Greetings everybody, and thank you for 'tuning in' to my blog.

Being partially new to the experience of blog-writing, I find it somewhat dubious that anyone will ever find the time in their busy schedule to sit and read this thoughtless diatribe from a man they've never met. Then again, perhaps this notion is merely a manifestation of low self-esteem. It could be that I am in fact the most fascinating human being who has ever walked the earth, that one day I'll be strolling along the parade grounds of heaven with Lincoln and Gandhi and Shakespeare chatting about what it was like to make a difference in the world and just be generally amazing.

Of course, I find that highly unlikely. But humour a guy, would you?

Whether or not you are in fact reading this (and are not, in fact, a figment of my imagination), here is the grist of my point today: I have a wide variety of interests when it comes to reading. I read comic books, biographies, essays, crime novels, science fiction novels, short stories and personal memoirs. It is a true freedom to have such a variety of tastes when it comes to reading. The only problem is; I can never seem to pin down exactly what kind of books I like to read. Am I fantasy nut? Am I sci-fi nerd? Am I a crime fiction aficionado?

I suppose the answer is; I like all those things. But I don't purposely read constantly within the same genre or subgenre. And it's exactly this constant switching between genres and mediums that makes it hard to know exactly which book I wish to move onto after I finish one that I enjoy. What is my proper course of action? Do I read something similar to the last book I read? Do I read something completely different? If I just read a grisly serial killer novel, do I then turn to a pre-teen romance? (a book, not an actual pre-teen romance. That would be a weird reaction to finishing a book).

In response to this self-imposed question, I've come up with a method to keep me interested and to keep me searching for new things that I enjoy. What I'm doing at the moment is this (and you can feel free to try this at home): I read - in this order - one novel, one graphic novel, and one biography/autobiography/work of nonfiction. This method stops me from getting 'stuck in a rut' with my reading. It brings some excitement back to the process of choosing which book I want to read next.

For example, about a week ago I finished devouring "Preacher Vol. 3" by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, a graphic novel. I had a whole stack of comics I hadn't read yet, but I stopped myself from picking up another one. I thought; no, I'm going to try something different. I'll go to the shops today and find a book that looks good, and I'll take it home and read it. But whatever it is, it has to be a novel. Not a comic book, not a magazine, not a coffee table book. A real novel. So it was that I found a cheap copy of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", a book I had hitherto never thought to read. I bought the book, took it home, and have subsequently fallen in love with it.

Now I'm approaching the end of the novel, and of course I'm anxious to continue straight on to the next book in the series. But I know from experience that if I do that I will quickly become tired of that particular fictional world and will 'abandon ship' so to speak, possibly never to return to the thrilling world of Lisbeth Salander. Therefore, in keeping with my method, I intend to find a biography/autobiography/work of nonfiction on a subject/person that I find interesting. I might look for an autobiography written by a celebrity I admire. It might be a philosophical book on methods to revolutionize our minds and the world around us. Or it might be written about a subject that I have always wanted to discover more about.

Hopefully this method continues to work for me in the future, and I have a feeling it will. For now, I can only say this; using this alternating method, I have managed to sustain my interest and excitement in books and have rarely felt the need to succumb to the persuasive tug of movies and TV. My brain is better exercised, my world is clearer, and my possibilities are endless.

Thank you for reading,

Joe.