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!
Great idea! I’m choosing “Girl in Translation.” I bought it a couple months ago but I haven’t started it yet because the time I have to read is usually spent on a book club selection rather than personal enjoyment.
I’ve got THE HELP waiting for me in the stack on my bedside table. Waiting patiently for me to finish Christopher Hitchens’ memoir HITCH-22. I’m going to be a rebel and read both AT THE SAME TIME.
In honor of this holiday I’m going to spend my break at the bookshop where I work in the children’s section, reading one of Raina Telemeiger’s graphic novel versions of the Babysitter’s Club. I want to find out the truth about Stacy!
I will be breaking out the Ray Bradbury short story collections.
I love this holiday! I will be reading ICE COLD by Tess Gerritsen and LUCY by Laurence Gonzales.
Okay, I think this is a FABULOUS idea. Call Congress peeps.
Also I will be celebrating by reading GONE by Michael Grant.
I’m starting Going Bovine by Libba Bray today. Just a few more day-job details to resolve and then it’s Read-a-Palooza time.
I read what I love all the time, so maybe I don’t qualify. But just in case, I will crack open my favorite “Krazy and Ignatz: The Komplete Kat Komics” when I get home.
The minute it comes out, I’m getting Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
What I’d love to start right now is This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff.
Reading – To Kill a Mockingbird. Well, rereading it that is, but I don’t remember it much.
I am reading MOBY DICK for the first time and really loving it. Sometimes classics are better when you’re older and can appreciate it (and know the ancestor of the person the story is based on).
Definitely The Great Gatsby…I can read it every year and get something new from it and still love it after decades of re-reading.
Wooo! This is cool, and I’m sad I missed it, but what a great idea. I’m currently reading exactly what I want to–The Passage–and I love it!