I read fashion magazines.

There, I said it.
To me fashion magazines are like porn for fashion lovers. You may not be able to tell by looking at me most of the time, but I loves me some good design. Right now I'm in lust with Thakoon, and then there are the old standbys: Calvin Klein, Armani, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Commes des Garcons. When I am wealthy, lol, my wardrobe will consist of these designers. I have a thing for girly mixed with tailored/classic mixed with avant garde. My shoes will all be Balenciaga. Assuming I never have to actually walk or stand. I love the finer things in life even though my budget and my conscience have a problem with this fact.
This is all a roundabout way of getting to Elle magazine. If Vogue and Bazaar are the Hustler of fashion rags, then Elle is the Playboy. The skin is a bit more modest and the articles are well-written and intriguingly intelligent. Elle also has a good book section which has pointed me to many great titles over the years. The book section also includes a Readers' Prize Panel for Elle readers who get to read three (FREE! PRE-pub many times!!) books following a theme and vote on them, sometimes having their reviews printed in the magazine. I have been selected for the January panel. Yay! January is a fiction month, and I would have preferred non-fiction, but I can't wait for my package to arrive. It's like Christmas and a reader's fantasy rolled into one little package. Hopefully, it's not a chick lit theme month, but they rarely have any chick lit in their pages, and even so, sometimes junk is fun reading.