Here is a site that is giving people in Ireland and the UK the chance to talk about the 50 books on its list for World Book Day, which is on 5 March 2009.
On that day, the most talked about book will be announced.
These books were selected by World Book Day They are a partnership of publishers, booksellers and interested parties who work together to promote books. They believe in encouraging reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all and they’re committed to make sure that this event is even bigger and more successful than the year before.
I’m not quite sure where they got this list or how it was put together but it’s certainly a diverse mix. These are the kind of books people talk about. AIDS, death, queuing, vitamins, hypochondria and love are just a few of the topics.
Many of these books look fascinating. Although I must say I’m a bit baffled that they’ve called it World Book Day when the site is restricted to people from Ireland and the UK.
I am very pleased with the selection of Broken by Daniel Clay. I found this book in a second hand book shop and bought it because of the cover. This book was extremely good. Its main character Skunk faced a whole lot of controversial and contemporary issues in the book which I am sure affect contemporary UK now. The book gets dark and quite horrific. It was simply a very surprising and thought provoking read.
When you search online, you’ll find that the book doesn’t get many good reviews. I think that people didn’t like the fact Daniel didn’t seem to do any research. Things happen to characters in the story that couldn’t possibly happen in such a short time.
But, as a whole, this book is about coming undone - how one event, one false accusation caused one boy to unravel. And when he unravelled, so did his parents and neighbours. It’s amazing how people can get affected so quickly and so completely.
So even though it’s not really World Book Day – pick one of these books on the list as your next read.
And then let us know which book you’ve chosen.
