World Book Day

Apparently, March 1 has been designated World Book Day. I missed it, because it's only 10 years old - another product of the recent mania for day/week/month dedicating (did you know that September's "National Chicken Month"?)- and thus not particularly widely-known. I wonder if the obsession with dedicating days to worthy causes (usually with silly results, I've observed) has anything to do with a deep-rooted cultural void felt since Western civilization left Catholicism and its many feast days.....

Anyway, such absurd speculation aside, I found the World Book Day survey's results almost uniformly satisfying.

The top ten are as follows:

1) Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 20%
2) Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien 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%
= His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 6%
10) Great Expectations – Charles Dickens .55%

I love them all except Harry Potter and "His Dark Materials", the latter of which I don't love because I haven't read it. Actually, I'm not a great fan of 1984 either, but I respect it for its "well-writtenness", certainly. (Yes, I made up the word "well-writtenness")

Further Comment from the World Book Day Website:

"Results reveal that Pride and Prejudice tops the list"

Hip, hip, huzzah!!!

"with Tolkein’s fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, in second place."

Jolly good show, what?

"Two of the Bronte sisters appear alongside Charles Dickens, showing that classics are still the most essential reads."

Haven't sensible people said this all along?

"The Bible is also still relevant to many, coming in sixth in the poll."

*guffaw* ---- I'm afraid I can't comment here... the inferences in that sentence are far too uncontrovertible.