Quaranreading Resources

Clever, no? My IG friend Jordan coined it and I've been using it as a hashtag on a reading or book themed post I share between 5-6 weekdays (weekends optional) to ground myself and whoever wants to join me in a conversation about books or reading to forget this clusterfuck of Covid-19 for a minute.

I'm still reading, although last week lacked focus overall as I tried to grasp a new normal. I'm sure many of you felt that. The weekend was a little better. Something I've kept is starting my day reading, like I would do if I was taking the train every morning, and reading at night before bed like I do. I sometimes read right after I finish working for the day to simulate the train ride home. Sometimes I wait until I'm finished making and cleaning up dinner to do that. How have your reading habits changed?

Like everything else, the book world has been rocked by this virus. Physical libraries are closed, authors with books coming out right now are impacted with book tours cancelled, independent bookstores are hanging by a thread.

If you're scrounging for e-books:
-kindle has a lot of free books if you're a prime member
-Kindle unlimited is $10/month
-audible has a free 30 day trial
-scribd has a free 30 day trial
-Sign up for Netgalley to get free read now books or advanced copies

Buying physical books:
-Well priced used books from a great organization that gives back: Better World Books. I got myself six paperbacks I do not need for under $20 yesterday.
-If you're thinking of buying Glennon Doyle's Untamed, she has a list of indie bookstores that have signed copies in an effort to keep them afloat during these times
-Find an independent bookstore near you via Indie Bound and order from them - if they don't have a website, get in the way back machine and give them a call. A lot of places are closed due to orders for non-essential businesses to close but still shipping. We need these places to survive and if we are readers who currently have some spare dollars and want a book now is the time to use those dollars to support these places in our communities. Like libraries, they are havens and places of ideas and promoters of books and reading and we need that more than ever when this passes. 

I ordered two Octavia Butler books and a sweatshirt from Harriett's Bookshop in Philly last week and I’m attending a virtual event there on Saturday (link to register in their Instagram profile), which belongs below, but roll with it. 

If your favorite shop doesn’t have what you want online email them. 

Supporting authors and books and bookish events virtually:
-We Are Bookish has a bunch of virtual events with authors and book conventions happening through May

Getting Books To Others 

-Can you set up a Little Free Library in your neighborhood or put out a call in a neighborhood Facebook group or NextDoor with the caveat that books must be wiped?

-Check to see what’s loanable from your kindle library

-How can we get books into the hands of people without spare cash or resources who depend on free books from the library? 

-How can we get books to kids who don’t have them at home?

What resources have you come across to this list? Please share in the comments and I’ll add them to the list. Leave your Instagram or blog link if you want others to have the chance to connect with you.

Hope you're all hanging in there. Is that how we sign off of everything now?