Theme Reading a la Pages Turned

First a little reading update before I begin my post:  I have officially passed the halfway mark of War and Peace.  I now have less than 700 pages left to read--certainly that is manageable.  I thought I would not be able to read 50 pages a day, but I have noticed that the pages have been turning faster than I anticipated and some days I can read more than 50 pages even.  Of course I am not reading much else (other than my chapter a day of David Copperfield that I have been able to squeeze in).  I usually read a book (or a book and a half) a week, but I won't be finishing many books this month, but it is quality not quantity, right?  The last section of W&P read fairly quickly as it was a time of peace--meaning balls, sled rides, recitals, opera, and a surprising amount of romance (including the possible abduction of one character...and ensuing marriage...sorry, can't tell you what happened...).  The tides are turning, though, and Napoleon is back to his old tricks and has crossed into Russia.  Amazingly the day this happened the Tsar was throwing a ball-with some of the most lovely women ever seen.  These people knew how to party, I guess.  I think the story may be slowing down a bit (for me anyway) as I expect many more battle scenes to ensue.  Still, I am greatly enjoying the story now that I am well into it again!  I find myself looking forward to reading it every day.

I can really relate to Susan's themed reading post from yesterday.  I love reading certain types of books, as you may have noticed (by my occasional "looking for a certain type of book" posts).  I thought it would be fun to think up a few of my own favorite theme reads (and all these books are on my shelves--they would keep me busy reading for a very long time to come). 

Books about books and reading:

1. A History of Reading, Alberto Manguel
2. A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader's Reflections on a Year of Books, Alberto Manguel
3. A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books, Nicholas Basbanes
4. The Book on the Bookshelf, Henry Petroski
5. Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit the Books They Love, Anne Fadiman
6. Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments, Michael Dirda

A little Victorian (or Victorian-like) lit:

1. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
2. The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope
3. The Great Stink, Clare Clark
4. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters (!!!)
5. The Linnet Bird, Linda Holeman

Seafaring Adventures:

1. Moonfleet, John Meade Falkner
2. Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian (!!!)
3. Hornblower and the Hotspur, C.S. Forester (!!!)
4. Ross Poldark, Winston Graham
5. Star of the Sea, Joseph O'Connor
6. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time , Dava Sobel

Swashbuckling Tales:

1. The Fencing Master, Arturo Perez-Reverte
2. Zorro, Isabel Allende
3. Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnett
4. Purity of Blood, Arturo Perez-Reverte
5. Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas (!!!)

Rollicking Romps through the Napoleonic Wars (some may rollick and romp more than others and you can also cross categorize the Foresters and O'Brian novels here):

1. St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England , Robert Louis Stevenson
2. The Red and the Black, Stendhal
3. Secret History of the Pink Carnation, Lauren Willig
4. The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy

All things Marie Antoinette:

1. Abundance, Sena Jeter Naslund
2. Marie Antoinette, Antonia Fraser
3. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, Caroline Weber
4. Versailles, Kathryn Davis

Colette and other Good French Books:

1. My Mother's House and Sido, Colette
2. Secrets of the Flesh, Judith Thurman
3. The Ripening Seed, Colette
4. Gigi, Julie de Carneilha, and Chance Acquaintances: Three Short Novels , Colette
5. The Vagabond, Colette
6. The Complete Claudine, Colette
7. Sentimental Education, Gustave Flaubert
8. Le Grand Meaulnes, Henri Alain-Fournier
9. Into a Paris Quartier, Diane Johnson

Or I could read my Persephones, or my Viragos.

And of course there are The Ten!

I better stop here...I could go on...I have more lists in my handy notebook, but I will save them for another day.