Top Ten Reasons to Attend “The Voluntourist” Event in Arlington, VA on September 26

Ken Budd will discuss travel, purpose, making mistakes (a personal specialty) and his critically acclaimed memoir, The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem, at the Shirlington Library in Arlington, Virginia on September 26 at 7:30 p.m. The event is part of George Mason University’s annual Fall for the Book festival. Here are—drumroll, please—the top ten reasons to attend:

10. I’ll read all 437 pages of The Voluntourist in under 20 seconds.
9. Opening act: Whitesnake (couldn’t get Bon Jovi).
8. The Shirlington Library makes a kick-ass mojito.
7. I’ll be sawing a librarian in two.
6. It’s bobblehead night!
5. The Voluntourist Dancers have been rehearsing for months just to entertain you.
4. Beats the alternative of spending time at home with your loved ones.
3. The periodicals section has an air hockey table.
2. Will offer solid proof that the Dewey Decimal System is just a bunch of jive.
1. No joke: Proceeds from that night’s sales of The Voluntourist will go to the La La Shou special education school, where I volunteered in China.

The Shirlington Library is at 4200 Campbell Ave in Arlington, VA: 703-228-6545. If you have questions, contact branch manager Kimberly Knight at kbknight@arlingtonva.us.

Follow Ken Budd on Facebook and Twitter: @VoluntouristKen.