how to read by nick hornby is a good article on how we should all be reading things that interest and entertain us and not wading through doorstop books because we think we ought to. i agree entirely.

i started posting all the books i read online over five years ago and sometimes i think i ought to read something to make the list look better, but that rarely works because i get bored. i do like quite a lot of “literary fiction” but wouldn’t want to throw out the mysteries and whatever else, i like a bit of variety. i just keep reading whatever takes my fancy and when i look back over the lists as a whole i think i look like a relatively intelligent reader. i’ve never yet decided not to post something to the booklog.

this quote from the article made me laugh:

very few of us pick up a book after the children are in bed and the dinner has been made and the dirty dishes cleared away.

why on earth would i do the washing up before picking up my book?! i’m not much of a tv watcher, occassionally it enraptures me but mostly it bores me to tears. i can get enveloped into reading chapter after chapter and ignoring my basic bodily needs but don’t like being made to wait until an ad break to get a cup of tea.

[found via rebecca’s pocket]