For my 25,000th tweet, I asked the Twitterverse what I should proclaim. One waggish tweep said “A national holiday?”
Why not? I may not be able to issue a federal edict, but I’ll just declare today — known as le jour de la Bastille in more Gallic quarters — National Read What You Love Day.
Read What You Love Day is all about its self-explanatory title. Stop reading what you think you should read and pick up a book you can’t wait to start.
I want to help, of course. I’ve put together a set of five 2010 books I simply love, and will give them away to a random reader who tells me here which book she’ll choose for this inaugural holiday celebration.
Here are the five books you could receive:
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
The Possessed by Elif Batuman
Ready, set…GO!
UPDATE: 5:07 Eastern time — Random.org selected April Hawkins (Comment #30) as The Winner! April, please email your address to me: thebookmaven at gmail dot com. Congrats! Thanks to everyone who entered…READ WHAT YOU LOVE!
Jennifer Egan’s Visit from the Goon Squad would be my choice; Happy Bastille Day to you too!
Goon Squad
Definitely “The Passage.” I’ve heard all sorts of awesome about it, and I’m going to need something good after finishing up the latest in the “Dexter” series!
P.S. I know you had this planned before I suggested a give-away, but it reduces my EEEEEEE!!! factor not a pinch.
Thanks!
B
Hmm, in honor of this great holiday, I think I’ll set aside the deadline reading and pick up Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon — loved Shadow of the Wind!
I’ve been dying to read Rebecca Skloot’s book. I’ve heard the fascinating story on Radiolab, read the heartbreaking reviews and love the real drama inherent in real science.
Meanwhile, for today, I’m grabbing my copy of Diamond Ruby by Joe Wallace. http://amzn.to/cbw4cl I started it three days ago and it’s just getting better and better. This is a book I love.
I’m going to finally start SAG HARBOR! I’ve had it for some time and Colson Whitehead makes me laugh on Twitter! Can’t resist.
Laura Zigman’s Animal Husbandry. But I’m finishing up Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand first….’cos I’m loving it as well!
I got to see the talented and oh-so-funny Susan Isaacs at a reading at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store in NYC last night, and I can’t wait to read her new book “As Husbands Go”. Anytime a new Susan Isaacs book is published is a national holiday!
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Eagan, definitely. I’ve heard great things about it. What a wonderful holiday! Can tomorrow be turn off the tv and read with your kids day? I don’t have kids of my own, but I know a few who could use more reading, more imagination in their lives. I think that would also be a great holiday. Just a suggestion for the next one.
)
I’ll put down the page proofs of Reading Group Choices 2011 and start reading Tatiana de Rosnay’s new book, A Secret Kept! should be good.
i’ve had an interested relationship with j egan these days. i picked up a months old new yorker that was going to be discarded and read a short story of her’s in it. from then, i haven’t been able to escape her name. a new york times piece, a book review, and now this mention all plopped in eye line within a week. i think it’s meant to be!
Wonderful idea to declare today! I’ve been wanting to read Margaret Atwood’s new book The Year of the Flood, but I didn’t want to spend the money on the hard cover. Forget about the library – one year waiting list! I hoped I’d get it for my birthday, but no. So, I went off coffee a few weeks ago, and I’ve decided that surely I’ve saved enough by now to pay for this book I have been coveting. Thanks for tipping the point.
I celebrate National Read What You Love Day by starting WORD PAINTING: A Guide to Writing More Descriptively, by Rebecca McClanahan, recommended by @buffysquirrel.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bethanne Patrick, Bethanne Patrick, Amy MacKinnon, Cheryl Rainfield, Shelf Awareness and others. Shelf Awareness said: RT @thebookmaven: This is my 25,000th tweet. Happy National Read What You Love Day. Giveaway deets: http://snurl.com/zdbl2 [...]
Wow! Perfect holiday but read what you want should be everyday!
Today I am reading $h!t My Dad Says by Justin Halpren for laughs and giggles and beginning The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.
I finished reading The Passage by Justin Cronin late last night and thought it was wonderful.
Reading is what I do for me!
I would definitely have to choose The Passage. World-threatening viruses are always a good read!
I am picking up The War Lovers by Evan Thomas even though it isn’t on the top of my pile!
Happy National Read What You Love Day!
I will start reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It’s been waiting on my bookshelf for too long and if I keep waiting for the perfect moment to read it I might wait a long time! Thanks for pushing me to pick it up today!
Being a working mum of a baby and toddler I don’t get as much time to read as I would like. So National Read What You Love Day appeals to me more than you know. I do read everyday but I would read all day if I could lol. I can’t wait to start Justin Cronin’s The Passage. I am a huge Vampire and horror fan, so this is right up my street. Can I leave work now to go read it? ……
Alas, I want to read @susanorlean’s gloomy dog book which isn’t half-way finished yet. Now, THAT’S gloomy.
Listened to @RebeccaSkloot’s great Henrietta. Now listening to @MargaretAtwood’s Year of the Flood and Michael Crichton’s Next. So . . . . The Passage sounds like the correct personal answer if this is multiple guess question. If it isn’t, I’m hanging with Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (and will for a while).
