Happy World Book Night, Happy International Day of the Book and Happy St George’s Day
Legend has it that St George Patron St of England and Catalonia slew a dragon and a beautiful rose bush sprang from the dragon’s blood. Whereupon St George promptly plucked the most beautiful rose and gave it to the princess he was defending. A Rose Festival has been celebrated in Barcelona on April 23rd ever since and in 1923 it merged with the International Day of the Book which celebrated the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes.
World Book Night #worldbooknight is a celebration of books in the US, Ireland, Germany and the US that occurs on the same day as the Unesco International Day of the Book and is committed to improving literacy amongst the hardest to reach populations in the UK. Events take place all over the UK and I shall be off to one at The WatchHouse Cafe in West Bay this afternoon. You can also find out more about World Book Night in the UK here: http://www.worldbooknight.org and in the US here: http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/
Twenty Five titles are specially chosen and printed in World Book Night editions. Givers apply for a particular book (they get a first, second and third choice) which they must commit to gift to those who don’t regularly read, to share and spread their love of reading. Givers collect their books from their local bookshops and libraries, putting the very heart of our reading communities at the very heart of World Book Night.
This year the twenty five titles are:
- Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
- The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
- Sleepyhead Mark Billingham
- Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson
- The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
- The Take Martina Cole
- Harlequin Bernard Cornwell
- Someone Like You Roald Dahl
- A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
- Room Emma Donoghue
- Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
- The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
- Misery Stephen King
- The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic Sophie Kinsella
- Small Island Andrea Levy
- Let the Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist
- The Road Cormac McCarthy
- The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger
- The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Maggie O’Farrell
- The Damned Utd David Peace
- Good Omens Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- How I Live Now Meg Rosoff
- Touching The Void Joe Simpson
- I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith
- The Book Thief Markus Zusak
I have read quite a few on the list but there are two I’d like to get my hands on if possible, they are The Time Traveller’s Wife (which is on my goodreads.com ‘to read’ list) and The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic because I love chicklit too 🙂
