Stay Indoors and Read.

The weather outside is frightful, but inside it’s so delightful… we’re waiting out hurricane Sandy here at TBTGM headquarters, relishing the extra time to read! If you’re off work and holed up inside, why not comb through your books and write about your favorite ones for our contest? You can win a copy of the book! Read on…

With just one week to go until the book launch, we are getting very excited at TBTGM HQ. I was just sitting here looking over the finished book (the publisher sent me two copies last week) and I realized how profound it is. The stories it contains are amazing—some are happy, some sad, some wrenching, some joyful. Overall, they create a window into human experience: our loves, our losses, and all the things we learn from those we love. After reading it, you’ll probably never look at your bookshelves the same way again. Our new motto: “The Books They Gave Me, enabling bibliophiles since 2011.”

We are so excited to get this book out that we’ve devised a contest! We’re giving away ten signed, gift-wrapped copies of The Books They Gave Me. Here’s how to enter:

1. Tell us about your favorite books, given or received! Take a picture, tell a story, write a poem, draw a picture. Be creative—your story doesn’t have to take the form of a usual TBTGM post.

2. Post your entry on your tumblr page and tag it with “bookstheygaveme”.

We will track and repost the best of these entries, and on November 5 we’ll choose ten winners. As an extra bonus, any New York City area winners will be invited to read their stories at our launch party November 15 at the Housing Works Bookstore!