I only just discovered it’s National Book Blitz Month 2024. Post-holidays, January is a great time to plow through the To-Be-Read, and Did-Not-Finish pile of books you didn’t get through last year.
While the idea is sound, I can’t find precisely out who inaugurated the event or when. The best guess is ‘a PR executive’ around 2011. Meanwhile the ill-advised use of ‘blitz’ as an evocation of rapid and intense effort serves for a snappy and alliterative title.
Vim and Vigour
It may be a flimsy celebration, but an intense month of reading is just what the… PR dude… ordered to beat the Winter Blues. Dust off all those TBR and DNF books from last year and push through the early chapters. Perhaps find a whole book series and challenge yourself to finish as many as you can in the course of a month.
It encourages reading, celebrates authors and may just add a little joy, comfort, learning and culture to your dark winter nights.
Back to the Plot…
How to participate in National Book Blitz Month 2024?
- Compile a reading list; get a hold of your personal wish list or recommendations from others. Scour the ‘Essential Books Bucket Lists’ online. Browse a bookshop and use those gift vouchers you got for Christmas. Go to the library. Scour the thrift stores. New books, old books, classics; it doesn’t matter.
- You can also challenge a friend to make a January reading list to enrich their life.
- If paper doesn’t work for you, get an E-reader for that portable literary experience. You could download some audio books to consume on the move or listen during the domestic chores.
- Create time in your schedule to read – either to yourself or with others.
- Grab the first book off the stack and read.
- Discuss what you’ve read and spread the joy.
It’s a simple concept that needn’t cost a lost of money or effort and the rewards could be life-long.