I’m going to go out on a limb and make a little assumption right now about you. Yes, you- the person sitting on the other side of the Internet from me in this post. I feel very confident in declaring you to be an avid reader, a lover of words, possibly even a person who at one point in life was labeled a bookworm. My guess is that you can relate to the feeling that occurs when the last pages of a compelling book are flipped and the desire to talk about the story takes over. Have you ever been reading and had the need to say to a person nearby, “You’ve just got to listen to this!” Have you ever tried to slyly peek at the covers of books in strangers’ hands just to see what they’re reading, on the off-chance that you have something in common? Could you, right now, call to mind a book, a poem, or a short story that affected you long after you placed it back on the shelf?
If I haven’t been too bold with my assumptions here, then trust me when I say that a new website launched by SONY called Words Move Me is right up your alley. The tagline states their mission: Connecting readers around the literary moments they love. If you think along the lines of social networking for book lovers, you’ll start to get the right idea. After registering and setting up your profile for the site, you can share the ‘literary moments’ that are meaningful to you, in 255 characters or less, tagging them with the book title and author’s name. You also have the ability to tag your entries with up to three emotions that you associate with each particular submission, giving another level of searchability to the site.
My personal experience with the Words Move Me site has been interesting and thought-provoking, from both the perspective of a submitter and a reader. I’ve searched for other users’ moments about books that I hold dear in my heart, and I’ve enjoyed seeing the very wide variety of emotions that have been used as tags. It’s eye-opening to see how so many other people out there have been affected by the power of stories. As I began to ponder what to submit myself, there were some immediate books that leaped to the forefront of my thoughts, undoubtedly the books that have made the biggest impressions on me. My submissions number a total of nine (so far, that is!), and you can see what I have to say in just a few words about some of my favorite literary moments right here in this handy-dandy widget of my Words Move Me profile. (Click on the ‘pages’ on the sides to navigate through my entries.)
Now, as with every new social media site out there, the larger the group, the richer the experience for everyone involved! So, I encourage you to check out the site and register for your own profile, so you can begin submitting the literary moments that mean the most to you.
In their effort to promote the Words Move Me site, SONY is generously offering a fantastic addition to our Gift Guide & Giveaway. In the spirit of full disclosure- for reviewing the site and sharing this promotion, I’ll tell you that I will be receiving a SONY Reader Pocket Edition (TM), valued at $199.99, but the best part is that SONY is offering an additional SONY Reader Pocket Edition (TM) for one of you lucky 5 Minutes for Books readers! (I’m so excited, so please forgive me my infomercial voice!)
Here’s the info that you need to know to enter this fabulous Gift Guide and Giveaway contest. It’s a little different for this giveaway, so please keep reading:
1. Leave a comment on this post describing a ‘literary moment’ of your own around a book that you’ve either given or received as a gift by describing what makes this book special to you.
2. One entry per person, U.S. addresses only, please.
3. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Odds of winning are not increased by a purchase.
4. All entries will be read and reviewed by Jennifer and me, and we will assemble a list of our top ten favorites based on originality and content. A winner will be randomly selected from those ten entries.
5. The giveaway will close at 9:00 pm (EST) on Friday, 12/11, with the winners announced in a special post on Monday, 12/14. Please watch your email and check the site for your name, so that we can collect your shipping information!
6. My hope is that there will be enough time to get the SONY Reader Pocket Edition (TM) shipped to the winner before the holidays, but if it’s a few days later, it can always be considered a New Year’s gift, too!
So, start thinking like the avid readers that you are, and we can’t wait to hear all about your own special literary moments! Don’t forget to visit Words Move Me to experience a new interactive book lovers community.
This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who shared their wonderful literary moments!!
Dawn loves any opportunity she can get to talk (or type) about the books that live forever in her heart and mind. Life, as she knows it, is chronicled on her blog, my thoughts exactly.
The true joy of introducing Anne and Marilla to my daughter and hopefully someday, to my grand-daughter.
I gave my daughter a book “The Night Gardener” by George Pelecanos that I won. I love his books and I know she will too. [email protected]
I have always loved Swan Song by Robert M. McCammon and lost it…I had looked for it at every book store we’ve ever gone to to no avail. My eldest surprised me with it for my birthday one year – it was the best gift ever! Like getting back in touch with an old friend. I still love that book and read it at least once a year.
I received “Journey to the Center of the Earth” while a child and read a chapter of it to my daughter every night before going to bed.
Mine is Anne of Green Gables. As a child it was easy for me to relate to her and I was able to go to a different place day dreaming of what it would have been like to live at that time. I always wanted a daughter with red hair just like her and I have a little red head that gets into as much trouble as she did!
