I'm sorry to say, that a three week check out for books from the public library is simply not long enough. I am not the fastest of readers. I am a steady reader and might appear to read a lot, but honestly I think it is all an illusion. Just because I have lots of books on my nightstand started (and even more queued up in my mind) doesn't mean that I read very fast. And I really don't have that many books checked out (about six). But even having three books that can't be renewed (since 20 other people are waiting for you to hurry up and finish the book), and only three weeks to read them in, means some of them are going back unopened. So now comes the tough decision. Which is staying and which are going? Susan recently mentioned this in a post. If I don't bump a library book ahead of my other books, then it most definitely isn't going to be read. So what happens when I really, really do want to read them all?
There are three in question. The others are not brand new fiction and I can renew them (that's the problem with wanting all the new, pristine copies fresh off the press). I really want to read Sebastian Faulks's new novel, Human Traces. It sounds very intriguing and I have liked most everything else by him that I have read. I took a peek at the Amazon-UK reviews, though, and they are not very good. I hate doing this,however. Either people loved it or hated it (though there seem to be more in the latter group, I'm afraid). That doesn't mean I will hate it, and what if I send it back when I might have thought it was wonderful? The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox looks to be promising (and atmospheric, too), and I see that fellow book blogger Lisa (The Bluestalking Reader) recommends it (thanks for leaving the comment!). I could base my decision on the ever scientific method--the Faulks has nearly 600 pages and tiny print. The Cox has 700 pages and big print. Of course if I am going to use that method I might as well read Jennifer Egan's The Keep, which has a mere 240 pages and the print is somewhere in between! Flip a coin perhaps? Or I can read the first few pages and see which one grabs me first. All is not lost, though, as I can just get back in line and start the vicious cycle all over again. Or I could just buy them and let them stare at me from the TBR stack like the rest of them do...
Most of my reading time, though, this week is going to be centered on finishing Little Women. Today on the bus I read about Mr. March being ill, Marmee going off to nurse him and Jo selling her long tresses to help pay for the trip. I was nearly in tears. I hate it when that happens--particularly on public transportation! I may not be finished by the time discussion begins, but I hope to be close. Have I already mentioned that this is a long book? Of course I am enjoying it immensely! I also started Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. I am about 1/3 of the way through, but I am not trying to rush through the story. I am still a bit in awe of James, but I am finding this not at all hard going. Already we have been visited by a ghost! I think you could easily read Henry James more than once and get different things out of the stories, which is why I am trying to read slowly.
One more little side note. I watched (twice actually) the first episode of Horatio Hornblower - The Complete Adventures, and it was excellent. Horatio is a completely likeable character and it was well acted and everything seemed quite realistic. The second episode is already in the mail to me from Netflix, and I have added the series to my Amazon wishlist. I am going to have to pace myself with the DVDs, but happily I have the books to look forward to. It is nice to be decisive about something even if I can't figure out what library book to read.
Edited: Sorry, one more thing. Thanks to Book Glutton for this link. It seems as though Diane Setterfield's book has reached number one on the NYT bestseller list. Apparently word of the book has spread here in the US via the internet (I bet mostly thanks to bloggers), and she has sold something like 70,000 copies of her book. Unfortunately she is not doing as well in the UK. I thought that was interesting and had to share.