Interrogation Room
World Book Day
If there was ever a day to celebrate, I think World Book Day is a good choice.
World Book Day is an annual event organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to promote reading, publishing, and copyright. The first World Book Day was celebrated on April 23,1995 and continues to be recognized on that day.
I learned my love of reading from my mother. She was an avid reader. I remember her saying to me once, “You are never wasting money when you buy a good book.” I believe she learned that from her father, who was a man who loved books and reading.
That was good news for me, when I was a kid in school and there would be a book fair where the kids were sent home with a pamphlet of available books to purchase. My mom, being a child of the Depression, rarely allowed money to be spent unnecessarily. However, when the book fair rolled around, I was allowed to purchase one book from the pamphlet.
Later, when I was older (and a budding avid reader myself), I took interest in my mom’s collection of Reader’s Digest Condensed books that would arrive monthly…or maybe quarterly (I think) in the mail. The books had been shortened for quick consumption, and she collected those volumes of bestselling books for decades. I enjoyed many of the stories. As someone who now writes novels, I can’t imagine cutting down my books to novella-size and have them make sense.
Just about the time I was publishing my first novel, A Dozen Deadly Roses, my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She never read any of the books I’ve written, but she was always interested in my stories. When I told her my sales numbers, she’d gasp and say, “I can’t believe you’ve sold that many books.” She was very proud of me, although she didn’t understand the concept of reading electronically—even when I showed her my books on my iPad. With her new, but diminished capabilities, she was an excellent person to test plot ideas on…once she’d heard the plot, she’d promptly forget it. Truth be told, I don’t think she followed the plot all that well, but she enjoyed hearing about what I was writing.
Electronic publishing has changed how many people read…and now with audio books there are even more choices for book consumption. While my books aren’t in audio form right now, that’s something I’m planning for the near future. Just stop and think about how far we’ve come with our ability to share stories and knowledge in the past few decades.
But whether you read via e-book, audiobook, or good, old-fashioned, print books, you know the joy of getting lost in a good story and sharing the lives of the characters and their experiences. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate World Book Day.
I’d love to know…what’s your favorite book of all time? Mine—Gone With the Wind. I’ve read the book at least thirteen times. Shoot me an email with your favorite book title, and I’ll list them in my next newsletter. Write to me here: Kathy@KathyBennett.com
Until next time,
KMA 367
Remain vigilant…
#World Book Day #reading #publishing #electronic books #audio books
