23rd
April was World Book Night!! I’m afraid it’s taken me a little while longer
than I had hoped to write my day, but as often happens, life gets in the way of
fictional fun!
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| The box of books for me to giveaway |
So I
volunteered to be a Book Giver this year and was so happy to be accepted. I
decided I was going to give my 20 books away at work. I’m very lucky that a lot
of my friends are also big readers and I have frequent book-y conversations
with them all the time! However, very few of my friends and colleagues at work
are big readers. It’s well known that most of my reading is done on the train
on the way to and from the office but my colleagues either drive, listen to
music or peruse the Metro rather than opening a book. So I thought it would be
nice to hand out the books to people who don’t read as much as me!
The book I
choose I was The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde – a book I first read at
university over ten years and adored. It’s set in an alternative 1985 where
Dodo’s are house-pets and the Crimean War never ended. The heroine is Thursday
Next, a literary detective who investigates crimes against books. It has mystery,
action, hilarious jokes, satire, fantasy, romance and just surreally inventive
ideas – in other words, something for everyone.
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| Special Edition of The Eyre Affair! |
As well as
the book, I also brought in some homemade rocky road bites (melted chocolate,
cornflakes and marshmallows), cookies, party rings and some freshly made
popcorn – the best way into my colleagues affections has always been through
their stomachs! At eleven am I pulled everyone together told them what I was
doing. I handed out all the books and unveiled the treats. Everyone was pretty
amazed and surprised to be getting a book, but also happy and touched. Quite a
few said they really should read more and were inspired to start reading that
day on the train home. A couple others said they were going to take it on holiday
with them later in May as a holiday read. What was nice is that we have quite a
few non-British nationals in the office and the handful of French and Norwegian
were keen to read a book in English!
Overall, it
was a nice event and celebration in what is normally a pretty dull office life
and I hope I inspired a few of them to try reading even slightly more. I am definitely
keen to take part again next year! J
I wish World Book Night had a bigger Canadian presence. But so far it seems like for all it's called "World" Book Night, it really seems to only be centres in the US and UK. It really is a shame, because I'd love to participate.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun with it, though!
What a great way to do it! I also loved this book and it's a great one to give away!! Glad you had fun!
ReplyDeleteCool :D I wish we had something like that here
ReplyDelete