How to help people after Superstorm Sandy? The American Red Cross is an excellent place to donate money, since they know what and where does the most good. For booklovers, the thought of books lost to water, wind and mud is painful, because we know what certain books can mean to people. Thoughtful book donations to friends and family are a good way to help, and reestablish some normalcy.
Several years ago, two good friends lost their homes to fire. Most of what they owned was either destroyed or damaged, and the few books that were salvaged couldn't be fixed. Shelf Awareness publisher Jenn Risko, after rebuilding her house, at her housewarming (which she preferred to call a "cooling"), asked for books. It was a treat to go through my collection and decide what titles to give her. I did the same thing a few years earlier when Cindy Heidemann's apartment building was destroyed by an arsonist. I remember the joy I felt when I added a signed Clyde Edgerton to the stack--perfect!
Cindy, who's Northwest sales rep for Publishers Group West and Perseus Books, had this to relate: "I had no rhyme or reason in replacing, I would just go to the shelves in bookstores and see my old friends and pick them up. Friends who knew me well gifted me with their favorites and books they knew I loved.
"Books were such a part of my life that my first few days in my new place I didn't miss the furniture I didn't have or the lack of art on the walls or the fact that I didn't have sheets. But I did miss the books. The smell of them, the sight of them, the feel of them. As soon as I bought my first new book I felt the worst was over and my new life had begun."
Giving "old friends" to people is a good way to help restore lives. --Marilyn Dahl, book review editor, Shelf Awareness