We all have favourite things, I love books. In fact it verges on the obsessive. I get a thrill when I enter a bookshop which I suspect other women get in shoe shops. I rearrange my furniture in the hope of finding space for another bookshelf. Books are quite frankly brilliant and can take you anywhere and let you do anything. This year alone I've travelled to another world in search of a fallen star, journeyed into untapped realms of the mind, delved into quantum physics, walked the mean streets with a private dectective and had an adventure with a scarecrow. Yes, all this from a book!

I love books because I equate them with intelligence and being of an openmind. Both things I value highly in other people. I like to think of myself as open minded, I like to think I can look beyond the outer layers of the person and not judge the book by its cover (seriously, no pun intented). So it really does make my heart sink when on sites such as myspace, you click on the profiles of planitum blonde, fake tanned pretty girls and under their book section it says 'whats a book? lol' or 'readin iz borin' *shudder* and unfortunately this happens nearly all the time. Not once have I suspected that this youlng lady is probably in the non-reader category and been mildly surprised to find 'Lord of the Rings' listed as her favourite book. And if I did nothing would fill me with more joy.

I really don't like the idea of stereotypes but people just keep fulfilling them. And another thing, this cult of stupidity really has to be stopped, its not something to be celebrated, just as spelling incorrectly isn't. It just leads to misunderstanding and limits the scope of expression and meaning in the written language.

Not that there isn't a place for abbreviations and slang. It's just when I write lol, I have actually laughed out loud.

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