“After a day spent staring at a computer monitor, think of (a) book as a kind of screen saver for your brain”

I like to read. I really like to read. But I'm very picky about what I read. I DO judge books by their covers. I DO NOT wait to finish at least 3 chapters or 100 pages to decide if I want to keep reading. Authors take note: You CAN lose in me 5 pages and under. Publishers I don't care how good the text is, the cover better be good.

I started reading a book this morning and it was around page 3 that I realized that this is the kind of book for me. Spud by John van de Ruit is totally awesome! (hello, 1995) What I mean is that it's filled with witty dialog, funny funny situations, and completely relatable character. I would tell you more, but I'm only on page 30. But he had me at page 3, line 3. Good thing I live alone...my shrieking could have woken the dead.

Speaking of reading here's a scary statistic: in 2006, 46% of adults in the U.S. finished at least one book. ONE BOOK! 54% of you didn't even read ONE BOOK! Were you too busy watching American Idol? Maybe you were chatting yourselves to death on your cell. News flash: there are good books out there. Many are being adapted for these new fangled things called movies. YES, you read it here first! You can READ a story and then WATCH it! How cool is that? Then you can gripe about how the book was better. It must be working... three of 2008's best picture nominees were written stories first.

Anyhoo...I digress. This past week I've read some great things... A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (great, great, great), 7th Heaven by James Patterson (the best fluff since the Marshmallow kind), The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig (a historical mystery that's not hard to follow?!?! What a novel idea!)

Are you one of the 46%? What are you reading?
Jack Kerouac was born today in 1922. So was Edward Albee, in 1928.