Pay It Forward: Sharing The Books at Union Station in Toronto
Above photo courtesy author Linda Granfield.
Thanks to writer and librarian Nancy Runstedler for organizing the Toronto PIF (Pay It Forward): Sharing The Books event at Union Station yesterday.
I've heard of flash mob events before but never participated. The basic idea of a flash mob: a group of seemingly random people assemble suddenly in a public place, perform a seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse. Our group was more of a smart mob because we did have a purpose:
The purpose of this Book Reading Flash Mob is to create an awareness of the Pay It Forward Organisation and the work that they do globally, as well as the impact that books have on our lives.
Above: Organizer Nancy Runstedler explains the basic rules of the event.
We were each encouraged to bring a book that inspired us, kept us company during a long journey, brought tears to our eyes, or got us thinking about things in a different light. I brought Ray Bradbury's DANDELION WINE because it was the first book that ever made me really aware of style in writing.
I've always been a huge Ray Bradbury fan. His autograph had a prominent page in my collection as a teenager:
I also wrote a song called "Homecoming" based on his short story, "The Rocket Man". You can hear "Homecoming" on my music group's live performance album. I'm playing the rhythm guitar part on this track, Allison Durno plays lead guitar bits and Jodi Krangle sings lead. Allison and I sing some backup during the chorus. You can read my lyrics to "Homecoming" on the Urban Tapestry site.
I'm hugely jealous of anyone who has met Ray Bradbury in person.
Above: Some of us show our empty hands after giving away the books we were reading. I gave mine to a fellow by the ticket booths who had been watching us. He seemed surprised and pleased, then thanked me. :-) Photo courtesy Roben Goodfellow.
What I loved most about the event, (apart from the overall purpose, of course): those five minutes of sitting in one of Toronto's most-trafficked transportation hubs with a bunch of other book lovers and just READING. Knowing that these people had taken time out of their busy weekday schedules (Author Marthe Jocelyn came from Stratford!) to participate, to share their love of books.
Thanks again SO much to Nancy Runstedler for organizing the event! You can find out more about Pay It Forward at http://www.pifexperience.org/.
Related posts:
Cheryl Rainfield's wonderful blog post about the PIF Book Sharing event
