In honour of #BookLoversDay I’m sharing some stories of book-related kindness from my network:
Edible Rotherhithe Southwark
“We gave 10 young food growers at Surrey Square School a copy of Marcus Rashford’s ‘You are a champion’. They have read them, signed them and are passing them on to other members of their families and friends.”
Kirsty Marrins, communicator and writer
“I post little book reviews on Instagram Stories and when someone replies saying they want to read it, I’ve posted it to them “
Claire Shortt, internal communicator
“A friend published her first book. It’s brilliant. So I posted two copies to my mom – one for her and one for her to give to someone else. A bunch of kindnesses all wrapped into one. :)”
Gemma Pettman, charity PR specialist
As part of @JudeHabib‘s birthday celebrations, we bought a number of books and I left them in places close to where I live, each with a little note.
Deborah Henry-Pollard, coach and writer
“Many years ago, someone, and I can’t remember who, recommended ‘The Creative Habit’ by Twyla Tharp, which is one of my all time favourite books. My copy is full of sticky notes and pencilled margins!
“I asked one of my closest friends if she had seen that Jay Blades had written his autobiography, ‘Making It’, and that I really wanted to buy it. She pulled it out of her bag, all wrapped up ready for my birthday!”
Vanessa Woolf, professional storyteller
“During lockdown quite a few of our neighbours have created little free book banks in their front gardens and you can leave and pick up books for free. We have got all kinds of wonderful books discovered new authors and had the opportunity to leave some books for others too. I absolutely love them.”
Sue Davies, mediator and HR Consultant
“In the golden year of 2012 seven of my neighbours and I started a book club and we are reading our 110th book now, still with the original eight. We continued to meet (on Zoom) through the dire days of complete lockdown. The book club kept us connected. A love of books has been a great catalyst of friendship and kindness.”
Books can be so powerful in so many ways. Any action that involves sharing a book with another person when you think they will love it is a kindness.