Wonderful idea. Would love to spend the day lazing and reading the immortal life of henrietta slacks
A perfect holiday to be celebrated every day! Congrats! Although the list is one great read after another, I’d love to pick up “The Possessed.” I’ve been saving my pennies for done time now in hopes of making a grand Russian literary pilgrimage. I can’t believe I haven’t seen this yet! I’m sure it’ll be added to my list of favorites!!!
I’m sorry, but on the inaugural “Read What You Love Day,” how is anyone turning down a book with the phrase “Goon Squad” in the title? Jennifer Egan all the way.
I should finish Cloud Atlas tonight (sob!), and I think I’ll pick up Mitchell’s Ghostwritten next. I’m in love w/ the way he uses language and don’t quite want to let go. Thank you for this fun holiday!
What a great holiday!!!! I’d take The Possessed, since I’ve already picked up a copy of Goon Squad to take on vacation next week.
A Visit from the Goon Squad, most definitely!
Thanks!
I’d start reading Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I finally got around to reading The Poisonwood Bible, so I’m in the mood for more Kingsolver.
A Visit From the Goon Squad !!
I have Sarah Dessen’s Keeping the Moon checked out. Love her books! Can’t wait to start it. Somehow I missed this one.She’s one of the few whose books I buy-in hardcover no less.
I’m choosing to read Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery – because I’m just aching to escape again into a world filled with imagination.
I would love to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I am a science junkie so this book and all its implications fascinate me! It also took place very close to the area I live in. I LOVE getting your tweets during the day!
What a superb collection of books! I’d begin with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which I’m itching to read and almost bought last weekend. Instead I purchased Diamond Ruby by Joe Wallace, and I’m loving it. (I just need a twenty-eight-hour day so I can get more of it into my schedule.) And the next book I can’t wait to start that’s NOT on the list above? (I’m not sure if you’re looking for us to name books out of the giveaway list or not.) The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.
The Likeness, by Tana French. I just finished Into the Woods, and I can’t wait to get started on the next one. And Faithful Place is already out! Yay!
So I have a book problem. I buy them when I want to hoping to find t he time to read them in the near future… that doesn’t always work. Often I read Book Club books, which i really enjoy, but don’t get to the bookshelves full of unread books in my own home. I’m picking up A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (author of Curios Incident of A Dog in the Night-time) off of my shelf tonight when I get home. Thank you for the encouragement!!
I am reading the Stieg Larsson series for fun. I have Patterson, and I think I’ll read that next. Love the holiday idea.
Matterhorn looks very good to me.
Perfect day for a holiday… If I had to chose anything out of what I already own… It would be a great short read by Patricia Briggs, Steal the Dragon. Doesn’t take me a day to read, but I’ve read in at least a hundred times.
Matterhorn!
I’ve been reading White Noise by Don DeLillo because it’s a library book and therefore has a deadline. Today, in honor of this fabulous national holiday, I think I will read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve heard so many good things about it!
I have a stack of books written by friends and colleagues, all of them deserving to be read. But the one I’m itching to pick up is Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Like the titular dessert, I keep looking at this book as a treat I can only ingest after finishing all these other books. Thank you for giving me permission to eat my dessert first!
I would choose the goon squad, just because I like the title. It’s been a few years since I actually read a real book, I do most of my reading on my iPhone. It would be great to have a real book in my hands again & my eyes would probably appreciate as well!
Must finish “The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo” tonight. Nothing like a good ol’ Sweedish legal-crime thriller to beat the rain (and avoid the work). Happy July 14!
But…but…but….I’m already reading what I want to instead of what I should. Just last week I abandoned my stack of 6 books checked out of the library to finally pick up the copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Larsson) that had been sitting on the table for 2 months. Couldn’t resist any longer. Enjoyed it so much I made a special trip to the store on the weekend to pick up the remaining 2 books of the trilogy. I’m in the middle of Girl Who Played With Fire at the moment, & I’ll definitely spend some time with it today. Meanwhile, my library books sit on the coffee table and stare at me mournfully…no worries, library books, I’ll renew you.
Great give-a-way idea. *eyes The Passage & tries not to feel too competitive*
I have a library copy of The Possessed in my purse right now and it’s fantastic, so I’d have to go with The Passage, since I could never borrow it from the library and finish it. That’d have to be a keeper.
Definitely The Passage by Justin Cronin. I tried to get my hand son it to review but never managed it. Now I’m just looking forward to reading it as a ‘civilian’.
I just read A Visit From the Goon Squad, and this one should definitely be on everyone’s “want to read” list. This book is unlike anything else I’ve read lately, and I couldn’t put it down! Lately, I’ve be itching to re-read Jane Eyre, one of my all time favorites, although any of the books you are giving away also make my list.
Since I am in a car driving to NC from AZ, and I have two bads full of books I need to read because I will be teaching them starting in August, and I have been sitting here with THE PASSAGE in my lap for the last two hours, I am going to continue reading it and NOT feel guilty anymore!
Well, here’s the thing. For me, everyday is Read What You Love day, or maybe more precisely, Read Whatever You Want To day. There are so many millions of books out there that I will never be able to read before I die, so life is too short to read anything I don’t love or don’t particularly want to read!
I have had my eye on Wolf Hall, but it keeps getting pushed onto the tbr stack.
I’ve had Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel on my TBR list forever. I’m hoping to find time to indulge in it sooner rather than later!