On reading Judy Finnigan on a barrow near Stonehenge

I thought Judy Finnigan was like Jilly Cooper, although since reading Caitlin Moran's semi-autobiographical take on feminism I've learned that Jilly Cooper is not who I thought she was anyway (I didn't realise that "Riders" was actually a double entendre title, thinking that the book was all about innocent teens and the love of horses).  Anyway, I didn't know that Judy Finnigan was the none other than Judy from "Richard & Judy".  Ah, well played Ms Finnigan..  Create a bookclub, then publish a book that instantly becomes a best seller as a result of the fact of your own celebrity.

The first few chapters certainly read as such, and then suddenly before you know it you're drawn into the life of the main protagonist in a way that closely resembles the charm and fragility that the author herself is known to possess.  Well played indeed!

Yes, this is an easy read, but delightful all the same.  At 400+ pages this double spaced text flashes by at lightning speed.  I read the first few chapters some time after midnight (we had returned late having been at an old friend's 40th birthday party where the theme was to dress like our favourite rock stars - David went as Lemmy and I was Twisted Abba... ach, you had to be there to fully appreciate those looks).

A further 50 pages were read in the morning (shortly before and shortly after the consumption of my partner David's fabulous cooked breakfast).  Then we all hopped in the car - our nephew Joel and his girlfriend Jemma have come to stay with us from Oz, so along with our son Zack we took a roadtrip to Stonehenge, and, because I've been a few times now already, I went and had a lie down on a barrow and read another 50 pages whilst everyone else explored the stones.

I now hope to read another 100 or so.  I think getting through half of it in a day is appropriate, but the great thing about it is, now that I've finished a quarter of it, I want to know more, I'm actually quite enjoying it.  I wonder if I'll feel the same about Jilly Cooper once I get to her novel.... appropriate for a 13 year old Caitlin Moran who's just learning how to masturbate maybe.... not so sure this 43 year man really needs that kind of titillation.... 

What is now much more obvious to me is that I am now feeling a lot more confident that I'll get through 100 books in a year.  I have even found a secondary list, one that I will use now only if (a) I cannot actually locate an item from the first list; or (b) I have already read the item from the first list and I don't feel like re-reading it; or (c) the item on the first list is quite ridiculous to consider actually reading from cover to cover in the first place.  See here if there is any confusion about how I can change the rules at a moment's notice.

I will be picking other books from a list that the Observer published in 2003 as being the 100 greatest books ever published so I also feel I'm raising the bar a little as well and increasing the difficulty of the challenge. I will be publishing this list separately tomorrow, along with mine and David's little yes/no/maybe symbols, and if you haven't already guessed as much, David already most of them.  I think if I set David this challenge to read these 100 books in 100 days he would still be able to do this alongside his normal day-to-day tasks.  Quite possibly one of the reasons why I love him.  That and his fabulous cooked breakfasts.  Provided he doesn't moan too much while he's making them about how I'm not helping with anything because I've got my head stuck in a book.

Days Left:    360

Books Left:  100