Book Benches of London

When I first came across this concept of book benches, titled Books About Town, I was thrilled as all get out. Imagine sprinkling the entire map of London with scenes from books that are in a permanent, functional sculptural form.
Here was another way to get literature to people by making it accessible and fun. You could take a tour of London by following various trails of book benches. Here's a detailed list of all the benches.

When you read the bios of the artists, you notice that they have a love of reading, interpreting the books, and bringing the messages contained within to the masses. For example, Thomas Dowdeswell chose 1984 by George Orwell, "because of its rallying cry against the corrupting powers of the mass media, boundless corporate greed, sinister or misguided government policy and the constant threat of war and terror."

In order to draw more attention to the benches, different events have been scheduled on different days at different benches. For example, on Sunday, July 6, a person dressed as Mary Poppins was giving away books at specific times at the Mary Poppins book bench.

The book benches will be on view in open public spaces for the months of July through September. Then on October 7, 2014, they will be sold in an auction with proceeds going to "the National Literacy Trust, a charity dedicated to raising the literacy levels of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK."

[All images in this post are copyrighted by BooksAboutTown.org.uk.]