Project--A Book Chain

I was sitting in my bathtub just a few moments ago, reading Catherine Lord's Summer of Her Baldness. I kept thinking to myself, Gee, I wish people would read this book, and then they might be able to understand better what I'm going through. It's been a long time since any book resonated with my thoughts and experiences page-by-page like this one does. Sometimes, I find myself disagreeing or contradicting the author, but whether or not I agree with her, I feel like I'm having a conversation with her as I read.

Then an idea popped into my head. I could recommend that people purchase this book to read it--or I could pass along my own copy. I thought about how cool it would be so start a book chain, where people joined a list to receive my copy from the last person who read it. Along with the book, I could mail an accompanying journal, in which people could write their responses and thoughts to the book, or to anything else in their minds, or simply sign the book. So the more I thought about it, the more excited I became, and here's what I've come up with:

1) Anyone who is interested in joining this project, email me, and I will put you on the list. Whoever emails me first will be the first person after me (or possibly Henry) to receive the book and journal. Whoever emails me second, will be the second person, and so on.

2) Whenever the first person is ready to send the book off to the second person, he or she will email me, and I will send along the second person's contact info so the book can move along.

3) If you find that you can't get through the entire book, that's fine. Simply sign the book and journal, and email me so we can move it along the chain. You can also write your thoughts in the journal even if you don't finish the book. Your involvement in this project is entirely up to you!

4) That said, however, the minimum involvement is signing your name somewhere, anywhere in the book, signing the journal, and emailing me so you can send the next person on the list the book. Your minimum cost is mailing the book and journal to the next person.

I'm really excited about this idea, and I hope you'll join me. Anyone at all--even if I don't know you--if you're interested, contact me somehow. If you are reading this and you have friends whom I don't know who'd like join the chain, that's awesome! I'm hoping that this project lasts much longer than it takes for me to kick cancer's ass! I'm also hoping that people will communicate with each other, get to know one another, and have wonderful discussions about the book and other related topics and issues!

I'm also curious about how many times this book crosses the U.S.-Canadian border, or even goes overseas!

We'll do something amazingly special when the book finally makes its way back to me--but I'm hoping that won't be until years from now!

So, I invite you all to join me on this project!