World Book Day

Hello everyone,

Next Thursday (1^st March) is world book day!

What is world book day?

According to the website, World Book Day is:

“World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.”

When I was younger, I used to absolutely love World Book Day, dressing up as my favourite book characters (I of course went as Hermione Granger in year 3) and getting a voucher for a book!!

Unfortunately, I’m probably a bit old to dress up now, but there are other ways to celebrate World Book Day as a grown-up. I thought I’d write this post and give some book recommendations that I’ve enjoyed. We have a beautiful library in Birmingham, as well as a Waterstones and Foyles. Waterstones has a lovely café – why not treat yourself to a new book and spend an afternoon with a hot drink there?

• The Harry Potter series by J K Rowling

Of course, this is going to be my number one recommendation! I absolutely love Harry Potter- it’s not just a kid’s book! I read it first as a child but re-reading it as an adult gives a new perspective to the darker and more mature elements of the series. My favourite book in the series is Order of the Phoenix (although it’s my least favourite film) because of how richly detailed it is.

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is one of the most beautiful yet heartbreaking books that I have ever read. It is set in World War Two where the main character Liesel is adopted by a family who harbour a Jewish man called Max. She gets taught how to read by her foster father and goes on to steal books that the Nazis are going to destroy and writes her own story.

• The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

As a teenager, I really enjoyed reading Young Adult dystopian/fantasy fiction (think Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner etc.) and this book is a really funny and refreshing twist on the genre, like nothing I’ve read before. The book focuses on ‘the rest of us’ – they’re not the ‘chosen ones’ who save the world, instead they’re in the background, the onlookers who are just living their lives whilst supernatural occurrences are happening in the world. It covers themes of friendship, love, mental illness, and enjoying life and is a really great read.

If you have any recommendations, please leave them in the comments below!

Until next time,

Ellie