Although Summer is not technically here yet, it feels like it. Last Saturday the 'feels like' temperature where I live was 99 degrees. Not every day has been so hot this month, but nearly every day has been very humid, and we've had lots of storms (and I hate that sticky feeling when I'm out walking). What does all this mean? It means I've been inspired by Litlove to think about my Summer reading plans. And find somewhere cool to read my books.
My plans don't exactly involve a lot of new books (but I have to throw in a few), but mostly catching up on reading and other projects I have going.
What I'd like to accomplish:
Finish Victor Hugo's Les Misérables! I'm nearly to the halfway mark (almost at page 700 of a 1,400 page book). I've not been talking about it much, but I've been pressing on with my reading. It's really very different (and not in a bad way) than I expected it to be. Is anyone else still reading? It would make me very happy to finish it by the end of August. Very. Happy.
Whittle down the books on my nightstand. You'll see a (nearly) complete list of them on my right sidebar. I've actually got a few more started that I don't have listed. The thing is that I feel sort of guilty sometimes about having so many started that I don't like to own up to my complete lack of self control. I don't really expect to achieve this goal, but it makes me feel better to at least say I'm going to try.
What I'd really like to do is read more nonfiction. I've got a small pile of new books (and a few old ones) that I am itching to start. I'd like to try and read three or four. Considering how slowly I read nonfiction, I know I won't get half of them read, but my list to choose from:
- The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal , Lily Koppel
- The Bolter: Idina Sackville - The Woman Who Scandalised 1920s Society and Became White Mischief's Infamous Seductress, Frances Osborne
- American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White: The Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century, Paula Uruburu
- May and Amy: A True Story of Family, Forbidden Love, and the Secret Lives of May Gaskell, Her Daughter Amy, and Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Josceline Dimbleby
- The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm, Juliet Nicolson
- Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, Caroline Weber
- Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox 1740 - 1832 , Stella Tillyard
While I'd like to concentrate on reading more nonfiction, there are a few novels I wouldn't mind reading this Summer as well:
- The Glassblower of Murano, Marina Fiorato - Angela Young raved about this one, and I love Venice, so I think I need to read it, too.
- The Rose of Sebastopol, Katherine McMahon - This is set in Victorian England and the Crimea.
- Frost in May, Antonia White - I hope to read this along with Dorothy.
- The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway - I recently bought this, and Litlove may be reading one of his books, so maybe I can be persuaded to read him, too.
- Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier - A reread!
- Perhaps something by one of the Brontes
What was that I said at the beginning of my post about not involving many new books? The thing is, when you start looking at that new book pile, it's hard to ignore them. What are your Summer reading plans?