Much like my needlework I'm sort of having a hard time settling down with one book. Part of the problem is that there are books I should be reading, that I'm not picking up as often as I could be, which makes me feel the tiniest bit guilty. It's not that I'm not enjoying them, that's not the case at all, but I sometimes find it hard to concentrate, which means I have to go back over the same page and start all over. So what am I reading?
I'm slowly working my way through Patrick Hamilton's The Slaves of Solitude, which the Slaves are due to be discussing right about now. It's set during WWII in what I'm guessing is a London suburb. It's kind of a claustrophobic read as it concerns the residents of a boarding house--some I like and some not so much, but it's a fascinating look at very different individuals. I find that I have to pay close attention, as my mind wanders on this one and then I lose the thread. Of course it's not hard going at all, but well, there you go.
I've not been reading Georgette Heyer's Cousin Kate (I have two Heyer novels to read before the end of June, so I better get cracking on them). I'm finding it hard to get into this story, but I think I've not given it a good chance yet. It feels very different than her other Regencies, not so light hearted and amusing. Part of the problem is I'm reading a few pages here and a few there, so I'm missing out on the continuity of the story and it's feeling disjointed. Maybe I should switch to The Corinthian, which sounds much more entertaining and might better match my mood.
I'm participating in a blog tour for Jennifer Cody Epstein's The Painter of Shanghai in just a few weeks, which I am really enjoying. It's about a woman painter sold into prostitution as a young girl. She raises herself out of a dire predicament and will eventually study art in Shanghai. I won't say much about this (will save it for my review), but what I am so thoroughly enjoying about the story is it's peek into a culture that is entirely foreign to me.
I'm also rereading Jill McCorkle's Ferris Beach. I must have read this about fifteen years ago (so long? how does time pass so quickly?), and I'm discovering that I've pretty much forgotten the whole plot of the book. I only have slight recollections as I'm reading that this is all somehow vaguely familiar. McCorkle is an excellent writer. Why don't I hear more about her these days? Isn't she writing? I think I'll have to go in search of her other books (I might even have another somewhere in my bookroom) now. This was a New York Times Notable Book when it was published, which I find not in the least surprising as I've been completely engrossed in it since I read the first page.
One more book worth mentioning--I've also started Georgina Harding's The Solitude of Thomas Cave for Cornflower's book group. I have a feeling that this is going to be a hidden gem, which is how I felt about another of Cornflower's book choices--Sue Gee's The Mysteries of Glass (one of my favorite reads last year). Set in the Arctic in 1616, one crew member of a whaling ship takes a bet that he can survive alone for a year while his shipmates return home at the end of the whaling season.
With so many good books I had better stop writing and go spend a little time reading them!