World Book Night 2012

As part of the process of deciding which books are to be ‘given away’ next April, the WBN organisers have compiled a list of Britain’s Top 100 Books using the choices of several hundred (maybe several thousand) people who took the time to send in their own personal top-ten. The top 100 can be found on the WBN website by clicking n the WBN banner image above. I will refrain from commenting upon some of what I think are, to say the least, surprising choices, but the absence of authors of the calibre of Dostoevsky, Proust, Greene and Waugh, to name a few is rather surprising. I was pleased though that my favourite writers Orwell and Haruki Murakami were well represented. Apparently the list is to be updated on a rolling basis, so it will be interesting to see how choices change over time.

I would recommend World Book Night to anyone interested in the promotion of reading as a pleasure activity. I had a really enjoyable time giving away my fifty books last time, and I’m looking forward to, again meeting some interesting people in doing it again.

IR Sept. 2011