LAURA CARTLEDGE Life's Like That...Love of reading is a gift I'll share to celebrate World Book Night

You can track my childhood through Enid Blyton’s adventures, to the wizarding world of Harry Potter – which I will admit took me into my adult years, too.

Then of course there are the pages that are yet to be turned at all. Like Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom – a book so fat it might have to wait until I retire.

It is fair to say books definitely play a big part in my life – which is why I am so excited for Monday.

April 23 is already an important day for literature as it is Shakespeare’s birth day and death day, but this year it has also been chosen as the date for World Book Night.

The event sees 20,000 people across the country each give away 24 copies of a book they love.

And this year – I will be one of them.

My book is the Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger.

The title may sound like it is a tedious attempt at reinventing the rom-com, but ‘you shouldn’t judge it by its cover’.

Inside is a compelling tale of main characters Claire and Henry, who meet when Claire is six and Henry is 36 but marry when Claire is 20 and Henry 28.

Despite the unusual circumstances, everyone can relate to the themes of love and loss – whether your partner is a time traveller or otherwise. When it was made into a movie in 2009 I couldn’t wait to see what the film-makers had done with the story.

More often than not this is the main reason I go to the cinema, and I always endeavour to read before I watch. But I know many people do not have the time, energy or desire to do both, which I think is a real shame.

With this is mind I will be giving my books away at the wonderful Picturedrome in Bognor Regis. So please feel free to join me, from 7pm, to help celebrate books and this special cinema.

laura,[email protected]