An Event: World Book Night U.S.

Today is the big day. To say I'm anxious is an understatement. I believe I'm one of those people that goes over the possibilities of a certain event ad nauseum. So... I'm a little nervous about the whole throwing myself out there to strangers, announcing my conviction that this is going to be THE BOOK that grabs them by the gills. Yeah, all that. I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to place the books on while giving them out, and I'm positive that the sign I made suggests I should stick to reading books. It's the little things. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than thrilled to be participating and know it's going to be so much fun.

I've been on a reading road of destruction this past weekend. In the best way possible. I finished Rules of Civility in a day and a half, and moved on to a door-stopper of a biography of Catherine the Great, breezing through about 150 pages in an afternoon. So hopefully my reading mojo will be written all over my face, and those hands grasping the free copies of The History of Love will know that they need to start reading it as soon as they get home.

I announced a readalong/reread of sorts, but found that most people were just too busy. And I can always identify with that, so I reread and mulled over my favorite excerpts without making a big go of it.

I won't rehash the storyline, but I did want to highlight some of my favorite passages, lines that made me weep and laugh and love the novel from the start.  Hopefully, you'll remember with fondness those that I cite, or will be prompted to pick it up after reading.  Either way, these are my favorites and it's the perfect day to share.

 I want to say somewhere: I've tried to be forgiving. And yet. There were times in my life, whole years, when anger got the better of me. Ugliness turned med inside out. There was a certain satisfaction in bitterness. I courted it. It was standing outside, and I invited it in. I scowled at the world. And the world scowled back. We were locked in a stare of mutual disgust.

Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in a house across the field from a girl who no longer exists. They made up a thousand games. She was Queen and he was King. In the autumn light, her hair shone like a crown. They collected the world in small handfuls. When the sky grew dark they parted with leaves in their hair. 

I tried to write about real things. I wanted to describe the world, because to live in an undescribed world was too lonely. 

I'm looking forward to sharing the experience later in the week and will be on the look out for tales from other givers.  Here's to a happy night of giving!

(Fun fact: I always move a copy of THOL front-and-center when perusing used bookstores. Seriously, people need to know about it.)

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