Apparently today is World Book Day. http://www.worldbookday.com/about/ "World Book Day was designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. The origins of the day we now celebrate in the UK and Ireland come from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts to loved ones on St. George’s Day – a tradition started over 80 years ago." (Taken from the site I linked to above.)

In honor of World Book Day, I will rectify what I realized a long time ago was a curious oversight on an entry I wrote about books. (The entry was on or about Aug. 24 of last year and is also on my myspace blog.) I left out one of my most favorite books of all time: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I first came across this book during the summer of 2000. Larry was at AIT at Goodfellow AFB in Texas, and I was at my parents' house in Palmdale. My Mom suggested the book to me. I opened it up and quickly fell completely in. The story is about a WWII combat nurse, Claire. She is on a second honeymoon in Scotland, when she touches a stone circle and is thrown back in time to 1743. There she is embroiled in politics and intrigue, and winds up falling in love in spite of herself. This book is incredibly well written, and is the sort of book that's impossible to put down. I've come back to this book, again and again. I've bought this book several times over, because when I loan a copy out, I can't stand to be without a copy of my own! The storytelling, the characters, the setting - everything about this book is enthralling. By the end, you feel as though the characters are real, and as though you've been through everything they have. Outlander has everything: history, action, intrigue, romance. I highly recommend it. I do have one word of warning: There are (so far) six books in the series (although Outlander can stand on its own nicely). After the fourth book, I'm afraid I was only reading because I loved the characters so much. I didn't like the 5th and 6th books. However, the first, Outlander, is amazing and definitely worth the read.

On the topic of holidays, I meant to write about Pancake Night, aka, Shrove Tuesday (which was not this last Tuesday, but the Tuesday before). I always thought of this as a Catholic holiday. Apparently in the UK, it's a national holiday that everyone can observe. Apparently it's the tradition to have pancakes for dinner, because all the fats in the house were supposed to be used up in preparation for Lent. Even if you don't observe Lent, the pancake part of the tradition lives on. I ran with the Harrogate Harriers that night, and one of the girls in the group asked me if I was going to have pancakes for dinner. (Which I didn't, by the way.) It was also a topic of discussion on the local radio.

Today also happens to be St. David's day, which I know nothing about, except that it seems to be a Welsh holiday.