Iceland’s love affair with literature, why every night is a book night and the story of a give-away vampire.

A few weeks ago, it was World Book Night. An annual event designed to promote the joys of reading a proper book, one with actual pages and everything, one million books were given away in one night by an army of volunteers. World Book Night also distributes an impressive 620, 000 books to hospitals, shelters, care homes and prisons throughout the year.

I really liked the idea from the outset. Firstly, I am a sucker for books and a visit to a bookshop, a really good one, can take hours out of my day. Staff at Eymundson on Austurstræti can confirm this. I think that there is a simple pleasure to holding and reading a book; one that e-publishing may ultimately struggle to recreate.

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