Brave New World was my literary moment. I hated to read as a teenager but when I heard about the story line of Brave New World I decided to give reading a try again. The thing I loved most about Brave New World is that it pulled me out of my life and made me root for the characters. The parallels I felt between teen life and the world which they lived in as characters in the book really gave me something to cling to throughout my teen years.
I loved reading the Nancy Drew stories when I was younger. I didn’t have close neighbors to play so books became my escape.
I think this was invented with me in mind. 🙂
My “literary moment” was the first time (and every time!) I read Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein. The book is so well written and everything made so much sense and it’s a book I could totally relate to. It was even more special when I shared it with my hubby and he felt the same way!
One of my favorite books is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I feel like my mind is always running in a hundred different directions. I spend more time thinking about what’s coming up than I do enjoying where I’m at. When I read Eat, Pray, Love I feel calm and peaceful. Her story helps me to remember to just breathe, to relax and be myself, and to enjoy the present moment rather than put so much energy into trying to do everything and please everyone all the time. I can’t wait to start reading her new book Committed.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn started my interest and love of American literature as well as adventure and travel novels in middle school. It was no surprise that my favorite books in college included Robinson Crusoe and Heart of Darkness.
i was given Ishmael as a gift and I was totally enthralled. it changed the way I think about life sometimes and I also gifted it to my husband who also loved it
The best literary moments are when I’m reading my 20 month old daughter the bedtimes stories I used to be read when I was little!
Books from my childhood always give me such a warm, happy feeling – I get such nostalgic flashbacks when I think about “Little House on The Prairie”, so it is special to me for that reason. Thank you for the giveaway!
I think my literary moments come when I am completely into a book and suddenly realize the emotions they make me feel.. I could have tears are running down my cheeks or be laughing so hard that people look at me like I am crazy.. Kindof funny that books have that much impact.
Lately, as I have been working on my first children’s novel, I have been rediscovering many of my favorites, including Pippi Longstocking. I recently made my mom send it to me, and since then, the words have been flowing freely!
my dad used to read the oz books to me every night as a kid
Many years ago, when my husband and I were still just dating, he presented me with a brand new copy of Dickens’ Great Expectations. He too, had a copy in his library and we began reading our books together, even though we were apart, if that makes any sense at all. Discussing the sections of the book we had read independently the night before somehow strengthened the connection that was already strong between us. We have been married quite a few years now, but we still have both both copies sitting on a revered shelf in our library, and we still find ourselves making references to the story from time to time. It really is a great read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has not yet had the chance to experience it.
Strangely enough, a family members gave me the World Book Encyclopedia set when I was young. I loved it! I spent hours looking things up, and then if I wanted more information I would check out library books. I know, I’m weird!
When I was younger I practically LIVED at our local library. I would check out books and devour them. This little old lady librarian was fascinated by me and after I had read all of the Little House on the Prairie books (and everything else I could find based in the 1800s) she handed me Tuck Everlasting. It was the perfect book for me and even at such a young age really made me think about life, death, and immortality. It has been one of my favorite books ever since.
When I was in college, I got involved in theatre, so much so that I changed my major. I was working in a bookstore and I came across a novel called “Opening Nights” by Janet Burroway. It was about a well-known TV or film actress who’s doing a play, and she’s so anxious to make a good impression on the stage actors she’s working with that she puts her own life at risk. The subject matter and the writing style captivated me so much that I wrote a letter to the author. It was the first time I’d ever done anything like that. Imagine my surprise when I got a very nice letter back. It was a moment of realizing that a book doesn’t have to be a one-way communication and that this brilliant writer was a real person who appreciated my reading her book as much as I appreciated her writing it.
One for me was reading the Polar Express to my young daughter. I had a book that came with a really nice bell, and so I’d hide the bell and read her the book. At the end when the bell rings I’d sneakily ring the bell. She thought it was really magic!! So special.
Thanks so much!
I got to make a book for my daughter. She is 8 so when she gets older I am hoping this is her most prize possession, Since it is all about her and her family
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is by far the most interesting series. Goodby and thanks for all the fish, as they say it.
I’ve given a Book about the Military to a dear friend of mine and its special because are Military and Armed forces are more then Special to me, they are everything!
In middle school I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time. It really showed me how powerful words could be, how a story could come alive. I loved to read ever since then and I’m now an English teacher!
Believe it or not, the Harry Potter series is special to me. My mother-in-law shared these books and took turns reading them. In March, we lost her. I cherish these books and all the other memories.
Thank you for the great giveaway and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
Ask And It Is Given by Abraham-Hicks. I received it as a gift and it changed my life, totally, to where I no longer expected others to make me happy or blamed them when things didn’t go my way.
