I broke down and started reading Precious Bane by Mary Webb. If you recall, I had been looking for a certain type of book. While this doesn't exactly fit the picture I had in my mind, I think it will be a good substitute for the time being (and thanks for all the great book suggestions--I am trying to get my hands on them)! I started wondering if I tend to read a certain type of book all the time, so I decided to take a look at the books on my nightstand and see exactly what sort of books they are...
- Precious Bane , Mary Webb - Shropshire, England, mid-1800s, female narrator
- Kept: A Victorian Mystery, D.J. Taylor - Scotland, London, 1863 (this one just came yesterday via ILL, and with no renewal possible, I have no choice but to start it now--only a chapter in so far), at the moment male narrators, but I believe there are many more characters to come
- Beyond Black , Hilary Mantel - Suburban London (?), contemporary setting (I have a mind to set this aside and read something different only because I never seem to want to pick it up, but then when I do pick it up I seem to enjoy it, so I figure I will persevere...I hate it when this happens and hate to keep setting books aside), female narrators, obnoxious male ghost
- The Observations, Jane Harris - Scotland (or Scratchland as Bessy says), 1863, female narrator
- Messenger of Truth, Jacqueline Winspear - London, 1931, female narrator, but wonderful male sidekick (so to speak)
- Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie - the cozy, little British village (no doubt made up) of King's Abbot, 1920s, male narrator and male "detective"
- The Oak Apple , Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - London and Yorkshire, 1640s, female and male narrators--lots of characters (this one has been languishing so long on my nightstand that I think I need to go back to page 1 and start all over again--book four in a series of something like 25!)
- Sophie's Choice, William Styron - New York City, Post-WWII, male narrator (but Sophie also tells her story)
- War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy - St. Petersburg, Russia, 1805-1812, lots of characters of both sexes (waaaaaay behind already on the reading schedule for this one!)
- The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Tomalin - England, 1700s (my lone nonfiction read), female subject
As you can see my comfort zone for reading seems to be historical fiction mainly set in Britain and for the most part female protagonists! I know I tend to read a lot of British fiction, and I am drawn to female narrators (though not exclusively by any means), though I didn't realize I was on such a binge at the moment. I think I need to branch out a bit and choose something with a male protagonist--maybe set here in the midwest or maybe China or France or somewhere totally different.
Recently my reading stack has grown--I don't even have all these books listed on my sidebar. I have a hard time limiting myself to only one (or even two) books to read at once. I wish I had more restraint when it comes to my reading stack--must work on this. As a matter of fact I am feeling like I should systematically (now there's a scary way to put it) read through my pile. Read one, finish it, read another and finish it--you get the picture, until I am down to a manageable few. I can try it, but I don't guarantee success. Do you only read one at a time? And if you do read more than one how many books can you juggle at once?