Tag Archives: giving books

Give the gift of reading

This holiday season, consider donating books you've read to the Little Free Library in your neighborhood.

This holiday season, consider donating books you’ve read to the Little Free Library in your neighborhood.

There are many ways to share the gift of reading with friends you know and even folks you might not ever meet. Giving books is always a good idea. Donating books you’ve read but don’t have room for is another way.

Where to donate? How about a local Little Free Library. It’s based on the idea or bring a book, take a book. Bring something you want to share and if you see something you like, borrow it to read.

This exchange idea is what keeps these free little libraries going. In my neighborhood, there have even been folks from outside the neighborhood who have donated books, people who will probably never make it by to borrow one, but still want to see this Little Free Library remain open and available to those who can use it.

Give the gift of reading this holiday season. Donate a book or two to your local Little Free Library, especially children and young adult books. Start them early on the adventure of reading.

Thank you to all those who have helped to keep the Little Free Library in my neighborhood going.

Thank you to all those who have helped to keep the Little Free Library in my neighborhood going.

1 Comment

Filed under 2015, books

Writing tip Wednesday: “Giving books”

Giving the gift of writing takes on many forms.

Giving the gift of writing takes on many forms.

Wait, you may say. How is giving books a writing tip? you may ask.

Answer: You can’t take the reading side of the relationship between writer and reader for granted. You have to help “grow the market,” as it is called in marketing-speak today. With all the options available to occupy people’s dwindling free time, you can’t assume books are the first thing somebody thinks of. In short, if you want people to read your work, you have to help make sure they are reading.

Below is the opening of an article by Alanna Okun. The title of the article is “Books to Give as Gifts for Every Occasion.” You may not agree with all the selections made in the article, and that’s okay. I didn’t. But if you aren’t giving books as gifts, how can you expect others to give yours as a gift?

GRADUATION

The Elements of Style, by Strunk & White

Bonus points if it’s the version of this classic that’s illustrated by the luminous Maira Kalman; that’ll make it feel more like a keepsake and less like a standard-issue textbook (albeit a wonderful one) on the first day of sophomore English Lit.

This Is Water, by David Foster Wallace

This legendary speech was given by the late David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College and contains the kind of simple yet staggeringly important advice that any high school/college/grad school student/actually human, in general, would benefit from thinking about for at least a few minutes.

“It is,” the speech ends, “about simple awareness — awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: ‘This is water, this is water.’”

For illustrations and more suggestions, go to http://www.buzzfeed.com/alannaokun/books-to-give-as-gifts-for-every-occasion

2 Comments

Filed under Writing Tip Wednesday