Isn’t it strange how now virtually everyone keeps a blog, well everyone bar me but that’s mainly down to my growing obsession with Masterchef – seriously why do John Torode and Greg whateverhisnameis need to shout all the time? Are all the contestants hearing impaired? And the masticating that goes on! But it’s all worth it when some poor fool serves up raw chicken and the two shouty men get all serious on their sorry wannabe chef asses. Moral of the story, raw meat is bad. But I digress, blogs, everyone has one. I like reading them. I think they are a wonderful insight into people and the things that fascinate them. A good blog, for me, is someone writing about something they love be it fashion, food, politics or words. For instance BBC News reporter Justin Webb has a great blog about the race for the White House, which is of course another obsession of mine. I have no idea what a Caucus is (place in Russia?) but I am all over it like a rash.

However in the course of my extensive wilfing, I stumbled across a great little blog about books called The Year of Reading Dangerously, which basically allows you to sign up for the challenge of reading authors, genres etc that have previously intimidated you. And you read at least one of these a month. Let’s face it, we all have a mental reading list of books we want to read, and trust me when you work in publishing that mental reading list tends to be HUGE, but quite often we bypass these books simply because we’re a wee bit intimidated by the book in question. I allowed myself to be scared off by A Suitable Boy (all 1,500 pages) for ages but when I finally took the plunge I was hooked from the very start. In fact it was probably one of the most rewarding books I’ve ever read and each time I see it on my shelf I feel a real sense of warmth.

While I may not be able to keep up with the pace set on The Year of Reading Dangerously (this is mainly due to having stacks to read already, having to read stuff for work and obviously Masterchef which will no doubt give way to something else in Spring) I think it’s a really great thing to step outside your comfort zone. I, for one, am going to make a real effort to read some more Tolstoy as Jonathan Dimbleby has really piqued my interest and I also adored Anna Karenina.

I’m also going to make a concerted effort to read more Irish writers, especially Maeve Brennan, as I feel oddly disconnected from my homeland in terms of literature. I think this all seems perfectly feasible. There is absolutely no point is setting yourself some lofty target which you’re never likely to achieve. If you know you’re never likely to get through Crime and Punishment then don’t put it on your list. Reading is meant to be a pleasure not a chore, though Lord knows that statement is often put to the test in publishing. So people, I urge you to make a list, check it twice and get cracking.

Vincent - Sales Assistant