This is the second year of Spread the Word: Books to Talk About.
Last year’s winner Boy A by Jonathan Trigell and all the other titles have been archived here for you to take a look at, at the request of many of our site visitors who found it an invaluable aid to choosing good reads.
Publishers wishing to learn more about submitting titles for the 2010 list should contact the WBD co-ordinator : worldbookday@blueyonder.co.uk
Natasha Mostert and her book The Season of the Witch was named the winner of The Book to Talk About 2009. Natasha was announced as winner at a ceremony in London on World Book Day, Thursday 5 March 2009.
To see the shortlist click on 'the Shortlist' in the navigation above.
Guilty Secrets Survey results revealed!
Two thirds of people have claimed to read a book they haven’t
• 65% of people have lied about reading a book they haven’t, with 1984 being the most popular book to pretend to have read
• 41% of respondents confess to having turned to the last page to find out what happens before finishing a book
• 96% of people admit to staying up late to finish a book
George Orwell’s 1984 tops the list of books that people pretend they have read, in a survey carried out for World Book Day 2009 to uncover the nation’s guilty reading secrets. Of the 65% who claimed to have read a book which in truth they haven’t 42% admit to having said they had read modern classic 1984.
Those who lied have claimed to have read:
1. 1984 by George Orwell (42%)
2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (31%)
3. Ulysses by James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%)
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (15%)
7. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. In Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (6%)
10. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (6%)
About Spread the Word: Books to Talk About
Thousands of books are published every year, and only a small percentage makes the mark that it should.
The World Book Day team asked publishers large and small to submit books they thought deserved to reach a wider readership – most specifically those that would make good subjects for discussion, those that don’t merely entertain, but give greater food for thought.
From the many submissions received, we selected fifty titles we felt fulfil the criteria.
This year we have included both fiction and non-fiction on the list, with something for all interests and tastes.
Voting on the long list ended at 12 noon on 2nd January 2009. A shortlist of ten titles was announced on 30th January 2009 when voting recommenced. Voting closed at noon on Friday 27th February. The winner was announced on World Book Day - Thursday 5th March 2009
