A recent Astrel survey of women aged from 45-60 revealed a soppy side as the highest percentage said they prefer to read romantic fiction. That said, it was only 35 per cent while crime and mystery got 33 and other novels 31.

However, it turns out that nearly two thirds like a little raunchiness in their reading. Good news I reckon! I wouldn’t say I’m that into writing romance, although difficult relationships feature widely generally, but I’ve always disliked the idea that people don’t want to read about sex – that they’d prefer it to be edited out – what a boring idea.

But the best news from the survey has got to be the fact that only 4.6 per cent said that they hardly ever read books while nearly two thirds said they read at least a book a month and one in ten devouring two a week. Hell yeah!

The top ten books the women chose for desert island reading were:

1 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding (20 per cent
2 Atonement – Ian McEwan (14 per cent)
3 Harry Potter (any book) – J K Rowling (13 per cent)
4 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger (9 per cent)
5 Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie (8 per cent)
6 The Other Boleyn Girl – Philippa Gregory (8 per cent)
7 The Life of Pi – Yann Martel (7 per cent)
8 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks (7 per cent)
9 Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller (7 per cent)
10 Memories of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (6 per cent)

While I wouldn’t agree with all of them, I have read seven of them and would recommend five on the list. Going by the age of the women surveyed, does that mean I’m old before my time or that they have universal appeal?