Thursday 2 March 2017

World Book Day

Happy World Book Day! How wonderful that such a thing exists. So often I think books and readers are left behind in the mad rush that is modern day life and also in the belief that all should be sporty. We're not! Some of us are bookish and we're not fairly represented on TV or elsewhere in the media in my opinion. Anyway, I'll stop pontificating, here're a couple of truly beautiful books that have somehow made their way into my home over the last couple of days.


The Writer Abroad is a book of literary travels covering the entire world, from Austria to Uzbekistan, as it says on the cover. The selections were made by author, Lucinda Hawksley. The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers by Ted Jones is... A literary and entertaining journey along France's fabled Riviera, illuminating the lives and work of the great literary figures who found inspirarion there. The covers are stunning and well worthy of representing World Book Day.

~~~oOo~~~

14 comments:

TracyK said...

I read so much and reading is such a big part of my life (and the same for other members of my immediate family) that it always surprises to when I find that other people don't read so much.

Those are perfect books for World Book Day.

Judith said...

Cath,
I simply loved your comments about World Book Day--had a good laugh at your observation, but it is so true, isn't it? And here it is past 4pm, I've got a cup of Darjeeling at my elbow and no one to celebrate with, except perhaps my book and Sasha, my golden. I'm going to note the holiday on my calendar for next year.

Nan said...

I think it would be good if television programs showed someone reading when someone else enters the room. They show people on phones or iPads all the time. Not that it would influence anybody watching to read if they weren't readers, but still.

Nan said...

I just read that it is WBD in Britain but the rest of the world it is on April 23. This is due to school holidays and Easter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Book_Day

Kailana said...

I love both of the covers to those books!

Cath said...

Tracy: I'm always surprised when I hear people don't read too. What an awful lot they're missing out on.

Judith: Glad I gave you a good laugh. I gather this World Book Day is only for the UK... yours is the 23rd. April.

Nan: I think that's a good idea. To be honest, our TV schedules are swamped with sport programmes, football matches, rugby and so on. I wouldn't mind so much if there was even the odd programme about books, but there isn't. Not one. Yes, we have dramas based on books, but it's not the same. Some evenings our TV doesn't go on at all... which is no bad thing to be honest, I just feel a little resentful that my interests are not catered for at all.

Thank you for telling me that yesterday was only the UK's World Book Day... LOL! It should be renamed, 'The UK's Book Day.

Kelly: The covers are gorgeous aren't they?

Nan said...

I am now watching the DVDs of the series Born and Bred, and I noticed that we see the books the young doctor and his wife are reading. And it reminded me that in As Time Goes By, Lionel and Jean were often reading in bed. Morse was reading sometimes. But all three were a while ago. I don't really watch American TV anymore, except for This Is Us, so I can't say if they ever feature books. I did love your line about (paraphrasing) being bookish not sporty. Me, definitely.

Penny O'Neill said...

Loved this, Cath, but, then I am more the bookish sort.
There is one American series on the Hallmark Channel here called The Mystery Woman. Samantha is the owner of a bookstore that she has inherited. The bookstore, which deals in mysteries, is quite charming. Samantha's bookish mystery reads help her solve crimes.

Vintage Reading said...

Oh dear, I forgot all about World Book Day! Agree though that readers are under-represented in the media. They look like two very good travel books.

Cath said...

Nan: Oh yes... I remember Lionel and and Jean reading in bed... such lovely understated comedy. Morse was very bookish, I loved his intelligence. Hathaway in Lewis is similarly very knowledgable and I think I like that side of his personality the most.

I think there are quite a few of us who're bookish and not particularly sporty. But it seems people with quiet pastimes are considered boring these days. I hear people say with pride, 'I haven't read a book since I left school'. How sad.

Penny: Oh now, I haven't heard of that TV series. I'll look into that, thanks for the tip-off.

Nicola: Ann Robinson had a lovely series several or more years ago where she had two celebrities on to talk about the books that had influenced their lives. I think it was called My Life in Books. It was very good but has of course disappeared without trace after two or three series. You do get the odd book or writer featured on BBC Breakfast TV, and Andrew Marr had a book series last year, but really it's nothing compared to all the sport the BBC features. It's most unfair.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Cath,

Whilst not probably books I would choose to buy for myself, as a bookish gift they would both make for great 'coffee table' reading, ideal to dip in and out of.

'The Writer Abroad' would probably interest me the most, as it covers a more comprehensive and interesting travel area. Surely both you and so many of your fellow participants, would find some excellent material for one or more of the many memes in circulation this time around!

Hubbies mother and sister are both great readers and my dad enjoyed his crime thrillers before he passed away a couple of weeks ago. However apart from that, the rest of the family and friends circle think that I am mad to keep going on about the books I have read and the blog posts I have published. At least my hobby keeps me at home and is relatively cheap and harmless, there are much worse vices surely!

Thanks for sharing :)

Yvonne

Cath said...

Hi Yvonne. I'm so sorry to hear that your dad passed away recently.

I suspect The Writer Abroad will supply me with quite a few new travel writing authors to try. Just what I need... more books! LOL

I'm quite fortunate in that my husband reads and so do both my daughters and their families, apart from my grandson who is ten and a good reader but so far, not into books like the rest of us. We'll see. I don't really come from a reading family so my love of reading comes from myself really. Exactly... reading is a harmless thing but a good thing, I truly believe readers are more tolerant than non-readers because we know there is always two sides to an argument. There certainly are worse vices than buying books.

Val said...

Lovely post and lovely follow up conversations!
Bookish not sporty ....me too haha perhaps we should have shirts emblazoned "Bookish and Proud" lol
We are pondering on Camping holiday books suitable to read aloud to the entire family ....any suggestions gratefully received! So far we've read Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Scarlet Pimpernel, Oliver Twist ..... but what next ?

Cath said...

Val: Glad you enjoyed the post and chatty stuff. Hope you're all feeling better.

A T shirt would be brilliant!

Brilliant lot of books you've read on your camping hols. Hmm... how about The Wind in the Willows? I was going to say Redburn by Herman Melville but it has a scene towards the end that might not be suitable for the kids. Great Expectations? Huckleberry Finn? A big favourite of mine is The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I keep thinking I'm missing something really obvious. LOL