Wednesday, 8 August 2012

World Book Night 2013


Earlier this year I was one of the people picked to give away 24 copies of a book in honour of World Book Night. I chose Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Well, the organisers have announced that two of this year’s givers will be invited to join the independent editorial committee and be part of the group that chooses the World Book Night 2013 titles.

Copyright Julia Thorley
To apply - and of course I'm going to - I have to come up with my Top Ten favourite books and then write 100 words on why one of them should be picked for next year’s event. But what to choose?

Do I include Wuthering Heights, a book where nothing happens, twice, but that never fails to move me to tears? Do I go for something clever by Howard Jacobson, or something more mainstream (but no less clever) by Terry Pratchett? Do I stick with the classics - Dickens, Hardy, Defoe - or come bang up to date with Zadie Smith? I don't want to look pretentious, but I do want the committee to believe that I know what I'm talking about. Any suggestions?

 Whatever I decide, though, it's a good excuse to spend a couple of hours trawling through my bookshelves and revisiting some old favourites.
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8 comments:

  1. VikLit11 August 2012 at 15:19

    Sounds like a lovely reason to trawl through the shelves.

    Came over because you coined team WB on blogaboutwriting and that was AWESOME!

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  2. Anonymous11 August 2012 at 19:54

    World Book Night is all about getting non-readers to read. So I think you should go mainstream and 'easy'. The classics or anything too literary will put people off.
    Good Luck!

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  3. Tim J12 August 2012 at 19:39

    Just thinking out of the box, one of my most fingered books was the Haynes manual for the VW Jetta.

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  4. Julia Thorley13 August 2012 at 07:34

    Ah, boys and their toys. Thanks for stopping by, Tim. :)

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  5. Graham13 August 2012 at 13:06

    PLease oh please avoid Hardy. No-one should be saddled with that. I did Far from... at O level (the least bad) and have tried sooooo hard to read others. Then came Jude the Obscure. I very nearly opened a vein.

    Pratchett is surprisingly Marmite (I love both) so maybe not. Does the author have to be British? Is it fiction only (Hence the Haynes... some of the greatest works of Fiction) or what?

    Good luck

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  6. Julia Thorley13 August 2012 at 14:26

    It has to be fiction, or at least narrative non-fiction,and published in Britain in paperback. One of last year's books was by Bill Bryson - non-fiction and a non-Brit. I don't suppose I shall be selected, but at the very least I have provoked some debate around the family dinner table.

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