People spoke of police arrests gone wrong, talking coins and how not to survive a disaster on the Plaza of the Americas on Monday.
Participants in the Smathers Libraries’ eighth annual Book-A-Thon read their favorite stories for 10 minutes at a podium.
Listeners at the event sat under a tent, eating free Five Star Pizza and Starbucks pastry samples. Some readers shared stories they had written.
The Book-A-Thon will continue until Wednesday and is part of National Library Week.
About 10 participants spoke Monday, and about 100 students stopped by the plaza to listen to those reading, said Barbara Hood, chairwoman of the Read-A-Thon.
David Maas, a study abroad adviser for the International Center who read two of his prose pieces on Monday, said reading literature aloud helps get people interested in reading.
“It encourages a sense of shared literature,” he said.
Hood said college students often have rigorous textbooks to read and sometimes forget how fun reading can be.
“It just lets people know that reading for fun is fun,” she said.
Adriana Almiñana, a psychology senior, read from her favorite book, “A Confederacy of Dunces.”
Almiñana said reading is relaxing for her, and with graduation in a month, she’ll soon be able to replace her psychology textbooks with novels.
“I’m actually looking forward to being able to read again just for pleasure instead of being forced to read,” Almiñana said.
Correction 4/14/10: The title of this article originally labeled the event as the Book-A-Thon. The event is actually called the Read-A-Thon.
