This
won’t stop me from participating again, or at least applying to become a giver for the 2013 event, scheduled to take place on April 23.
If you’re interested in doing the same, you can visit the organization’s web
site here. The 2013 book list—an interesting mix of genres and eras are
included— is also available.
Among
this year’s selections is Lisa Genova’s Still
Alice. I read the book about six months ago and found it both well written
and deeply depressing. Ms. Genova’s account of an accomplished woman’s loss of
self after the onset of Alzheimer’s is effectively drawn in a first-person
narrative, and the reader is privy to her struggle to deal with the
accompanying rage and confusion. The book (and real-life cases like Iris
Murdoch) undermines the wistful fantasy I have that an active life of the mind
can serve as protection from this fate.
I
think Still Alice is worth a read if
one is prepared for its mostly bleak tone. However, since I handed out Rebecca
Skloot’s award-winning The Immortal Life
of Henrietta Lacks last year, I hope to have the opportunity to give away
something a bit more upbeat from World Book Night’s list. Tina Fey’s Bossypants anyone?