February 29, 2012

World Book Day

Did you know that March 1st is World Book Day? It’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in more than 100 countries all over the world.Prof MackseyI am behind World Book Day 100%! I can’t imagine not having books to read. Or not being able to read. I can’t sit still without reading something… anything, even the back of the cereal box!  We are so lucky to have the Book Thing in Baltimore. Since all of the books are FREE, I can take and keep the ones I want, and return the ones I’ve finished.adventureSome of my favourite design books are listed along the right side of the blog, and they all have links either to posts I did about them, or where you can buy them.dictionaries a la kate spadeI can’t remember when I first started reading, but I do remember reading books like Nancy Drew, which started my life long love of mysteries.  Both of the houses where I grew up had libraries, and I remember sitting for hours, looking at the books there. 1049You can just see my father’s collection of red Baedekers’ Travel Guides in the left corner of this room. He had shelves built in on the wall opposite the fireplace for all of his books. At one point, he had more than 4,000 books! But that’s nowhere near the number that Johns Hopkins Professor Richard Macksey has in his house (top image). His floors had to be reinforced!This is just a small portion of one of my book cases, and you can see some of my father’s old travel books in the upper left of the book case.

Happy World Book Day!

17 comments:

  1. I love reading, and I've never heard of World Book Day. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. My husband is convinced that books are becoming obsolete due to e-readers. That is not to say he would ever go without books. He keeps a box of unread books in his trunk...just in case. I could not give up the tactile feel of a real book either.

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  3. It is so great that you have some of your Father's travel books, Meg! I wish we had a Book Thing here!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  4. What a fantastic way to start the month. Thanks for the notice, Meg; like Jennifer, I've never heard of World Book Day. I'm going to go give my favorite tomes a kiss.

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  5. Love the idea of books in the trunk! Ditto about cereal boxes. I know when I learned to read: I was almost 4 and my brother was a slow reader. My parents would help him every night with his reading. I listened in and WOW! it didn't take long. Being the pesky younger sister tired of her bigger brother getting all the attention, I surprised my family when I answered a question in my brother's homework because I had READ it! Books make a room and they make a life.

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  6. I adore books and getting lost in another world, fiction and non-fiction. Love the cover on I Married Adventure. Oh, P.S. I never found the dang dragon cards. I cannot for the life of me think of what I did with them. They were quite severe and sophisticated, sort of Wallis Simpson-ish and not really me, so I can't imagine that I used them all. Anyway, if they ever turn up I'll send them along. Have a fun weekend.

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  7. Me, too. I don't know where I would be without books.......I don't have a kindle thingy (not a word) because I love to touch what I'm reading, I love the feel of the paper, the look of the different prints, the covers and the PICTURES!! (Not forgetting the words and where they take me) Mary

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  8. I was lucky enough to snag a copy of I Married Adventure at an extremely modest cost after reading a post of someone in the blogging world--could have been you. Highly recommend it to your readers.

    My home is full of books, but I find as I get older that I do not have to own every book I read. Therefore, I put my local library to good use. Still very resistant to a Kindle, but can see how it would be handy if I were a world traveler.

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  9. Book Day, who knew..not me. Thank you,Meg xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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  10. I was chosen to distribute 50 copies of the book of my choice last year to work colleagues and friends. 20K people in Britain are chosen every year to give away millions of free books to celebrate World Book Day. I chose "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
    Do you have the same thing in the US?
    Di
    x

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  11. Let us hope we will never be without books.
    I think i could almost live in my library were it a little larger. i too like the tactile feel of books, their cover and the design, the font, etc. There are several good books for people who love books and who collect books. One title is At Home With Books.
    THANKS for telling us about World Book Day.

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  12. Happy World Book Day Meg!

    I left a comment 1st thing this morning but it didn't post.

    One coffee and 1/2 hour later I realized I wasn't signed in but I was plugged in to the idea.

    Cheers to books and those of us who love them.

    xo Jane

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  13. i had no idea this was a holiday and a great one indeed!

    i graduated from dr. seuss to nancy drew with dreams of being a private detective........ahhhh.....the fantasties reading inspires
    debra

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  14. My daughter's MS had Literacy Celebration Day today and now that you say its World Book Day, I know why. Thanks for enlightening me!

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  15. Thank you for alerting me to World Book Day on march 1st. I had no idea...but I do love books!

    Your book shelves and the way you've style them are beautiful. How wonderful to have your father's old travel books.

    annie

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  16. But Meg, it's also St. David's Day! Did you wear your leek?! (Or maybe a daffodil?)

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