Now, I give this book to people whom I feel are ready to take responsibility for their lives and how things turn out for them. It is amazing to watch the progress as they accept and adapt the principles.
Truly, the most life-altering book to give and/or receive if you are receptive to the message- and then you too realize you can have anything you want if you only allow it.
Where the WIld Things Are. still my favorite.
My favorite literary moment was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to my kids after we stayed up to midnight to buy it. They were very excited and couldn’t wait to hear the story, and I love the fact that the series excited my kids and expanded their love of reading.
My special book is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It transported me. I have reread it many time over the years
My son is not a reader, but when I got him Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, he read it over and over again. Now, unfortunately, this didn’t spark his interest in reading anything other than the Harry Potter series, but ANY books he reads is better than none!
When I read The Giving Tree to my daughter at her doctor’s office recently, I had a literary moment. I had read the book as a child, but now reading it as an adult with children of my own, it took on new meaning as I know parents would do anything to make their children happy. Brought me to tears reading it, which had never happened to me before.
I always loved reading growing up. Sometimes my parents would actually tell me to stop reading and go outside! My daughter is the same way. I gave her my collection of Nancy Drew books and now she is working her way through them.
This may be weird, but my moment is when Nick dies in The Stand. I cried my eyes out because I’d grown to like him so much. I never felt for for characters in a book like i did whe I read this book.
My favorite “literary moment” was reading books to my son that were my favorites when I was young. I love passing down our family’s favorite literary traditions.
My ‘literary moment’ was the first time I started reading “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” in high school. I realized after that first chapter how much a well written book could take you somewhere else in an instant.
My own literary moment came when I received Trixie Belden. My mom gave me the set for Christmas and I read all 15 books in just a week. This really set the precedent for me becoming the avid reader I am today.
I know this may be a bit cliched but with the recession going on, it’s either ground yourself with stability or take extreme measures and take that chance you were always too afraid to take. It is at this moment that I think about Dr. Seuss’ Oh! The Places You’ll Go because although it’s an illustrated children’s book, I know that those who are about to make that leap in life to the next step can still take a lot away from just a few powerful words. As I make the decision to fulfill a dream of getting a Master’s degree and put myself in what may seem financial instability, a few simple words of encouragement goes a long way. I thank all those people who choose this literary gift to give any student of any level.
i was so touched and upset by the book a child called it i had a friend that was abused as a child and i realize it happens to many kids each and every day but no child should have to suffer at the hands of a psychotic parent 🙁
I have been a long-time subscriber to the Library of America. About 12 years ago, I gave my only sister a copy of the 2 volume set of their “American Poetry – 19th Century”. She has a special needs child, and she tells me that she’s occasionally able to read a poem, or even just a page, in the rare quiet times she gets. I’m glad that she can find some respite in poetry.
Lately non-fiction has been my thing. I have loved Perfect Mess by Lisa Harper and I love Built to Serve by Dan Sanders. I use the Perfect Mess all the time with my girlfriends encouraging them to read so they understand they are ok just the way they/we are. I think Lisa’s writing style lends itself to reading while you have a ‘moment’ and she touches my heart when she talks about how perfection is not the goal! Thanks for the opportunity to win! I’d love to have this.
[email protected]
i was give the 5 people you meet in heaven and after reading it the book really had me thinking about afterlife and made me understand how important now really is
I have been given a lot of great books over the years. An aunt gave me a copy of Crime and Punishment. I enjoyed reading it. It opened me to Russian Literature and I discovered other great literature not only in Russia but in other countries.
I had been giving the new Harry Potter novels to my niece and nephew as birthday presents arriving from Amazon the day they became available. My niece would read from cover to cover almost as quickly as my sister and I!! Glad we’ve got another reader in the family!
Thanks for the giveaway!
When my daughter was smaller I read her the Little House on the Prairie books and it was so neat to see her listening and wanting to learn how to read too. I’ll always remember that.
I gave my daughter the book Charlottes Web. I was my favorite book as a child and now it’s her favorite book. It was her first grade school book with a lot of words. We talked about the book and what it meant to have friends to count on.
it was when I was a teen my mom gave me the wizard of oz&it is green velvet cover,best book ever&will pass it on to my children
ardelong2(at)gmail(dot)com
My daughter loves reading!! She asked for one of these for Christmas. What a gift for me it would be if I won this for her. Thanks!
For my 8th birthday, my grandmother gave me a copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I read it over and over–until the cover fell off. So I trudged on down to the library and discovered the unabridged edition–and fell in love all over again. Years later, every time I even think about picking up a book, I feel the old familiar excitement begin..
redneckbubbagirl at gmail dot com