I guess it was inevitable but now even our most brilliant literary works are falling under the
influence of Twitter.
You've heard of new social network site Twitter right?
The one that allows you 140 characters a time to update your followers - or friends - on your movements?
Now some bright sparks have been "tweeting" the plots of famous novels in 140 character summaries and I've gathered the best of them together for a test...
Everyone's got those books. You know, the ones you thumb through in the bookshop and think about buying - you're so familiar with the cover and sypnosis - but you never quite get around to it?
I was like that with British author Kazuo Ishiguro - which is probably why it took me so long to read his 2005 Booker Prize shortlisted Never Let Me Go.
If you haven't done so, I urge you to read it. It's fabulous, stretches the mind and makes you feel faintly chilled...and you might want to read it before the film comes out.
Apparently Keira Knightley started shooting last month.
But more importantly...
I love battered old books.
I wanted to get my hands on the first edition of Ian Fleming's James Bond book Octopussy ... which The Apprentice contestants just about managed to sell in a recent episide of the BBC show.
But I'm happy to settle for my 100-year-old copy of William Shakepeare (I'll never read it all, I'll never act any of it ... but I love it) and the similarly aged copy of Jonathan Swift's works the boyfriend found in a charity shop...
Every now and again it comes along.
A book that makes you want to pack your bags, pick up your passport and pop on a plane - for all the wrong reasons.
The Cellist of Sarajevo should carry a warning. You will want to visit this city afterwards, even though the book portrays a harrowing time in the city's history.
Some people are brilliant at choosing their holiday books.
They'll read Captain Corelli's Mandolin while lazing on a Greek Island, Memoirs of a Geisha as they rush around Japan and take Pride and Prejudice on this bracing English holiday.
Stupidly, I pick my holiday books randomly - which might explain why I spent most of my recent three-week trek around Australia engrossed in this weighty but evocative love affair with India.
One of my favourite possessions is a 100-year-old - I think it was actually printed in 1897 - copy of the complete works of William Shakespeare.
The book is brown and hardback with gold lettering and inside is an inscription, wishing the original owner a very happy birthday on that day all those years ago.
I must admit, the copy is slightly bashed, but I think that only adds to its charm.
What do you want from a good book?
I think they fall into catagories:
1) Rubbish ones. In the past you couldn't bear not to finish a book - it seemed rude - but now you realise life's too short and bin them halfway through.
2) Rubbish ones that come good. It's a struggle but you've come this far, you might as well carry on. The ending leaves you with grudging respect.
3) Slow burners. Takes you three chapers but suddenly you're sucked in and galloping towards the finish - with a sense of achievement for having stuck with it.
4) I am in love. You had me at the first word and now I can't wait to get home from work/jump in the bath/go to bed for my next fix.
I love the Man Booker Prize.
It's handy for those "what should I read next" moments or when someone asks what you want for your birthday (Something from the Booker Prize shortlist please darling...and a pair of Jimmy Choo's while you're there)
I've rarely read any of the shortlisted books but this year it was nice to see one of my favourite authors make the list.
All this talk of the end of the world...well, that CERN particle accelerating atom smashing big bang thing that launched today in Geneva ...got me thinking.
Whatever happened to Dan Brown?
Remember him? The reason we spent the summer of 2004 buried in The Da Vinci Code? The guy you think of whenever you look at The Last Supper and try and figure out if the person on Jesus's left in the painting really is a woman?
Four books and four years later. Where on earth has he gone?
Go on girls, be truthful.
Who's not read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and wondered - just for second - what it would be like to step into that much-loved dating heartland and bag a dashing (rich/generous) fella like Darcy.
It seems the good people of ITV think the same and their new series - Lost in Austen - starts this autumn...
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Vicki Kellaway - a Merseyside reporter
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