I just learned that today is World Book and Copyright Day! Who knew there was such a thing? According to the UNESCO site, the World Book and Copyright Day was established “to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.”

April 23 was chosen as a symbolic date for world literature because this day, 23 April and in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

To celebrate, Toni of Wifely Steps devised a bookworms meme of sorts. If you love reading, I invite you to join the celebration by answering these questions:

1. What books are you currently reading?
2. What books are on your to-be-read list?
3. What book/s would you recommend?
4. What book made you fall in love with reading?
5. Do you have a book collection you’re proud of? Tell us about it!

Here are my answers:

1. What books are you currently reading?
Right now I’m reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I haven’t seen the movie yet just because I hadn’t read the book so I thought I better get started. I’m only in the first few chapters but I’m already hooked. I only have about an hour of reading time every night and I have been looking forward to that hour all week. I can’t wait to get in bed!

Another book that I was reading but had put aside this week to read Love in the Time of Cholera is Soul Music by Terry Pratchet. This is another book borrowed from my daughter Asi who has been supplying me with reading material whenever I want to take a break from my usual genres.

2. What books are on your to-be-read list?

I have more, but here are three that are on the line up. I have heard great recommendations for Angela’s Ashes and Anansi Boys and I can’t wait to read them but at the same time, I want to set an opportune time to read them rather than breaking them into my ‘hour before bedtime’ routine. I want to find a weekend where I can spend the whole day on them. I’m hoping

Dragon Rider is a book recommended by The Clone. I just finished reading Brisingr and she’s working her way through Eragon and Eldest at the moment. She says that this book is similar to those but geared for a “younger audience.” Her words, not mine.

3. What book/s would you recommend?
For young readers who like the fantasy genre, I would recommend the three books mentioned above by Christopher Paolini. They are part of The Inheritance Cycle which chronicles the saga of Eragon, the dragon rider and his dragon, Saphira.

For more mature reading, I suggest a book that was first mentioned to me by Toni, The Time Traveler’s Wife. I just finished reading it a few weeks ago and still can’t stop thinking about it. This truly is a great love story that transcends space and time.

4. What book made you fall in love with reading?
I can’t remember a specific book that made me fall in love with reading but I do remember being addicted to comic books when I was younger. I read all sorts of comic books from the super hero types to the girly ones, I read whatever I can get my hands on. Which is why, I am mystified that now I can’t seem to get into the graphic novels that my daughters are into. We have tons of manga and anime books on our shelves and I’ve read only a couple of them despite the urgings I get from my daughters. Maybe it’s the backwards (back to front, right to left) format of the manga books that’s keeping me from getting into them. I don’t know.

5. Do you have a book collection you’re proud of? Tell us about it!
I don’t really have a formal book collection per se. The books on our bookshelves are whatever books we happen to pick up during our forays to the bookstore. I just joined PaperBackSwap.com for the sole purpose of trading some of my books so I won’t have to spend more money on new ones. I have most of the titles on my bookshelf available for swapping.

However, there are a select few that I wouldn’t trade so I guess those would comprise my ‘collection’ if you want to call it that. My cookbooks are precious to me and I probably would never trade them. Books by my favorite authors, and my classics collection will probably never make the swap list either. I also have a collection of hardback fairy tale books, well worn from when the girls were still read to at bedtime. I’m keeping those for sentimental reasons. Books that were given as gifts and were inscribed as such, I’m keeping those too. It’s a great way to remember special times and special people.

So there you go…
If you love books, I invite you to answer these questions too and either post them on your blogs or in the comments section. I’d love to hear your answers! Your book recommendations are also welcome.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.