Back in April I got a little obsessed with ‘official reading celebrations’: National Library Week, Poetry Month, Drop Everything and Read Day, Support Teen Literature Day. There’s something about having a sanctioned celebration around books that is so appealing, probably just because I get an excuse to go to the library!
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A few years ago, Amanda Leyon-Lesage, a young, hip librarian in Madison, Wisconsin, inadvertently started her own book celebration by commenting on Facebook that she wished she could take a whole day off and do nothing but read. It struck a cord in cyberspace and she started getting replies from people everywhere who agreed and were ready to set a date. So she did. The first “Do Nothing But Read Day” or DNBRD (not the catchiest acronym) took place on December 20, 2009.
On her blog the following March, Amanda wrote, “when I started Do Nothing But Read Day, I intended for it to be a fun, casual thing that would maybe involve ten people. I thought, ‘If ten people sign up, I’ll be psyched!’ I was more than psyched because it became HUGE. My tiny idea turned into a blog, which turned into a radio program, which turned into a website.” She goes on to explain how her tiny idea changed and expanded her life in more ways than she could have imagined.
Last year, Amanda scheduled two days for exclusive reading, one in the summer and winter. This year, lucky for us next DNBRD is scheduled for August 6 - next weekend!
Legere est amare is on DNBRD’s official crest, check it out on the website, it was designed by Brandon Werner, and means ‘to read is to love’.
Amanda’s last post on Facebook was a little mysterious. On April 25th she wrote, “DNBRD is changing a little bit this year: it's more of an effort to read everyday than one full day devoted to reading. I'm going to change the character of the posts on the site to reflect this. But feel free to organize your own DNBRDs!! :D
interesting....I’m staying tuned to see what pops up on August 7th.
With the exception of being sick, which doesn’t really count because most of the time is spent sleeping, the last time I remember spending a day reading was when my family rented a cottage on the coast of Maine when I was about 11. My brother and I slept up in the coziest loft, right under the eaves of the roof on old metal camp beds. I remember balancing my stack of books while I climbed up a teeny tiny set of stairs and piling them next to my bed. One morning we woke up to one of those gray, drizzly days when you can’t believe how cold it can be in Maine in August. My parents wisely decided that spending the day reading would be, by far, the best course of action. I remember going back up to bed and not having a single, solitary care in the world except what was going to happen on the next page.
I know a do-nothing-but-read-day is not anywhere on my current calendar but now that it has been retrieved from my memory, I can, at least, add it to my list of long term goals. Thanks Amanda!
.
A few years ago, Amanda Leyon-Lesage, a young, hip librarian in Madison, Wisconsin, inadvertently started her own book celebration by commenting on Facebook that she wished she could take a whole day off and do nothing but read. It struck a cord in cyberspace and she started getting replies from people everywhere who agreed and were ready to set a date. So she did. The first “Do Nothing But Read Day” or DNBRD (not the catchiest acronym) took place on December 20, 2009.
On her blog the following March, Amanda wrote, “when I started Do Nothing But Read Day, I intended for it to be a fun, casual thing that would maybe involve ten people. I thought, ‘If ten people sign up, I’ll be psyched!’ I was more than psyched because it became HUGE. My tiny idea turned into a blog, which turned into a radio program, which turned into a website.” She goes on to explain how her tiny idea changed and expanded her life in more ways than she could have imagined.
Last year, Amanda scheduled two days for exclusive reading, one in the summer and winter. This year, lucky for us next DNBRD is scheduled for August 6 - next weekend!
Legere est amare is on DNBRD’s official crest, check it out on the website, it was designed by Brandon Werner, and means ‘to read is to love’.
Amanda’s last post on Facebook was a little mysterious. On April 25th she wrote, “DNBRD is changing a little bit this year: it's more of an effort to read everyday than one full day devoted to reading. I'm going to change the character of the posts on the site to reflect this. But feel free to organize your own DNBRDs!! :D
interesting....I’m staying tuned to see what pops up on August 7th.
With the exception of being sick, which doesn’t really count because most of the time is spent sleeping, the last time I remember spending a day reading was when my family rented a cottage on the coast of Maine when I was about 11. My brother and I slept up in the coziest loft, right under the eaves of the roof on old metal camp beds. I remember balancing my stack of books while I climbed up a teeny tiny set of stairs and piling them next to my bed. One morning we woke up to one of those gray, drizzly days when you can’t believe how cold it can be in Maine in August. My parents wisely decided that spending the day reading would be, by far, the best course of action. I remember going back up to bed and not having a single, solitary care in the world except what was going to happen on the next page.
I know a do-nothing-but-read-day is not anywhere on my current calendar but now that it has been retrieved from my memory, I can, at least, add it to my list of long term goals. Thanks Amanda!
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