Over the course of the year, a full programme of events will take place aimed at encouraging both residents and tourists to discover the pleasures of opening up a book and reading in any form.

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You can't criticise a book without opening the cover any more than you can criticise a TV programme without switching on the box.

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"While their official role is law enforcer, tax collector and advertiser, license plates moonlight as reporters, artists, sociologists, historians, psychologists and statisticians, " he says in the opening of his book, A Moving History.

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In the course of a long and widely-publicised trial its opening lines were read by millions who would not normally pick up a book of poetry.

ECONOMIST: Allen Ginsberg

From the opening page, he makes it plain that this is a very different book.

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However, his provocative book is, by and large, a well-aimed opening shot in a debate that will only grow louder in coming months.

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The books serve as ice-breakers: people can focus on their book rather than themselves, and each person approaching another has a perfect opening line.

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The records have been made available to coincide with the latest big-screen version of the book - a film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio is released in May and is opening Cannes Film Festival.

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