I'm nearing the 1,000 page mark of Hugo's Les Misérables! I feel like I should set off some fireworks or something equally grand when I get there finally. I'm still reading a little nearly every day. Jean Valjean is still eluding Javert. Cosette is blooming and Marius is in love. I hope things end well, but I'm sure it won't be easy getting there, whatever the outcome. When I do get past a thousand pages I think I should concentrate on just Les Misérables until I finish it. Four hundred more pages surely can't be all that bad? Maybe only a week and a half worth of reading? Can I dedicate myself, is the question.
Lily Koppel's The Red Leather Diary started out just a tiny bit rocky, but the more I read, the more I am enjoying the book. I'm nearly finished and I'll be sorry to see it end. It makes me want to travel to New York City, but of course it wouldn't be the same. I've already started writing a post about the book. Next up is Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners by Laura Claridge. More on NYC, but an entirely different perspective.
Since I don't seem to be picking up Wilkie Collins's The Law and the Lady I'm contemplating switching it out with John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The thing is I Do want to read Wilkie Collins, only I want to be able to devote serious reading time to it, and as usual my attention is being drawn six different ways. I'm afraid the same will happen with The Grapes of Wrath. I'm very slowly working on Charlotte Bronte's Shirley, though Shirley has yet to make an appearance. No worries, though. I think I am far enough into the book that I won't set it aside. This is the problem with classics. I want to read them all, but then I pick up all the glitzy new books or crime books instead...
After complaining to myself that I don't read enough American authors I am having this craving to pick up one of my unread Persephone novels. I think one or two might actually be by American authors, though. Next month my Dove Grey Book group will be reading The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff and I plan on reading along. I know a few other Persephones are thin, slim books, though, and I could just squeeze one in?...
Speaking of the Dove Grey Book group (If you happen to belong, please stop reading here), I've finished my postal reading group book. It is well deserving of an entire post of its own, but I don't want to spoil it for any of the group who may happen upon this post. I will say that it is a wonderful book. If you appreciate gorgeous prose and an eloquent story, I highly recommend this one. I'll be looking for a copy for myself to own as I know I'll want to reread this one later. And I'm already looking forward to the next book. We mail out at the end of this month, so I'll have a surprise in the mail in just a couple of weeks!