Books glorious books . . . Why and What I plan to review here.

Right, after eating and cooking, I spend much of my waking life reading and writing. I have always meant to make a note of all the books I read, and have drawn up an excel spreadsheet to keep track of which books I have read, own in hardcover or paperback (and which language I own them in), how I have rated them, who I have gifted them to, and so on. Unfortunately I usually go from finishing one book to reading another without putting it on the spreadsheet. I think I might give up the pretense of keeping track of the hundreds of books I read a year, and just annotate the really remarkable ones, and the ones I have in my library.

BUT I really do want to be able to look back and see what I have read, and how much of each type of book . . . I have the feeling that I go in weird cycles and reread my favourite books in times of stress. That could also be because during exam times, I cut myself off from the library and only have in-house stuff to consume. Sort of like a book diet, but as with most diets, success is minimal. Anyways, I plan to review the books I read here, on my blog. Hopefully I'll admit to most of the crap books I read as well as the more worthy items. Maybe it will inspire me to read more quality reads, and more of the classics that I have been meaning to get to . . . some of which I even own. My current roommate has sadly been the only one to read my copies of Vanity Fair and The World According to Garp. It's not that I don't think I would appreciate the books . . . but they look like a pretty steep committment during the school terms, and also I own them. No due date and they are less likely to be snagged on a whim for ten minutes entertainment, which is usually how I start an multi-hour reading binge.

It should be noted that my idea of an embarassing book to be found reading is not standard. Several of my favourite authors are young adult authors, and as far as I am concerned they write some of the best stuff anyone can read. Diana Wynne Jones, my favourite YA writer, has a huge following of adult fans (many of whom notice that not only is her stuff deeper and more original than JK Rowling, but she has been writing it for 30 years). Her take on writing adult books is that she has to dumb things down for adults . . . children are often more perceptive, and think about the characters and pick up on tones and clues faster than adults do. I must agree that the current trend in general fiction seems to be SPELLING EVERYTHING OUT, which is why I love DWJ and Lois McMaster Bujold. They have a theory that the reader will be able to fill in all sorts of blanks, and that the reader will bring in a lot to their reading experience . . . a writer might write on a blank page, but the reader doesn't come to the book with a blank mind. I hope that my writing will eventually show the same respect for the reader. Most importantly, I hope that I eventually have readers . . . but hell, aim high and you might miss, but you won't be shooting yourself in the foot. My favourite reads are NOT predictable, and make me feel I have learned something about people and life.

One of the reasons that I read so much Young Adult stuff is that as far as I can tell, most of the plotlines I work on are young adult oriented. Hell, a lot of the most interesting and complicated adventures in your life happen when you lack real responsibilities, hormonal control, and common sense. Something suggests to me that the age of 13 to 21 is ripe for this. Besides, I don't know a whole lot about what it feels like to be 40, and I would prefer to keep the non-fantasy elements of my books as plausible as possible.