Dear R&BLers and Kossacks All:
Ho! Ho! Ho! Now is the time of year when young and old, male and female minds turn to books and to which ones some prescient Santa's Helper is going to give them this season. No need to worry. R&BLers has been specially commissioned by that jolly librarian of the North Pole to execute your wish for something good to read that will carry your over the hump into the New Year.
We are launching the first annual Readers and Book Lovers Secret Biblio-Santa Gifting Program where you can submit your name, a description of what you especially like to read, some pertinent information and possibly find something under your tree or e-reader come that special day set aside for reading.
Then sit back and wait for your lump of coal! No, no. . .that's not the outcome I have in mind.
Please turn the page.
Here's how to play:
*Only one Secret Biblio-Santa per person.
*If you wish to receive, you have to be willing to give.
*No guarantee that you will be a recipient, but R&BLers will do its best to match everyone.
*Submit your name to me using DKos PM system with a description of your reading taste, whether you want tree or e-books, and the online link to your public accessible Amazon (or other retailer's) Wish List where your Santa can choose a title as your gift and have it automatically sent to you.
*If you wish to receive a book from another online source than Amazon, be sure that it accepts PayPal.
*If you wish to receive only specific titles and do not want to be surprised by someone else's choice for you, then you will have to pay for your own book(s) by setting up a "book registry" debit account at your supplier of choice. Then allow the Santa to choose one of those titles.
*Gifters may spend whatever amount they choose. Self-gifters, of course, ditto. In either case, it's your money to be as generous or budgetary conscience with as you choose.
*In some cases, you may have to provide your personal snail mail address if the retailer is not set up like Amazon for buying a gift for someone other than yourself.
Upon receipt of your request, I will match your name with a Secret Biblio-Santa, sending them the pertinent information you provided. Then I will update this diary (or publish sequels) with the names of those who have Secret Biblio-Santas.I will also include recipients' preferences so that R&BLers in general can make their own suggestions what books they think someone would enjoy. Every Santa's Helper needs a Helper's Helper!
Submissions will close on Friday at Noon, December 20th, 2013 for both tree and e-books.
My hope is that all will go smoothly, but this is our first attempt and there may be some uncomfortable wrinkles, even hiccups. After all, it's not as if I'm rolling out the Obamacare website here!
So, please indicate your desire and willingness to participate in the comments below. No reason why you shouldn't discuss what you hope to find in your stocking. Just keep in mind, I need a personal PM with the information requested in order for you to be selected.
If anyone has ideas how to make Secret Biblio-Santa work better, please make your suggestions in comments. We're all beta-testing this thing.
And while the cauldron bubbles away in the background, why not comment below on Holiday reading traditions in your family -- anyone read aloud or attend a public reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol? When I was an undergraduate at UF in Gainesville, there was a wonderful white-haired professor who did a dramatic reading from a chair set upon the seasonally decorated and candle-lit stage in the Gothic campus chapel to a packed house of avid listeners. Carols led by the university chorus and conducted in sing-along style followed. Sure put one in the mood.
Some folks have other favorite stories they go to at this time of year. The Gift of the Magi is a time-honored Christmas read, almost as time honored as the poem, "T'was the Night Before Christmas." Do you have little ones at home who will listen raptly as you read Polar Express to them? Why not share your traditions with us? Who knows, you might inspire others to start their own based on what they read here.
Other than that, nothing's happening!