005.

Snobbery annoys me.  It especially annoys me when it comes to reading.  I love to read, all the time, almost anything.  I've read books walking down the street, while travelling, on the beach, in the bath, sitting on the pavement, at a gig in between bands, once even during a band, but I think that says more about the band than it does about my love of reading.  When I was in Primary School, my reading age was advanced I was allowed to bring my own books in.  Yes, I was the geeky 8/9 year old reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography while other kids read, well, I don't know what they read because I wasn't reading it.  What do normal 8/9 year olds read?  Remember, this was pre-Harry Potter!

Reading is one of my favourite things in the world to do.  It allows you to escape into another world, it lets you learn about people's lives, different experiences, other countries, pretty much everything in the world can be learnt about from a book.  Even how to fight zombies, which is obviously a necessary skill to have.  I encourage everyone to read, whatever you're interested in, find a book about it and get stuck in.  It's so much fun.  Join your local library before the Tories close it and discover shelves and shelves of free books!  Why, yes, my perfect gift would go something like this clip:

Look at all the books!  Beauty And The Beast was released when I was about 7 years old and it was such a great movie to me because Belle read and didn't take crap from anyone.  Even studying media and the evil Disney machine didn't put me off loving that movie.  Books!  Reading!  Yay!

Anyway, my lack of snobbery when it comes to books means I have no shame in saying I own a large collection of Sweet Valley University, Nancy Drew and CSI books.  I have biographies and autobiographies about people from the aforementioned Mr Mandela to Tommy Lee to Robbie Williams to Jeffrey Dahmer to Pamela Des Barres to Bret Hart.  I read Camus' The Stranger when I was 13, but I also enjoy trashy chick lit.  Chuck Palahniuk rests next to Kevin Smith who rests next to Mick Foley on my bookshelf.  Heck, I've even read a couple of Katie Price's fiction books.  Which does make me wonder if I'm the only person to have read Camus and Katie Price.  Anyone else out there?

This year I decided to keep an ongoing tally of the books I read, just so I can look back and see both what, and how much, I actually read because I've never paid attention before.  So, here's the list.  Re-reads are indicated by an asterisk and if I read the book again during the year, I simply list it again.  It's been an interesting experiment so far, we'll see how it progresses.

1. My Appetite For Destruction - Steven Adler
2. Assholes Finish First - Tucker Max*
3. Notting Hell - Rachael Johnson
4. Strip City - Lily Burana*
5. Kill Your Friends - John Niven
6. Bye Bye Baby - Caroline Sullivan*
7. Tattoos and Tequila - Vince Neil
8. No Angel - Jay Dobyns
9. Assholes Finish First - Tucker Max*
10. Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes*
11. Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married - Marian Keyes*
12. Dirty Cash - David Southwell
13. A Lion's Tale - Chris Jericho*
14. Undisputed - Chris Jericho
15. Got Fight? - Forrest Griffin*
16. CSI: Skin Deep - Jerome Presler*
17. CSI: Brass In Pocket - Jeff Marriotte*
18. Can You Keep A Secret? - Sophie Kinsella*
19. CSI: Blood Quantum - Jeff Marriotte*
20. The Godfather - Mario Puzo*
21. Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis
22. Palo Alto - James Franco
23. CSI NY: Four Walls - Keith R A DeCandido

I always have to have more than one book on the go.  Right now I think I have about 4 or 5, a couple of autobiographies, a book about Hells Angels and a couple of CSI books.  I never know what I'll be in the mood for, and it means reading never becomes dull, there's always something else I can pick up if I get a bit tired of what I'm reading.

xo