First, Happy World Book Night! If you see book lovers wandering about handing out books, do not fear! They are giving away 20 books that mean something special to them, and they want to share it with you! I'm very excited/honored to hand out The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (lucky the WBN folks are considerate and will allow me to hand my books out when I get back from this trip. Atwood is a fantastic author. This was the first dystopian novel that I've read. I read it in my third year of college, in a class that was both listed in Literature and Women's Studies. I don't recall the reactions of my classmates, but I do know this book shook me. My grade school education existed in the halls of private Christian schools. When I moved onto a non-religious college, I was a bit sheltered. There was so much that I didn't understand of the world. Let's just say, I would not be friends with my college freshman self. I began to reject my upbringing and jumped at any opportunity for reading material that would help open my mind. Enter The Handmaid's Tale, this novel was decades before its time. The book is set in a very strict dystopian future, where women's rights are completely stripped from them. I applied to distribute this book because the timing seems so right after the craziness of the last election. Specifically regarding: Planned Parenthood, "legitimate rape," the ability for women to have birth control covered by their insurance, etc. This book is so important to me, and I hope that whomever receives my copies will allow this book to have a lasting effect on them.
Second, it's pub day for David Sedaris's latests book Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, I'm so excited to have my copy! I had to catch transit to the local mall to pick up this copy. I got there so early that they books were still on the shelving cart. I'm just glad that I didn't have to beat up an old lady to get to this Mostly because I would beat up an old lady to get a copy.
