomorrow night. The paperbacks are terrific looking. On Monday evening, I’ll be standing at the train station convincing commuters that THE KITE RUNNER is one those modern books everyone should read. http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/wbn2012-the-books/the-kite-runner

And, yes, it’s free.

Cover of The Kite Runner

Thanks to upallnightreading for the lovely post on this same topic and for the list of all of this year’s WBN books. http://upallnightreading.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/world-book-night-update/I have read 13 of the 25 books and plan to read a lot more of them. How about you? Which are your favorite.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Wintergirls by Laurie Anderson

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings* by Maya Angelou

Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Little Bee* by Chris Cleve

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Blood Work by Michael Connolly

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Zeitoun* by Dave Eggars

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton

The Kite Runner* by Khaled Hosseini

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

The Stand by Stephen King

The Poisonwood Bible* by Barbara Kingsolver

The History of Love* by Nicole Krauss

The Namesake* by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Bel Canto* by Ann Patchett

My Sister’s Keeper*by Jodi Picoult

Housekeeping* by Marilynne Robinson

Lovely Bones* by Alice Sebold

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks* by Rebecca Skloot

Just Kids by Patti Smith

The Glass Castle* by Jeannette Walls

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

See the list of books and cover art at the WBN website here.

* indicates books I’ve read

I would love to hear from any other book givers out there. Where will you be? How do you plan to give away books?