Bookworms.

A good library will never be too neat or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them. — Lemony Snicket

So, after a rather unnecessary geek day of book blogs and fanfic, I am inspired and determined to create my own bookish blog entry.

I have long been a fan of books and lists. Books about lists, lists about books. Books about lists about books.

A couple of years ago I was given 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die for my birthday. It was the ultimate present - a comprehensive compilation of all the books I should (and would) read before I died. I acquired a pack of coloured stickers and set about bullying my family into totalling up their literary tally.

Now, we are a bookish family. Between us we own seven bookcases and hundreds of books. My bedroom floor is strewn with piles of unread classics. I clearly remember snuggling down in bed to listen to my father's rendition of the Lord of the Rings at six, seven, eight years of age. I am an English Literature student, for heaven's sake. So, it surprised me no end to discover that I had read so few of the books listed. It was double figures, but only at a push. Even my mother, whose red sticker next to Pilgrim's Progress was surely a mark of great things, was floundering somewhere in the forties, barely scraping at 5 per cent. Madness, I thought, utter madness.

And so a titanic reading challenge was born. 1001 books or bust. And above all, I must list and record my progress along the way. After all, this is a book about a list about books.

So far it's a work in progress. Nineteen years of reading = a great big back log of book reviews. So, watch this space and we shall see how it goes. :)