In October I set myself a little challenge (quickly forgotten I'm afraid) of reducing my reading pile by a third. This is the photo I attached to my post. I've finished six of the books you see here, set aside four for a later attempt and the last six I am still working on. Now, in theory this doesn't sound all that bad. I won't share with you how many new books I've started in the interim or share another photo (just yet anyway--you can always take a peek at the list on my sidebar in case you're curious), since it probably looks worse than when I started. I'd very much like to finish those six books before the end of the year. And I feel I should have some sort of end of the year reading plan like Amanda has set for herself. Can you believe there are less than seven weeks left in 2009? It's a little bit scary how quickly the days are flying by.
Last month after a slow start I managed to finish more books than I anticipated. Can I do it again this month? It's almost the middle of the month, so I'm not overly optimistic. What I'm working on:
I only have one short story left to read in Mollie Panter-Downes's Minnie's Room, which is a wonderful collection of stories. The book is very short with only ten stories, so I read one each night. I'll need to return it to the library soon, so I have tried to be attentive to it, though it has not been a hardship, since I enjoy her writing so much.
I'm zipping through Joshua Zeitz's Flapper, which I've already talked about several times, so you might know how interesting I'm finding it--a fun and informative read. The section I'm working on now is about clothing, which sounds like a fluffy superficial sort of thing to write about, but there's more to the topic than meets the eye. I'm already contemplating which book to pick next. It will most likely be a book from this or this list for the Women Unbound reading challenge.
I have a review copy of Georgette Heyer's Foundling, which I've been finding hard to put down. The plot is a little different than her usual sort of story, which makes for a nice change of pace. Her books are almost always fun and they are nice to have on hand for something light hearted.
And I am bound and determined to get through M.J. Farell's (Molly Keane) Young Entry. It's been languishing for some time now. I have to admit I am not as taken with this novel as I was with the other two that I've read by her. This was her second novel, and I believe it's considered part of her juvenilia. The thing is, it's very much about a young woman enamored of hunting, fishing and playing with her favorite dogs. I can handle a bit of this, but I have to have something more to carry me through the story and so far I just can't seem to find whatever that "more" is. I still have every intention of reading my way through her work. I think that as I go her books will get more sophisticated. In any case it will be interesting to find out.
There have been a few others that I've been juggling about as well, but these are the books I'm paying particular attention to. Last weekend was so nice that I had to do yeardwork, but this weekend is going to be cooler and more seasonal, so hopefully I'll get in some extra (indoors) reading time.
I like to have things neat and tidy, so this weekend I will likely be taking a look at my pile and deciding what to concentrate on and what can carry over. And I might also start putting together my holiday reading pile, because it will be here before I know it (and I will have a blissful week off from work!). Do you have books you want to finish by the end of the year? Or do you just keep reading making no distinction between the end of one year and the beginning of the next?