RecommendedReads: Happy World Book Day

Its World Book Day today and no one’s more excited than us here at The Caterpillar Café. Aimed at children and young adults, basically, anybody below the age of 18 years, the UNESCO supported celebration will give out close to 14 million National Book Tokens worth £1. These tokens can be exchanged for specially priced World Book Day books. Too bad it’s only for minors, eh? We wouldn’t mind getting our hands on Roald Dahl’s Fantabulous Facts which talks of amazing things like the world's most expensive foods and how to cook a savoury crocodile. Hmm… Wonder if it offers hints about the real Roald Dahl – you know, the dude with the dark passenger who wrote an omnibus of stories that would kill Charlie's grandpa Joe and make Matilda finally seek therapy? Anyway, no tokens for us who live in the rest of the world, as this particular offer is confined to our fellow-readers in the UK and Ireland. This doesn't mean you don't celebrate though. Buy a book, not a drink.

Which brings me to the debate over the price of books compared to their value. I came across this wonderfully hilarious and insightful essay by George Orwell called Books vs Cigarettes in which he appraises the books in his library and then deduces how they are less expensive than smoking. Sure he’s calculating in shillings and pence because it was written oh-so-long ago, but it’s still pertinent to us today. For example: How many books could you have bought with the three large mugs of beer at Woodside Inn? On a week day, no less! Go guzzle that down for a while.

So tell us. What are you reading these days? Are you going to start anything special for World Book Day? I’m thinking of finally tackling Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke. Mustn’t put it off any longer, should I? Ta!

Update@10.02am: Ok so maybe I gave in and ordered Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire just in case...