World Book Day: When, Why and Wow...

First of all, HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY EVERYONE!! :) Let's spread the joy of reading, not only today, but every other day by sharing great reads with your friends and family, also, if you have too many on your shelves, give them to those in need...I came across this on guardian.co.uk and thought that I'd share it with you...

"With or without TV debates, most thoughts at present in the UK are turning to the choice we will make in the forthcoming general election. However, the stark fact is that very many people in the UK will not be a part of that process; not because they don't want to necessarily, but because they lack the most basic skills to do so. They can't read. They cannot make a choice. It is a truly terrible democratic deficit." (More...)

The thought of parting with your favourite books can be painful. To be honest, I had problems giving mine away. But just thinking of the impact it can make on a person's life helped the 'parting' a whole lot easier. I've not done this in awhile, but this year, once I'm done with this project (that's taking 90% of my life), I'm going to organise another book charity drive. To those who are interested, please drop me an email: hookedonbookz@gmail.com Let's improve the world's literacy rate.

So. Since I couldn't partake in all the book sales that are going around, I decided to sit back (feeling terribly sick for not being able to hit the stores *sob*), and google about World Book Day. Here are some interesting stuff I found from a few sources:

From wikipedia:
The connection between 23 April and books was first made in 1923 by booksellers in Spain as a way to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes (his first novel, Don Quixote) who died on that day. This became a part of the celebrations of the Saint George's Day (also 23 April) in Catalonia, where it has been traditional since the medieval era for men to give roses to their lovers and since 1925 for the woman to give a book in exchange. Half the yearly sales of books in Catalonia are at this time with over 400,000 sold and exchanged for over 4 million roses.

In 1995, UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on this date because of the Catalonian festival and because the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pla, the birth of Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Halldór Laxness.

From elsewhere:
In the UK, however, World Book Day is celebrated on the 4th of March, inspired from Catalonia where roses and books are given as gifts on St George’s Day.

Book Bite
The World's LARGEST BOOK!!
Apparently, this book measures seven feet across when open, and weighs nine-and-a-half stone!!! WOWW.... (More...)

Last but not least, don't forget, I'm giving away free books! :) Click here for more details.

PLUS.....In conjunction with World Book Day, I'm giving out some of my books tomorrow, 23rd April, 2010! (All in mint condition!) If you're interested, kindly drop me an email at hookedonbookz@gmail.com