Did you know that last Wednesday was William Shakespeare’s birthday?

Well it certainly was (I had to be reminded too by the way) and I reckon The Great Bard would have been mightily impressed by the celebrations taking place in bookshops throughout the UK.

This significant date – chosen by UNESCO to mark the international day of the book – is also however WORLD BOOK NIGHT and book sellers large and small took part in the celebrations.

On this night passionate volunteers gave hundreds of thousands of books away in their communities to share the love of reading with people who, for whatever reason, don’t already read for pleasure or own books.

The response to this wonderful grass roots approach manifested itself here at Gulliver’s with a full house of givers – ages ranging from 10 to 80 plus – exchanging and selecting hundreds of books for distribution.

There is always great interest as well in the pile of proofs taken away by avid readers for review. Oh, and the (made easier by popular request) literary quiz, washed down by a glass of wine.

However, as the editor tells me this column is supposed to be a book review, my personal choice to give away on the evening was A Perfect Murder by Peter James.

I recommend it as a cracking read – and after all, as a reader once told me: “You simply can’t beat a good murder.”