World Book Day. Kind of.

It's World Book Day, apparently. But only in the UK. And though various book-related twitter accounts are asking everyone what they're reading (In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard, since you ask), the event itself seems to be aimed at children and to be run through schools. Though most of the parents I've spoken to today (not that many, admittedly) have children who weren't taking part.

Nonetheless, any encouragement to read, particularly for children who are bombarded by the competing distractions of the modern world (cue the headshake and 'it weren't like that in my day') has to be a good thing. Niche as it seems to be, there is no reason not to take World Book Day at something more like face value and use it as an excuse to read a book from a different country. It could be in translation (or, if you're multilingual, in a foreign language) or you could dive into the world of English language books from other places like Canada, New Zealand, Ireland.

I have to admit, I don't always know (or indeed care) where the author hails from, when I read a book. If it's set in the south of England, like In Pale Battalions, I'll probably assume the author's English (having just looked it up, Goddard is indeed from the south of England), and maybe it's the setting that's the key, not the author's nationality. You can go anywhere in the pages of a book, experience other cultures and viewpoints, other priorities and ways of whiling away the day. You could go around the world in 80 books. Maybe that could be an aim for the next World Book Day.