A few months ago, I told you all that I had been tapped to be a Book Giver for the first U.S. celebration of World Book Night.  I picked Bel Canto as my book to give away and started to get excited.  I love Bel Canto, I love books in general, and I love sharing my love of reading with anyone who will listen.

World Book Night came around on April 23rd and my situation was less than ideal.  I was leaving that morning for a business trip, so my choices were: lug the box o’ books on the plane and give them away when I reached my destination, or go to the airport early and give them away before clearing security.  I chose option 2, because I didn’t want to check a bag, tote a heavy box with me halfway across the country and cut into time I really needed to work once I reached my destination.  I was bummed that I couldn’t give my books away at the metro stop near my office as I had originally intended, but I figured I’d get rid of them quickly.  After all, everyone needs reading material for the plane, right?

Man, was I in for a surprise.  Actually, make that several surprises.

Surprise #1 – It took me 45 minutes to give away 20 books.  Granted, my location wasn’t ideal.  I chose to stand in the Metro stop that lets off into the airport – I was pretty sure it would be okay to stand in the airport itself, but I wasn’t 100% positive that I didn’t need a permit of some kind.  Rather than potentially getting myself into a sticky situation with the airports authority, I decided to stay where I was certain I had every right to be – in the Metro.  And yeah, it wasn’t the busiest Metro stop by far.  But I really expected that I’d get rid of those books early.  Nope… I started checking my clock and trying to figure out where in my stuffed luggage I could stash the extra books if I needed to call it off and head for my plane.

Surprise #2 – Hardly ANYONE took books.  One person declined because they already had a copy of Bel Canto, and that I get.  As a matter of fact, I have a copy of Bel Canto myself, so I may not have taken the book either.  (Or actually, to be honest, I probably would, and then given it away.  I can rattle off five family members who would love the book.)  But plenty of people brushed me off, mumbling “No, thanks” or just shaking their heads as they hurried away from me.  The most insulting?  That’d be the people who said “I would, but I don’t have room in my luggage,” while toting a less-than-half-full bag.  C’mon people.  I might be weird enough to stand in a Metro station trying to convince strangers to take free books from me, but I’m neither blind nor stupid.

Surprise #3 – I was NOT prepared for the unwelcome reception I got.  Oh, there were a few friendly people.  Some people were genuinely excited to get a free book.  Some appeared bemused at an eccentric with a suitcase shouting things like “Happy World Book Night!  I’m celebrating by giving away FREE copies of Bel Canto!  F-R-E-EEEEEEEE!”  A few tried to skate by me and appear as though they hadn’t seen/heard me (a strategy I’ll admit I’ve employed when confronted with someone taking a survey or collecting for a political candidate on the DC streets… but then, no one’s ever tried to give me a book).  But a sizable chunk of the people I encountered looked at me with expressions of complete disgust, as if I was something smelly they’d scraped off their shoe.  I would never have expected glares – unfriendly, bordering on hostile – for the simple act of trying to give people a free book.  I mean… WOW.  Really, people?  I’m trying to give you something free.  No strings attached.  Just a wonderful book that you can HAVE for NOTHING.  I mean, sheesh.

Despite the less-than-friendly response I got from a lot of people… would I sign up for World Book Night again?  Yep, absolutely.

If anything, those people convinced me how important it is to spread the love of reading far and wide.  During the book-giving ordeal, I emailed hubby that I would never have thought it would be this hard to GIVE SOMEONE A FREE BOOK.  Why weren’t more people excited?  Why weren’t they taking my books?  I mean, don’t people WANT to read a great book?

People who love books need to spread the word.  Books can’t die.  They can’t.  We need to spread the word to people who’d rather zone out in front of a screen… or who think they don’t have time to read.  We need to be book evangelists.  Tell people that books will enrich their lives in indescribable ways.  They’ll open up entire new worlds.  There’s nothing like the feeling of falling deep into a well-spun story and just losing yourself.  I want everyone to know that joy.  World Book Night is a good start, and I do try to spread the word via my blog (but I do realize that the people who find their way here tend to be readers already).  But I want to figure out other ways to get the word out there.  Because if I learned anything from my #WBNAmerica experience, it’s that the word isn’t really out yet.

I’ll conclude on a hopeful note.  I really believe that someone who would never have picked up a book like Bel Canto might have decided to read it because of me.  And I hope that Bel Canto leads them to pick up another book by Ann Patchett.  (Like Run, which I also loved.)  And then maybe explore some other authors.  And… maybe, just maybe… become “a reader.”  And I was the catalyst.  I have no way of knowing if that will ever happen, because I can’t follow these books.  But I gave 20 of them away, and I hope that at least one had that effect.

Did you participate in World Book Night?  What did you learn from the experience?