Bibliophagist: One who enjoys the act of reading books. alt. Devourer of books.

I tried writing this intro several times to properly convey just how much I love reading and I’ve found that it’s near impossible. I have always been an obsessive reader, scarfing down books that range from horror to romance and all the way into the non-fiction category. I don’t care what genre the book falls under, if it has words then I am reading the shit out of it.

When it comes to selecting the titles I read I often either turn to my friends, raid my grandmothers stock pile of paperbacks or just hit up my local mini library and choose one at random. I almost never turn to book reviewers. Most book reviews read to me like some jackass flexing their B.A. in English between their shifts at Starbucks. I don’t want to know about the literary themes present within a Clockwork Orange, or the classic interpretations of Lovecraft’s work; I want to know if the book was any good. Yes or no, should I read this? I’m not your Lit. Professor, you won’t be graded or judged on your opinion.

Some people want a deep dive into the subliminal messages behind their favourite books, or maybe they just didn’t read The Help for Book Club and their looking for an opinion to steal, I’m not here to judge. I am here to write the sort of book reviews I would want to read covering any book title I can grab with my little rat hands.

I won’t be using a five star system, that shit is just frustrating, and I won’t be using any flowery language to describe my feelings. If that’s your cup of tea then more power to you, there are no wrong answers when seeking a second opinion about a book title. My reviews, however, are to the point, dirty and will answer all the questions you may have going into a new novel.

Is this a series worth investing my time into?

Does it have a lot of big words you may have to stop reading to look up in a dictionary?

Is it still acceptable for a, nearly 30 year old, queer man to be reading young adult fiction targeted towards teenage girls?

Who knows for sure, but I’ll sure as heck give my opinion about it.

So if you’re in the mood for book reviews that are light on the metaphors and heavy on the “important” details, then I would suggest staying tuned.

The first novel I’ll be reviewing is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski – I’ll admit I had to copy paste that last name and I am not ashamed- this book is a real doozy and I promise you will look like an idiot reading it.

I look forward to sharing my words with you and I hope you look forward to reading them.

T.J.