World Book Night: 100 Greatest Books...as selected by you.

Well, not really. More like "selected by you and an undetermined number of other people across the globe [with a decidedly British flavor]."

World Book Night will be held April 23, 2012, to coincide with...umm, well it's going to parallel the, uh, the...um. April 23 is the date when the, uh...

I got nothing. I don't know why the organizers picked that date. Earth Day? Isn't that in late April? Yeah, let's go with that. When you think about the sheer amount of trees that give up their lives every day to become a book, it only makes sense to align yourself with an environmental cause. It's called synergy, folks. It's the Circle of Life! Strike up the Elton John!



Anywho, why it's World Book "Night" is equally unexplained. You're supposed to read in the dark, I think, like when you were a portly eleven year old reading under covers with a flashlight, straining your eyes and causing your mother to yell that you'd make yourself blind. (And are you wearing glasses now?? See--your mom was right.)

The 100 Greatest Books is a list constantly in flux, as the more everyday, average folk vote on the list the more the list changes. For reasons that aren't entirely explained, the list is locked in for Britain--so their 100 Greatest Books are already selected. But we're America! The land of the lazy and sometimes illiterate, which means the list isn't set just yet.

So far the list is already shady. Anything with Jodi Picoult, Cormac McCarthy, and Twilight sounds like a bad weekend at Barnes & Noble's holiday clearance rack, which is why you should go on to the 100 Greatest website, create an account with a fake username (I'm Vinny BoomBatz), and develop your own list of non-Soccer Mom affiliated texts.

And come April 23, 2012, you can join me under the covers reading by a flashlight. Under your own covers, I mean. Let's not get too cozy just yet. Your book selection is highly questionable, and you've never offered to buy me dinner.