World Book Night!

Happy World Book Night/ St. George's Day and Happy Birthday to The Bard, Mr. William Shakespeare!

I rarely need an excuse to shamelessly promote reading to as many people as I possibly can. World Book Night is one of those occasions where I take my babbling off the screen, and out on to the streets of Birmingham.

I've been lucky enough to be a giver for the second year running, and this time saw me giving out 20 copies of 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson. (You can find my review for it here.)
Prepping for the evening is the least exciting bit of the process, but I found myself making little gifts out of the books. Which included little skull-and-cross-bones tags* (pictured), and small handwritten notes on the wrapping paper. Not tooting my own horn, but I would have loved to receive one of my own books this evening!

4pm came far too quickly, but I found myself more than ready to spread the word of literature like pixie dust. Conclusion: The people of Birmingham believe in books! We had the most perfect weather, and I'm sure that made people far more agreeable and open to listen to me. I found myself completely out of books in just under two hours! I still had more than enough time to have a nice conversation with a few of the people I spoke with. It was a beautiful thing, and has topped up my faith in the world of first time readers. And in my city of course.

World Book Night posted an interesting request via their social media pages, asking everyone to update their statuses to, "I love reading because..." At first I found it difficult to put into words just why I love reading, and literature generally.
I feel after my giving today, I feel more would say that I love reading because it's concrete evidence that magic exists in the world.

I hope you all enjoyed your World Book Night as much as I did in whichever way you decided to celebrate. I will now conclude off my evening with some light reading, followed by some heavier reading.

Be sure to follow World Book Night on Twitter, for information about their future events and how to apply to be a giver in 2014.

Happy Reading!
- Kaveeta

* The skull tags were made by my incredibly talented crafty friend Emma. She really is brilliant, if you love these tags, I would strongly recommend checking out and liking her Facebook Pages, here and here. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Book Event: Eoin Colfer

If I had to make a book cocktail, by which I mean a cocktail that would create an ideal book- it would contain the following things:

• Magic
• A little bit of Sci-fi, not talking time travel here, but time travel helps. 
• A painfully funny/inventive author penning the works
• A character, ideally a villain who I can potentially, albeit inappropriately view as sexy and;
• Some fast paced 'I can't put this down' sort of action.
  
  Bonus ingredient:
• A potential candidate for the Severus Snape Award.

Eoin Colfer's first in his new series, seems to possess all these things (the last I won't be sure about until I actually read it). If his Artemis Fowl books are anything to go by, I found myself unable to contain my excitement. I was lucky enough this weekend to attend a Waterstones event/book signing for the promotion of 'The Reluctant Assassin' and I can honestly say I can't remember the last time I've had so much fun. 

The story starts with W.A.R.P (Witness Anonymous Relocation Programme) which is a covert FBI operation that hides witnesses in the past to protect the future.
Riley is an orphan from the Victorian era who is thrown into the 21st century. He is on the run from his
evil master Garrick, a retired magician who uses his magical abilities towards assassination. Together with FBI agent Chevie Savano, Riley attempts to dodge Garrick as they are relentlessly hunted down through time.

Colfer read an excerpt from his book, which 'brought his characters to life on stage'. Magic, fire, hilarity and gun shots came shortly thereafter. The mini-play was followed by an equally hilarious question and answer session, it warmed my heart through seeing how enthusiastic the children in the audience were. It was a great reminder that there are kids out there who are the way I was when I was their age. The event ended with a book signing, and it was needless to say that I was the oldest person getting a book signed for themselves. I HAVE NO SHAME. I relive my youth on a near constant basis, and I guess this time is no different really. Although, I guess there was a bit of embarrassment on my part when everyone thought 'Kaveeta' was my eight year old niece.

'W.A.R.P, A Reluctant Assassin' is out now if you wish to purchase the book. If you're unfamiliar with
the author's work, he is a brilliant children's writer and is the man behind Part Six of Three in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy. You can find out more about his works and the man himself, here. I absolutely cannot wait to get started with this book, and I will definitely be reviewing it as soon as I'm done so watch this space.

I don't usually get in to the habit of posting my face on my entries, but I felt like you all needed to see the sheer joy on my face after the afternoon's theatrics. 
I guess I should thank Waterstones Birmingham for getting such an amazing and hilarious man to do this for us. I'm looking forward to many hours of happy reading!

- Kaveeta.