These are books. Copies of Toni Morrison’s Beloved
to be precise, but a special edition, specially printed for World Book Night. I have 48 of them, and I was supposed to give them out tonight.
I haven’t quite made it. But then again, I didn’t really have enough of a plan, as my initial ideas just didn’t pan out. I’d kind of hoped there might be some kind of event in town – there were 11 ppl picking up books from the same place as me after all! But that place, a small independent bookshop not only didn’t have an event on, it was shut before 5 this evening, despite the World Book Night display in the window. Which seemed a shame – I would have thought it would be a fabulous excuse for a late night opening – a few nibbles, bit of a do. Not that there’s much room in there tbh, but still, they could have helped coordinate something. I left my contact details to give to other givers, but no one contacted me.
So I was falling back on my initial ideas to walk the streets, try to find ppl who wouldn’t usually get access to books and so on. So this afternoon I went out with a bundle of books, and I had mixed success.
First of all I spotted the parent of someone Big was at Brownies with, so going with an acquaintance, this was a good start. And she’d heard of World Book Night, so she was quite happy. Then I bought a Big Issue and offered a book to the seller. She looked at it slightly suspiciously;
“It is Christian?” she asked.
Um no. It’s just a free book. Read it, if you don’t like it or don’t want it, pass it on. So she took it and I walked away.
I went down to the bottom of town, hoping to drop off a couple in our churches – but churches aren’t open any more. They’re all locked up, with no one to be seen, and nowhere to leave a book for ppl to pick up.
So I walked back up through the town centre, and as I passed the coffee shop a couple of women came out, so I offered them a book. One of them had heard all about it on Graham Norton, and she was absolutely thrilled – I’d made her day. Definitely worth it there.
Gave another one out in the coop, was turned down at the bus stop, and handed one to a woman just walking down a residential road.
And so to this evening. I went down to our local cafe/bar, but the waitress didn’t really understand me I don’t think, and the manager refused permission to hand them out. So I walked past the waitress and handed one direct to the manager, smiled and walked out. And then gave one to the customers on their way in through the door, who seemed very happy.
Popped in to both the local takeaways and gave copies to the staff there. And as I came out of the second, the two town pastors were passing. “Don’t suppose you want to carry a book around all night” I said, and got “I thought that’s what it was!” Another person who’d actually heard of it. He wasn’t quite so convinced by the actual title, but I gave it to him anyway 😉
Finished off by popping in to the local hotel, the place we used to stay when we had two incomes and one child and were visiting relatives. They were very happy to take a handful to hand out to their guests, so at least that’s a few more on their way to good homes.
Tomorrow I’ll pass on the ones promised to relatives, and hopefully drop some off at the community hospital, and a couple of care homes in the town. I’d like to give some to any shelters/ refuges around, but I couldn’t find contact details today. So it’s going to take me a little longer than a day, but I’ll give them all away eventually.
I’d love to hear how other ppl have managed to get on with giving their books away – if you’ve blogged it, will you stick a link in the linky below? Thanks.
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