August 31, 2009
Washington, DC

Louisville Free Public Library Foundation was one of 72 organizations that helped take The Big Read nationwide in 2007. Louisvillians read, discussed, and celebrated Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. (Photo courtesy Louisville Free Public Library Foundation)

It’s hard to believe that the official launch date of  The Big Read 2009-2010 is tomorrow.  Wasn’t it just yesterday—rather than three months ago—that we announced the 268 organizations that will host a Big Read over the next 10 months? Nearly 60 of those projects will take place during the month of September, celebrating To Kill a Mockingbird, The Things They Carried, The Maltese Falcon, and Bless Me, Ultima, to name a few titles.

To get things started, here are a few quotes on reading from some familiar names. Now, ready, set, READ!

 “There is a need in us for exactly what literature can give, which is a sense of who we are, beyond what data can tell us, beyond what simple information can tell us; a sense of the workings of what we used to call the soul.” Tobias Wolff

“When you read about the life of another person, you are part of their lives for that moment. This is so vital, especially today, when we have so much misunderstanding across cultures and even within our own communities.” Amy Tan

“Literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed.” John Steinbeck

“To me a novel can be as beautiful as any symphony, as beautiful as the sea. As complete, true, real, large, complicated, confusing, deep, troubling, soul enlarging as the sea with its waves that break and tumble, its tides that rise and ebb.”  Ursula K. Le Guin

“There is no Frigate like a Book/To take us Lands away/Nor any Coursers like a Page/Of prancing Poetry. . . ” Emily Dickinson

 “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” Ray Bradbury

Visit The Big Read Web site to find out where there’s a Big Read launching near you!