Calling all bookworms - go forth and multiply!

Anyone who has ever had the privilege to truly understand the concept of ‘getting lost in a book’ will know that when you stumble across one that you can hardly bear to put down and end up devouring the whole thing in a matter of hours, this book is worth shouting about. That is the belief that has inspired the organisers of the World Book Night campaign to announce a giveaway of one million books next March. A panel has come up with 25 titles, classics and modern works, home-grown and foreign, that they believe deserve to be read and enjoyed by as many people as possible. The idea is that this will encourage people to start reading again, in an age when literature is being left behind in favour of the virtual world, and where books are having to contend with shiny new eReaders and film adaptations. 

This is where YOU come in. If you want to be a part of this regeneration of the printed word, then hurry to the World Book Night website and sign up to be one of the 20,000 volunteers who will be responsible for the distribution of the literary goodies. Take a look at the titles listed below, find one you particularly loved or have always wanted to get your hands on, and write 100 words about why you have chosen this one, followed by 100 words explaining who you would distribute the copies to and how. If you are successful you will be sent 48 FREE books in the week before World Book Night (which is 5^th March 2011) to give away as you please. Before you all start rubbing your hands in glee at the prospect of a crate-load of free novels that you can then sneakily use to stock you own personal library (yes, the thought crossed my mind too), I should stress the fact that you do not get ALL of the titles in the list – you will be sent 48 copies of the specific title that you chose to write about. So, here are the chosen few:

‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

'Case Histories’ by Kate Atkinson

‘The Blind Assassin’ by Margaret Atwood

'A Life Like Other People’s’ by Alan Bennett

'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ by John le Carré

'Killing Floor’ by Lee Child

'The World’s Wife’ by Carol Ann Duffy

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon

'New Selected Poems’ by Seamus Heaney

'Rachel’s Holiday’ by Marian Keyes

'The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hahmed

'Agent Zigzag’ by Ben Macintyre

'Love in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel García Márquez

'Life of Pi’ by Yann Martel

‘Stuart’ by Alexander Masters

'A Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry

'Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell

'Beloved’ by Toni Morrison

'One Day’ by David Nicholls

'Northern Lights’ by Philip Pullman

'All Quiet on the Western Front’ by Erich Maria Remarque

'Dissolution’ by C.J. Sansom

'Toast’ by Nigel Slater

'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark

'Fingersmith’ by Sarah Waters

Spread the word!

RLS