If you're a book lover and love sharing books you love with others, here's an opportunity for you.
The organizers behind World Book Night, an annual celebration that started in the United Kingdom, are looking for volunteers by Wednesday to join in giving away 1 million books in the U.S. and spreading the love of reading.
The aim is to enlist 50,000 volunteer book givers. Volunteers must be 16 and over, residents of the U.S., able to pick up 20 copies of books from a local bookshop or library, and committed to giving them away on April 23, World Book Night 2012.
This the second year of the event. Volunteers would be giving away titles from among the 30 donated by publishers and authors to the nonprofit Book Night organization. The offerings are impressive, and embrace genres like sci-fi, memoir and mystery. The roster includes acclaimed works like "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz and "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.
Sarah Goddin - general manager at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, which is among the local booksellers that have applied to serve as a pickup location in April - is excited about the event. "It's designed to get people not into books, into reading. It's about sharing the passion for these books."
Goddin has read 18 of the 30 books available for giveaway and says she'd choose to share "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers. "It's the one I feel best about. It's written very simply, which is great for someone who's not a big reader, yet it's very powerful. It's about ordinary people dealing with something extraordinary, so there are complexities."
For more information and to apply before the deadline Wednesday, visit www.us.worldbooknight.org.
