"Oh man, not another blog!"

There is something about the experience of opening up a new book and diving into the world inside that strikes a chord with me. Put simply, I love reading! Usually, I have several books that I am consuming at the one time, as if my library were like a Sizzler's bar and I am determined not to miss out on anything on the menu...

But it's the opening pages that never fail to captivate. You can tell so much about a book - whether it is good or bad, whether it will strike or chord or leave you feelilng cold and indifferent - in those first few words, lines and paragraphs. And so I have decided to spend some of my reading time, over the next 365 days, reading the first chapter from some classic novels. And each day (or thereabouts), I will record my responses to these opening pages.

"What's the point?", you might very well ask. Perhaps it's the discipline that comes with the daily dose of chapter consumption and then briefly blogging about the experience. Or maybe, deep down, I just want to be able to say, when it comes to those dinner parties one occasionally attends on a Saturday night, "Oh yes, Austen's writing in Pride and Prejudice was so much better than when she wrote Persuasion."

And just as our reading of any book elicits certain reactions, so too this blog will hopefully prompt comments and criticisms, bouquets and brickbats, about either the books themselves, or my writings in response to them. It's likely that my reflections will be not just about the books but also about this entire blogging process!

(For the record, I have just read the first chapter in Persuasion but can make no comparison with it and Pride and Prejudice...that's tomorrow night's chapter and blog).

(PPS. The opening headline, and the post itself, is dedicated to my son Brodie, who had an immense love of books, and his cousins, Eli and Ethan, who are now discovering the joy of children's literature. Lately, they have kept us all amused with the expression: "Oh man..." as a sign of dismay and disappointment in a whole range of situations.)