World Book Day

Apparently it's World Book Day today, so I thought I should let everyone know since, obviously, I love books. According to a poll, here are the top ten books people cannot live without:

1) Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (20%)
2) Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkein (17%)
3) Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte (14%)
4) Harry Potter books – J K Rowling (12%)
5) To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee (9.5%)
6) The Bible (9%)
7) Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte (8.5%)
8) 1984 – George Orwell (6%)
9) His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (6%)
10) Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (.55%)

I would say that is a pretty strong list, but I would subsitute a few of my own in there. Ian McEwan, Oscar Wilde, perhaps Bill Bryson for humor. Hmm, I think I would do better with a list of authors I could not live without because, although Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book too, I love all of Jane Austen's books. So my list might perhaps look something like this:

1) Jane Austen
2) JK Rowling
3) Virginia Woolf
4) Ian McEwan
5) JR Tolkien
6) Oscar Wilde
7) CS Lewis
8) Charles Dickens (if alone for the sheer amount of material you'd have)
9) Philip Roth
10) Oh don't make me choose....I guess Bill Bryson

The Bible would of course be good to have, but I'm dealing with fiction alone here. There's loads of history books I'd love too, but the list called for ten. There's no way I could really choose ten because I'm leaving out authors I love such as Hemingway, Faulkner, and others because I had to choose somehow. Oh anyway, go celebrate today by picking up a great book and having a nice read. I'm sure the weather will comply. At least it's very compliant here.