World Book Night

With Monday 23rd looming, book givers are starting to panic. Rather than being given her first choice, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, one young mother has been assigned to the task of giving away 24 copies of a Swedish book about vampires, and how should she go about it when out and about with her young daughter? Easy, says one helpful comment on the blog: try the local blood donor centre.

Meanwhile, authors of books being given away are getting in on the act of becoming ‘givers’ by having extracts of other novels printed in the back of the special World Book Night publications. Stephen King set the stakes high with his endorsement of Hesh Kestin’s The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats as ‘the best novel book never read,’ while Terry Pratchet recommends curling up with a G K Chesterton and Iain Banks suggests spending time with an Alan Moore.  

“The idea is really very simple,” said World Book Night chief executive Julia Kingsford. “World Book Night is all about encouraging people to embark on a reading journey and we believe that you’re never more vulnerable to your next read as you are when you’ve just finished a book. We are really excited at the prospect of being able to put another great book into the hands, hearts and minds of new readers the minute they’ve finished their WBN book.  Asking our World Book Night authors to recommend something seems like the perfect way to introduce new books and writers to readers and encourage people to keep on reading.”