Guys Lit Wire Book Fair

Every year the Guys Lit Wire blog holds a book fair, rallying the online literary community to donate books to a deserving library. I've participated the past 3 years, sending books to an LA County Detention Center, a day school on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, and this year, to a deserving high school in Washington, D.C.



Honestly, the library I work in has about the same number of books...but that's a different story. For a high school library it's pretty meager. The school I went to had fewer students, but more books than this.

SO! If you're interested in helping out, check out this link right here for all the details. Donations will be purchased from Powells (I would fly all the way to Portland just to visit this bookstore, seriously), and mailed directly to the library. Personal donations could possibly be accepted, but you will need to contact the librarian directly.

But check out the wishlist! A really great selection to pick from. I went with Kindred by Octavia Butler, The Bell Jar, and Jane Eyre (big surprise).

Kindred is the only book I haven't talked about on here. It was the first novel I read by Octavia Butler, and it's really something else. Perfect YA read. Not quite science fiction, but more like speculative fiction. Like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Basically if you've ever sat around and thought "I wonder what would happen if I were thrust back into a place/time where my particular race/sex/sexuality/religion/what-have-you would cause me to be discriminated against/enslaved/killed/yada-yada?", then this book would be right up your alley. I chose it for the book fair since it has a strong female lead, discusses complicated race issues intelligently, and overall is just an incredibly interesting book.

Here's Octavia Butler, being all awesome.

Give generously! The children are our future! Etc!