A man called Kevin Kearney was the one who started it. The staff at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library in Newtown, still in shock and recovering from the massacre that had occurred in their town, were surprised to find a donation of books. Kevin Kearney wanted the library to have 620 copies of ‘The Healing Book’, a book written by Ellen Sabin that helps children – and adults – deal with grief and the passing of a loved one. The librarians accepted the donation, unaware that it was only the first of many more to come.

Kearney’s act of kindness unleashed a flood. Authors. Publishers. Readers. People who have lost those they loved. They donated book after book after book. Alana Bennison, a librarian at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, explained how the people of Newtown are responding. “People are taking the books home by the bagful”, she told a would-be donator. Because of all the donations, the library started a special program just to help with the overwhelming donations: ‘Books Heal Hearts.’ Now, the library is actually giving all the books they receive away. Readers are welcome to take any of the donated books, read them, write in them, and not worry about taking the books back. The library is grateful about the donations, but also cautious – they don’t want their library to be defined by the murders in their town. They’re eager to help their community rise up above their grief, moving on and helping each other as they continue to look forward.

We should be proud about our love of reading. And there’s no better way to express a lifelong passion for something than decorating with it. Pam Peterson explains seventeen ways to decorate with antique, modern, and even coverless books. Her article has plenty of ideas to inspire and encourage you as you decorate your home.

McDonald’s is now inserting books into their happy meals, according to this article by Carolyn Kellogg. Usually, children’s happy meals have a small figurine or some other kind of plastic toy. The company’s decision to replace these toys with books across their UK branches is one that will encourage reading in children, not to mention influencing many other fast food restaurants. And I have to say – I’m loving it.

After the elementary school killings in Newtown, many people are left grief stricken and in pain. What can help them? Books, according to Kevin Kearney. His simple donation of a few boxes of many copies of a grief book that he believed would help others, unleashed an outpouring throughout the nation of donations and books to the Newtown public library. Ann Marie Somma talks about the inspiring donations.

Why is it that printed books and magazines hold so much more appeal than their digital counterparts? What makes ink and paper so special? Why is the smell of a new book enjoyable, and why do we love to snuggle on the couch with a paperback that we can feel and hold in our hands? Kathleen Parker explains the connection between readers and books, and mourns the passing into a new digital era.

Print books haven’t lost the battle to their digital counterparts yet. The digital era has spanned the globe, and ebooks are rising in popularity, but they just can’t beat a good, solid, ink-and-paper book. In the UK, book sales made an amazing 75 million pounds (around $120 million) in the week leading up to Christmas. Zoe Wood explains some of the factors behind the high sales figures and what it means for the fight for printed books.

As 2012 gets behind us and the new year comes in, we take a few moments in retrospect on some really good literary points over the last 12 months. Also, we tackle some recurring themes for debate regarding books and this country’s love-hate relationship with reading.

• Christmas may be over and all, but gift-giving is something that happens all year round. Find the best titles to fit any person’s wish list and any budget that you might have.
• The most passionate bookworms might state their piece that literature is still very much alive. Will the publishing industry and the rest of America agree?
• See what the most fun read of the year was, together with the other “most” and “best” titles, as compiled for us by The Guardian as we look back over the year of 2012.
• Idaho locals still prefer hard copy, print books over the e-book versions for their reading needs. Is this trend applicable there alone?
• Goodreads is the perfect place for book geeks to become social media tycoons. See what the site came up with to wrap up 2012 – a very successful year for them.
• In our discussion, “Is This Literary Cancer?” we talk about Americans and where they possibly stand on the weight of books and reading in their daily lives.

Many enthusiasts and literature lovers out there believe that, slowly, books and their worth in society and across the country are dying. Don’t get me wrong – there is still life somewhere between the cracks on the walls – but this isn’t exactly bookworm heaven either. So, in short, we are walking and prancing over really thin ice at the moment.

Once in awhile, though, you meet someone who still has that vigor and gusto over a really good read. Every now and then you can find a person – young or old – who can carry on a lengthy conversation over the hidden themes behind the latest political novel. However, these rare circumstances are either concentrated in specific groups or communities, happen so seldomly you’d think readers have taken the double life of British secret agents.

Blame (for the lack of a better term) can be put mainly on the many other things that take up our time – not necessarily just our immersion with work and our careers. Even our spare time for things we enjoy and for relaxing has now become split into many other priorities – watching TV, playing with all the new gadgets and consoles that are out in the market, being on our smartphones 24/7, spending time surfing the web, and so on. We are so digitalized that even our reading habits have gotten the electronic hype.

In the end, we cannot do much but voice our opinions. The impact and influence of technology and change to society at large is exactly that: large. Heller McAlpin gives her educated two cents on these matters.

Goodreads is the Facebook (of sorts) for book lovers. As 2012 ends, they have released a witty rundown of the best things on the online community/social media platform – from the best reviewed books, to the best groups, to the most shared quotes, and even to the popular users turned reviewers. So which made it to the top list and which didn’t? The Huffington Post shares Goodreads’ 2012 top goodies with us.