A Confession

I can't stand reading Dickens.

There.  I said it.

I want to write a blog about books, but I have never been able to get all the way through any of the stories penned by one of the most famous, if not THE most famous author in history.  I've tried.  In high school, in my 20's and even within the last 6 months.  I keep thinking I must be missing something.  He is considered nothing short of a literary genius among so many, and yet I can't stand him.  

So what business do I have starting a blog about books?

Certainly my disdain for the Dickensian canon disqualifies me from being any sort of an authority on what is and is not quality reading material, right?

Probably.  But I'm going to blog about books anyway.  

A lot of the books I write about on this blog aren't going to earn you any credibility among the scholarly or the snobbish.  They will, however, earn you lots of credibility among your girlfriends over a glass of wine or with your co-workers around the water cooler.  I am not a fancy reader.  I will read the classics (not Dickens), yet I will read bestsellers and I will also read the latest YA rage.  Whatever sounds good.  What I hope I get to do is then let you know how I felt about those books, and maybe help you pick out your next beach read (or your next "sneak a few pages while the kids are doing their homework" read).  

If you don't understand the hype around Dickens....or even if you do...welcome to my blog.  Lets read together.