Love Reading? Make a Date on World Book Night

 21/04/2015

It’s World Book Night this Thursday, and the third event to be held at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln promises to be the best and biggest yet.

BGU has issued a reading list of 20 books and is inviting members of the local community to join in with reading groups, seminars, and conversations led by staff and students on Thursday 23rd April 2015.

The event will also celebrate two literary anniversaries: it is 150 years since the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and 100 years since the publication of TS Eliot's poem The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock.

World Book Night at BGU will take place in the Skinner Building and the programme is as follows:

• 2:30pm: Welcome to World Book Night 2015
• 3:00pm: Battle of the Books: From Better to Best
• 3.50pm: Tea, cakes and (free) books!
• 4.15pm: With Alice in Wonderland
• 5.15pm: “That is not what I meant at all” – A Celebration of T S Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

“This is an occasion that we feel is at the core of what we do because it is about sharing our love of reading and inspiring a love for reading,” said Claudia Capancioni, organiser of the event and Senior Lecturer in English at Bishop Grosseteste University. “The event is open to everyone who would like to share their likings, dislikings, favourite books and protagonists, authors and illustrators, or to listen to others talking about their joy of reading.

“The list has something for everyone and is particularly good at suggesting quick reads, as well as texts that volunteers believe are page-turners, or books to be passed on. There are titles for young readers, lovers of adventure stories, detective fiction and fantasy. It includes poetry, historical novels, romance, fictional and non-fictional stories about challenging human experiences, as well as light-hearted tales.”

The 23rd April is also UNESCO International Day of the Book and Shakespeare’s birthday. 250,000 specially printed World Book Night titles will be given away for free by a network of volunteer reading enthusiasts and institutions around the UK.

The aim is to reach the 35% of the population who, for whatever reason, don’t read for pleasure. Since it began in 2011, World Book Night has created an extraordinary group of 56,000 volunteers and has given books away to more than 2.25 million people.

For more information send an email to claudia.capancioni@bishopg.ac.uk.

The 20 titles for 2015 are:

1. After the Fall by Charity Norman
2. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M C Beaton
3. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
4. Chickenfeed by Minette Walters (Quick Read)
5. Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts by Mary Gibson
6. Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle (Quick Read)
7. Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden
8. Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy, Neil Astley (ed)
9. Honour by Elif Shafak
10. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
11. Prime Suspect by Lynda La Plante
12. Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle
13. Skellig by David Almond
14. Spring Tide by Cilla and Rolf Börjlind
15. Street Cat Bob by James Bowen (Quick Read)
16. The Martian by Andy Weir
17. The Moaning of Life by Karl Pilkington
18. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
19. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
20. When God Was A Rabbit by Sarah Winman