I'm nearly finished reading The Shape of Sand by Marjorie Eccles. I'd very nearly given up on it in the beginning as it was slow going for me, but I decided to stick it out and now I'm glad I did. Since it is turning out to be a good read (not perfect but definitely good) I'll write about it properly later. It is the second of my five library reads (for their Winter Reading Program). I need to squeeze in two more (and hopefully finish Mary McCarthy's The Company She Keeps). Ive already decided that Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword is my next choice. It sounds like a fun romp set in the Regency-ish period. It's also a fantasy novel, which I don't often read, so I'm looking forward to it.
If you were contemplating reading The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks--do it soon. Really. If I knew I didn't have library books that need to be returned soon, I would devote all my reading time to it exclusively (it's that good!). It moves from from 1996 to the not-so-very distant and distant past. Authors are not always successful doing this--usually the characters in one period suffer, but I'm thoroughly enjoying everything about this book. When I am reading I don't want to set the book down!
I've started Goethe's Elective Affinities. I'm not very far yet, though I am enjoying the novel. It centers on an aristocrat couple both previously married. Eduard and Charlotte had been in love when they were much younger, but circumstances caused them to marry others. Now they are happily together, living a quiet (and perhaps a little dull) existence in the country. I think things are not going to be quite so dull much longer as Eduard's very good friend, the Captain, has come to stay with them and soon Charlotte's stepdaughter of sorts, Ottilie will be coming as well. I'm not quite sure why, but I keep thinking of Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier as I read this. Perhaps it's just the German setting?
I've given in to temptation and started another book. I spend some time working at a help desk for patrons at my library and I don't always have the right sort of work to take with me to keep busy in between questions. I always feel like I need to have something to do--I really don't like idleness much, so I went to Project Gutenberg and decided I would start reading The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. I've wanted to read this book for some time now, and I have to say I am finding it quite entertaining! It is set during the French Revolution (1792 to be specific). Aristocratic heads are rolling courtesy Madame Guillotine. The very heroic Scarlet Pimpernel is managing to smuggle France's upper class out under the revolutionaries noses. It's all great fun. Although I've been reading chapters here and there online (I never thought I'd say that...), I think I will have to spend a little more time with it in my own free time!
You might be familiar with HarperCollins's First Look program? They have a sort of lottery system for ARE's for upcoming releases. I've been lucky enough to get a few books from them on a couple of occasions. As it had been a while since I had wandered over there, I stopped by a few days ago and discovered that they have copies of Tasha Alexander's new mystery A Fatal Waltz on offer. I dropped my name into the drawing, but as I've not heard anything (and the drawing was yesterday) I probably didn't get one, eh? This means I go back into my 'being patient' mode. Of course it isn't as though I have nothing else that's really good to read...