Books Galore!

If you know me in real life you'll know how much I love to read. I'll read pretty much anything though chick-lit and thriller/mysteries are probably my favourite genres at the moment. I love a well-written chick-lit book: something with likeable characters, that makes me laugh out loud at the dialogue, smile with satisfaction at the turn of events and shed a tear or two (ok, occasionally sob my head off) at the inevitable sad stuff. There's nothing worse than reading a book where you don't actually like the main characters all that much. And yes, it happens more than you'd think. I also love a well-written thriller, one that keeps me guessing and frightens the daylights out of me at the same time. I hate working out who the killer is on page 12 and having to read another 200-odd pages to be proved right. It's okay to have a hunch, and even better to change your mind about who the villain might be three or four times through the story, but it's just plain annoying when it's so completely obvious right from the get-go.

Maggie Alderson, who incidentally is one of my favourite chick-lit authors - heck, she's just one of my favourite authors all round, recently tweeted that she was going to keep a list of all the books she reads in 2010. I tweeted back asking if she planned to count re-reads or if they had to all be new reads and... she replied to me. OMG. I just about fell of my chair. My brushes with famous people are few and far between and this one ranks right up there! Anyway, she said she was planning to count re-reads but would mark them accordingly. So... I've started my own list. It's down a ways on the side bar and I'll add to as I read more. I don't have a goal number or anything like that, I'm just interested to see the volume I read (I know it's generally what other people term 'a lot') and the kind of stuff I read.

My rules for my list?

- Pretty much everything I read will be added. Except crappy little romance novels. Like Mills&Boon. Because it's kind of embarrassing to admit that, yes, I do read them and, because they take me about 45 minutes to read and are fluffy and light I particularly like them when life is heavy and I need to chill out a bit. But I will include the heftier historical romance-y ones that I'm quite enjoying at the moment. By the end of the year you'll no doubt be horrified by the amount of utter crap that I read. And enjoy.

- re-reads will be marked with an * and there will be re-reads. There are several books that I read once every year. You'll see them as time goes on. There are already a couple on there.

- I won't include books I don't finish. Although for me to not finish a book is pretty rare. It's more common that I'll get to the end and then exclaim, "That was the worst book I ever read." And then hubby questions why I bothered finishing it and I tell him I need to know how it ended and he shakes his head and wanders off muttering about mad women. And yes, I am one of those annoying people who check the last page before reaching the end of the book. Can't help it, won't apologise for it.

- I'll only include cookbooks if I read them sort-of properly. Not if I just skim through and look at the pictures. There's one coming up.

- If I love a book I'm going to blog about it. Again,there's one coming up. If you love a book I'd really like you tell me about it. At least recommend it to me so I can check it out.

So, any thoughts? Anything you want to suggest for my rules? Any books you want to recommend? I'd love to hear what you think. And if you want to play along, let me know.