The Long and Short of It

Last night I finished Vasily Grossman's Everything Flows and had planned on writing about it today, but you know how a long work week can sometimes drain you mentally?  That's me now.  It was an excellent, though heavy (perhaps part of the reason for my being so drained this week) read, and one that definitely calls for some introspection and time to mull it over in my mind.  Plus there is supplemental material at the end I'd like to read which I am sure will help shed light on the story.  So, all that to say, I'll share my reading experience of the Grossman early next week.

Instead I was thinking about my other weekend reading.  Contemplating which books I will be spending time with, which have been sitting too long unopened and require attention, which books I think I will start reading over the weekend and which I might be able to finish.  All in two days.  I always think big when it comes to books.  I can't help myself.  

Anyway, I was looking over my bedside pile and the books sitting on my nightstand and realized that I have an inordinate number of long books on the go at the moment.  When did that happen?  I think you can read all the titles (click on photos to enlarge them a bit).  As you can see I am at various stages prorgress-wise.   

Herman Wouk and I got sidetracked this week as I was reading some other books (like the Grossman).  I hope to get back to him.  I'll be writing about Christa Wolf this weekend, so no worries there (not yet anyway).  Ah, Jennifer Donnelly.  I've read and liked her books.  And I am almost finished with The Winter Rose, but it's the sort of drama where you know bad things are going to happen (though I expect a happy-ish or at least satisfying ending) and I've just not been in the right mood to get through the bad in order to get to the end.  I know that sounds weird, and I am so close, I really do need to finish reading. 

Ah, Charles Palliser's The Quincunx. I am still determined to finish it this year.  I run hot and cold with the Palliser.  I enjoy it when I am reading, but sometimes I look at the book and then pick up something else.  And Vikram Seth.  Well, I kept up with the reading the first month, but have already fallen behind. The idea is to read it over the course of the year (finishing next summer/fall), but can I catch up now? 

And then further scrutiny of my piles revealed that for every long book I have a short one.  Short being roughly two hundred pages or less.  (The chunksters are 500 pages or more).  I've got Casanova's The Duel for my current Melville House novella.  I should finish it this weekend.  Isabel Colegate's The Shooting Party is a very engaging story (perfect for Downton Abbey fans) and it is next up behind the novella in terms of which books I am likely to finish next/soon.

Poor, poor NYRB subscription.  The books keep coming and I keep getting further behind (same thing is happening to my novellas).  I think December is going to be devoted to catching up on in progress books and subscription books!  So you see the Hayes there.  I had begun reading but then moved the bookmark back to the front of the book as I am sure I have forgotten what little I read.  Short does not always equal easy and fast I have discovered.  As a matter of fact short books are often the most challenging.  Especially NYRBs. 

Kafka this weekend!  I knew that The Metamorphosis was short but it is really almost long-short story-length!  Maybe I will try and read some of the other stories in the collection, too.  And then May Sarton's book is made up of diary entries.  I have been reading a few entries every now and again--a nice leisurely pace.

So I have lots of 'long's and 'shorts' to make my reading interesting--I do have reading plans but will likely just randomly dip into some of these books as well.  What are you reading this weekend?