Wednesday 21 October 2009

Introduction

I'm starting this blog for myself as much as for anyone else to read. I want to regularly write, and regularly publish something, even if only a handful of people read this. As a big reader – meaning I love to read, and not that I'm a bit on the chubby side– I get through a fair few books, even though I'm a slow (I say thorough) reader. I also have whimsical dreams of writing my own stories sometime in the future, so I like to think a lot about what I read, what it says about me for reading it and what it says about the general mood of the reading public at the moment. Or something like that, hopefully with less pretentiousness...


In addition to being a bit of a bookworm, I've also recently become a new father. Those two things don't often go together, I know, but I'm managing to balance them for the time being. So I'm going to write about that too, as well as sharing anything interesting on the internet that I might come across, as well as discussing music and films... Maybe I'll have seen/read/heard something you haven't, and you can link or suggest to me something I'm unaware of, so there's something in it for everybody. Finally, I'm currently writing reviews for various publications, so I'll put them up on here for your perusal too.


Anyway, I have some strange reading habits. I like to think I'm an eclectic reader, with wide-ranging tastes, sampling a bit of anything that appeals in order to improve my mind but maybe really I just read any old rubbish I can find. An eccentric reader might be more accurate.


I think I have a form of literary ADD, in which I'll pick up one book whilst I'm in the middle of another. Again, not because I'm so intelligent that I can focus on multiple stories at the same time, recalling the intricacies of many plots and appreciating not just one, but several master wordsmiths at once – but more because I have a short attention span. Either way, I've currently maxed out my public library card (meaning I have 20-plus library books around the house!)


So, out of interest, here's a rough list of the books I'm currently reading:


20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (on audiobook)
Bird by Bird, a book on writing
Museum of Terror Volume 3, by Junji Ito – a horror manga anthology
Jamaican Witchcraft: The Reluctant Obeah Man
Horowitz Horror, by Antony Horowitz (what were the odds?)


They're the ones I can remember anyway. Along with this, I'm dipping into various short story collections and podcasts of old time horror radio shows. I read a lot of graphic novels/comic books, as well as horror and short stories, but I'm also interested in British legends and folklore, world mythology, local history and young adult reading. A lot, basically.


So anyway, this blog is going to be first and foremost a type of reading diary, where I can recommend or rave and rant against books I've enjoyed or detested. Apart from that, we'll see. Personally I think I'll be doing well if I make it to a 3rd post.


Welcome aboard.