jynne martin is with riverhead books. ms. martin, what is national read-a-thon day? >> guest: so national read-a-thon day is a day in january, in fact, it's coming up january 24th where all across america we're inviting readers to commit to spend the afternoon reading any book that they like, and you can do it at home or in any of the many venues participating across the country which include libraries and bookstores and schools. >> host: and why are you promoting this? >> guest: well, that's a wonderful large and complicated question. but essentially, our hope is to find different ways in the coming years to really foster a culture of reading in america and remind people of what the experience is like to sit and really dedicate a nice, long swath of time to reading. i think we hear feedback all the time that people read books less now because they feel they don't have time, or they do it in little snippets here and there. but there's a real pleasure that comes from really getting lost in the world of a book that's different than if you're, you know, checking your ph

jen martinez with riverhead books. what is national readathon? >> guest: it is coming up january 24 where all across america we are inviting readers to commit to spend the afternoon reading any book they like and you can do it at home or in any of the many venues participating across the country that include libraries and bookstores and schools. >> host: and why are you promoting this? >> guest: it is a wonderfully large and competitive question but essentially our hope is to find different ways in the coming years to foster a culture of reading in america and remind people of what the experience is like to sit and really dedicate a long time to reading. we hear feedback all the time that people read books less because they feel they don't have time or they do it in little snippets here and there but there is a pleasure that comes from really getting lost in the world is a book that's

saturday january 24th is being called national read-a-thon day by a group, jynne martin is with riverhead books. what is national read-a-thon day? >> so, national read-a-thon day is a day in january, january 24th where all across america we're inviting readers to submit to spend the afternoon reading any book they like and you can do it at home or in any of the many venues participating across the country, which includes libraries and book stores and schools. >> host: why are you promoting this? >> guest: well, that's a wonderful, large and complicated question. essentially our hope is to find different ways in the coming years to foster a culture of reading in america and remind people of what the experience is like to sit and really dedicate a nice long swath of time to reading. i think we hear feedback all the time that people read books less now because they feel they don't have time or do it in little snippets here and there. but there's a pleasure from getting lost in the world of a book that's different than checking your phone every few minutes and being on the go. we want people