What did you do for World Book Day?
Most folks of a literary bent will know it was World Book Day yesterday. In keeping with the appropriately bookish celebrations, I purchased a new book in novel in honour of the day.
Okay, so I didn't get to a book shop to buy it (I was working hard at the BL offices, surrounded by books and words), but winging its way to me from the mysterious online realm is Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero in hardback.
Though it got some lukewarm reviews from some (sounding like they were taking the whole thing a little too seriously...), this looks like a lot of fun and will be a perfect addition to my Batcave. I'll try and get around to posting my own review on the blog in a few weeks once I've read it.
On the subject of the blog and the website in general, changes are afoot. I'll reveal more in a separate post so it doesn't get lost amongst the ramblings about World Book Day.
So, as the title says 'What did you do for World Book Day?' Finish any novels, start that book you always wanted to read, owned up to the books you said you'd read but haven't (it seems this was the real talking point of the day - the fact that a lot of people claim to have read certain classics in order to appear learned, well-read or whatever - the likes of 1984, Ulysses, Madame Bovary, War and Peace etc, etc). I say read what interests you and don't be pressured into taking on something you're not going to derive pleasure from because it's a book you have to read before you die or some shtick like that. It defeats the entire object of reading if you don't enjoy it. That's counter to everything World Book Day stands for, isn't it?
I prefer hidden gens anyway, not necessary the 'classics' or the 'must-reads' (not that I haven't read a few of those; an English degree will kind of expose you to classic lit whether you like it or not).
What does surprise me is how old a lot of these stigma-attached books are - not that there's anything wrong with that. But we live in a modern age, where folks are writing all the time, and producing awesome works. I suppose book snobbery still exists amongst the literati, though. I only hope that next year people are lying about having read some more modern books (and I mean in the last ten years).
Fingers crossed then...
Okay, so I didn't get to a book shop to buy it (I was working hard at the BL offices, surrounded by books and words), but winging its way to me from the mysterious online realm is Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero in hardback.
Though it got some lukewarm reviews from some (sounding like they were taking the whole thing a little too seriously...), this looks like a lot of fun and will be a perfect addition to my Batcave. I'll try and get around to posting my own review on the blog in a few weeks once I've read it.
On the subject of the blog and the website in general, changes are afoot. I'll reveal more in a separate post so it doesn't get lost amongst the ramblings about World Book Day.
So, as the title says 'What did you do for World Book Day?' Finish any novels, start that book you always wanted to read, owned up to the books you said you'd read but haven't (it seems this was the real talking point of the day - the fact that a lot of people claim to have read certain classics in order to appear learned, well-read or whatever - the likes of 1984, Ulysses, Madame Bovary, War and Peace etc, etc). I say read what interests you and don't be pressured into taking on something you're not going to derive pleasure from because it's a book you have to read before you die or some shtick like that. It defeats the entire object of reading if you don't enjoy it. That's counter to everything World Book Day stands for, isn't it?
I prefer hidden gens anyway, not necessary the 'classics' or the 'must-reads' (not that I haven't read a few of those; an English degree will kind of expose you to classic lit whether you like it or not).
What does surprise me is how old a lot of these stigma-attached books are - not that there's anything wrong with that. But we live in a modern age, where folks are writing all the time, and producing awesome works. I suppose book snobbery still exists amongst the literati, though. I only hope that next year people are lying about having read some more modern books (and I mean in the last ten years).
Fingers crossed then...
Labels: World Book Day
posted by Nick Kyme at
09:49
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