Your starter for 35

This may sound a little nerdy but for the last two years I’ve been keeping a list of the books that I’ve read (yes, okay, it’s a lot nerdy). I decided to do this because I read very quickly and so I can’t always remember what I’ve read. When I’m actually reading something I’m totally immersed in the plot and invested in the characters, so much so you could tell me you were leaving a million pounds right beside me and, if I’m reading, I wouldn’t hear you or notice when someone else made off with the money. But once that book goes back on my bookshelf, is returned to the library, or is filed in my Kindle cloud, I’m totally invested in the next one.

The number of books I’ve read this year has just passed the number I read in the whole of last year (the 35 of the title, which will have book bloggers and my teenage-self rolling about laughing at how few this is) but it’s great to see for someone always moaning about a lack of time. And it’s fascinating to see how eclectically I read – I don’t think I can say I read in a favourite genre any more. It’s also amazing how it’s almost like a journal in how it maps out my year – in January I wasn’t well so I read 9 books, in April I was editing in every spare second I had so I didn’t read any.

I wish I’d started this list years ago, not least so I could remember the one book I read so many times when I was ten, you’d think the title would be tattooed on my brain – about a gang of kids led by a boy called Ginger, if anyone can help me out.