World Book Night 2014: Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim

This year I applied to be a World Book Night Giver a wee bit late, like the last day...after they extended the deadline date and I just figured that I wouldn't get it. But, yesterday I received the loveliest of emails. Seriously, no matter how many times I get to do this I will always feel excited by these words:

Dear Stephanie,

Congratulations! You will be a 2014 World Book Night giver.

The book I get the pleasure of giving is Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim.

From this review:

"Same Difference is the story of Korean-American 20-something slackers in San Francisco who wrestle with the stereotypes and ambitions that they feel guide their lives. It has the feel of vintage Douglas Coupland, a drifting ennui shot through with moments of human warmth and connection. And though it's a quick read, it leaves a lasting emotional coal smouldering in its wake."

I can't wait to sell the idea of reading this book to the world!!!

World Book Night 2013

Hoorah! I have again been chosen to share books with the world via World Book Night! I am so excited that I am bursting with 'fresh fruit flavor' for realz.

Just in case you don't know here's a little bit about WBN from the website:

World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person.  Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and non-readers.  In 2012, World Book Night was celebrated in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, and Germany. 

World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don’t regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: It’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—through the sharing of stories.  

World Book Night is a nonprofit organization. We exist because of the support of thousands of book givers, booksellers, librarians, and financial supporters who believe in our mission.  Successfully launched in the U.K. in 2011, World Book Night was first celebrated in the U.S. in 2012. Thank you to our U.K. friends for such a wonderful idea! 

Thank you for visiting us! We hope you explore our site to learn more about World Book Night, keep updated on new developments, support our organization, and apply to be a World Book Night U.S. book giver!

Here's a little bit about the book I get to share from BN:

The Tender Bar: A Memoir

"J.R. Moehringer grew up captivated by a voice. It was the voice of his father, a New York City disc jockey who vanished before J.R. spoke his first word. Sitting on the stoop, pressing an ear to the radio, J.R. would strain to hear in that plummy baritone the secrets of masculinity and identity. Though J.R.'s mother was his world, his rock, he craved something more, something faintly and hauntingly audible only in The Voice." "At eight years old, suddenly unable to find The Voice on the radio, J.R. turned in desperation to the bar on the corner, where he found a rousing chorus of new voices. Cops and poets, bookies and soldiers, movie stars and stumblebums, all sorts of men gathered in the bar to tell their stories and forget their cares. The alphas along the bar - including J.R.'s Uncle Charlie, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike; Colt, a Yogi-Bear sound-alike; and Joey D, a softhearted brawler - took J.R. to the beach, to ballgames, and ultimately into their circle. They taught J.R., tended him, and provided a kind of fatherhood-by-committee." Torn between the stirring example of his mother and the lurid romance of the bar, J.R. tried to forge a self somewhere in the center. But when it was time for J.R. to leave home, the bar became an increasingly seductive sanctuary, a place to return and regroup during his picaresque journeys - from his grandfather's tumbledown house to the hallowed towers and spires of Yale; from his absurd stint selling housewares at Lord & Taylor to his dream job at the New York Times, which became a nightmare when he found himself a faulty cog in a vast machine. Time and again the bar offered shelter from failure, rejection, heartbreak - and eventually from reality."

Listen at NPR

And, here are links to my ecstatic posts from 2012:
World Book Night...yes, please!
Who's A WBN Giver? It's Me!
World Book Night April 23rd, 2012

World Book Night April 23rd, 2012

World Book Night 2012

Yes, my friends, 20 copies of
The Lovely Bones to give to 20 wonderful people...mostly deserving students.

This is my student-teacher. She is uber excited!
She, too, received 20 books to give away. Small world, right!?

Me with a copy of the book.
I'm wearing our English Department t-shirt in pink.
"Don't You Ever Interrupt Me While I'm Reading A Book!"

I gave one book to the waitress at Ts Redneck Steakhouse.

It was fun giving books away to my students, strangers, neighbors, one family member (a niece who never reads!) and than eating a lovely dinner with friends. My two year old, Lila Jane, and I want to do it again next year!!!

There were five of us total in my town of 10,000+, who gave away books that evening. That's 100 books passed out to people we felt needed some word nourishment!

Here's a list of the books each of us received
The Lovely Bones
Because of Winn Dixie
The Poisonwood Bible
Little Bee
Peace Like A River

For more information
Go to World Book Night 2012
On Tumblr
On Twitter @wbnamerica

Six Word Saturday #32

My life in six words
Who's a WBN giver? It's Me!

About World Book Night (WBN)

What is World Book Night?

World Book Night is an annual celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books. To be held in the U.S. as well as the U.K. and Ireland on April 23, 2012. It will see tens of thousands of people go out into their communities to spread the joy and love of reading by giving out free World Book Night paperbacks.

World Book Night, through social media and traditional publicity, will also promote the value of reading, of printed books, and of bookstores and libraries to everyone year-round.

Successfully launched in the U.K. in 2011, World Book Night will also be celebrated in the U.S. in 2012, with news of more countries to come in future years. Please join our mailing list for regular World Book Night U.S. news. And thank you to our U.K. friends for such a wonderful idea!

Additionally, April 23 is UNESCO’s World Book Day, chosen due to the anniversary of Cervantes’ death, as well as Shakespeare’s birth and death.

If this sounds interesting or you want to learn more go here for US, here for UK and Ireland

I'm soooo excited!!!

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. The full list and linky can be found here. And, here's where I found it.

World Book Night...Yes, Please!

So, last year I spent a good two months being jealous of all the UK blogs I follow and read as they participated in World Book Night...this year the US is participating and I have sent in my application!!! Yippers!!!

What is World Book Night?
From the website:

World Book Night is a charity dedicated to the promotion of literacy and the celebration, sharing and enjoyment of reading amongst teenagers and adults. The first World Book Night was held in the UK in 2011. In 2012 World Book Night will be celebrated in the USA as well as the UK and Ireland on April 23 and will see tens of thousands of givers share the joy and love of reading with millions of non or light readers.

To find out more about WBN please visit our 'About World Book Night' page

If you are chosen, you are given 20 copies of the book you selected to pass out to the audience you selected. Books in the hands of those who wouldn't, for myriad reasons, have one otherwise. It sounds pretty darned amazing!!! 


What are the books?
There are 30 books to choose from and they can be found here.
The three books I chose (you'll be asked to choose 3 when you sign up) are in order:

1] The Hunger Games
2] The Lovely Bones
3] Kindred

If you want to sign up, and you know you want to, click here.