A Work in Progress

A Few Plans for 2010

Hmm.  Looking back on last year's post I probably really shouldn't make any plans for 2010.  Out of the stack of books in last year's photo I only read one (though I started two others that were never finished and am rereading the Jane Austen now).  I have a pretty poor track record when it comes to reading plans apparently.  They sound good at the moment, but in a month's time I tend to change my mind.  I guess I'll go ahead and share what I'm thinking if for no other reason than next year I can look back and shake my head again!

A few years back I decided I wasn't reading enough short stories, so I set myself the task of reading one a week and then posting about it.  I actually stuck with it and read a whopping (for me anyway) 52 stories.  You can see the results here.  In 2010 I'd like to do the same thing only with essays.  I never read essays, but inspired by Dorothy W. who is an essay aficionado, I'd like to change that.  I'm not quite sure how I'll approach this, but I pulled out Philip Lopate's The Art of the Personal Essay as a starting point.  If anyone can recommend a good collection, please let me know.  My plan is to read one a week and write about it on Sunday.  I'm not sure how hard or easy it will be to write about a single essay, but we'll see how it goes.  If I make myself write about it, I'm more apt to stick to my reading plan!

I plan on continuing on with my Molly Keane project.  This is a long term project and I don't expect to read through the rest of her oeuvre in 2010.  I only read three novels this year, but that's okay.  I have Taking Chances lined up and ready to go.

I've already got John Galsworthy's The Man of Property sitting on my night stand.  It's next up after I finally finish Wives and Daughters.  There are a total of nine books in the Forsyte Saga and I would love to read them all next year.  I've heard it's a very engaging read, so perhaps this will be easy?  

And one more.  This is a bit of an impulse.  I can't even remember how many years Dorothy Dunnett's first book in her Lymond Chronicles, The Game of Kings, has been sitting on the shelf under my night stand.  Years and years.  I keep waiting for the "right moment" to pick them up.  As you see I even have the two companion volumes to the books.  Maybe I just need to jump in and see how it goes?  As historical fiction goes, these books are supposed to be really good.  The first book begins in 1547 Scotland.  There are six books and then there is the House of Niccolò, which is in some way related (another six books).  

Of course I have this list for reading inspiration and then there's the Women Unbound Challenge as well.  All this should keep me pretty busy, though in the end I expect I'll do a fair amount of random reading as well.   

Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone!  And Happy Reading in 2010!

A Dozen Favorites from 2009

I'm cheating a bit.  I was only going to pick ten favorites, which is pretty generous as I only read a few more than 80 books so that's more than 10% of what I read this year.  But in the end I couldn't stop at just ten.  Picking favorites is such a subjective thing.  Some (though not all) of my favorites are a little on the fluffy side that might well be dismissed by other readers, but all the books met some need that I had at the time--actually went beyond that need and ended up being really good books even if they were on the light side.  If you click on the title, the link will take you back to my original post.  I've snagged a quote from each to get a taste of what I was thinking at the time.  So without further ado, here are my favorite reads of 2009 in order that they were read.

Troubling Love, Elena Ferrante - "Sometimes the most interesting books are the ones you're not looking for and the ones that aren't easy.  Troubling Love turned out to be a dizzying, disorienting read that constantly set me on edge and still has me thinking about it days later."  

Two Days in Aragon, Molly Keane (M.J. Farrell) - I'm afraid this is one I didn't write about, but it was the impetus that made me want to read all of Molly Keane's works -- it was that good. 

In the Woods, Tana French - "For me it was one of those near perfect reading experiences, where the author gets just about everything right--an intricate suspenseful plot, finely developed characters and all nicely paced (and I should mention really good writing!)."

The Lost Art of keeping Secrets, Eva Rice - "Well, I shouldn't use the word charming to describe Eva Rice's The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, as that's a word I tend to overuse and you'll stop believing me (though it is charming), so how about utterly delightful?  Eva Rice is a talented author.  She's made me feel nostalgic for a time I've never even experienced."

The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters - "Once again Sarah Waters has written a ripping good tale that kept me glued to its pages late into the night until I could no longer keep my eyes open, and got me up early the following morning to finish.  It's clever and complex and relies as much on the reader's perceptions and beliefs as on the storyteller's ability to convincingly describe events that take place in this chilling tale." 

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton - "Every once and a while a book will come along that's pretty much perfection.  Everything about it is just right.  The story is absorbing, the writing is beautiful and elegant, the characters have depth and breadth and they mature and change over the course of the story.  Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is pretty much that sort of book for me."

Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín - The story is at times a very simple one and is always simply told, but I think that is a bit misleading.  Sometimes it's what an author doesn't say, what's written between the lines that's so forceful.  I like Tóibín's spare but elegant prose as it seemed to reflect the rhythms of Eilis Lacey's life and personality well (which could also be misleading)."

The Corinthian, Georgette Heyer -  "It is quite literally the perfect summer read, a page turning romp through Regency England with all the right elements pulled off perfectly."

Dance Night, Dawn Powell - "If Dorothea Lange has given me the visuals, then Dawn Powell has given me the words. Dance Night's Lamptown, Ohio is as drab and dreary as any town that Lange may have photographed, and Powell has captured the small town claustrophobia of it in the days just before the Depression."

The Folded Leaf, William Maxwell - "This is a moving story that's intense in its simplicity yet it's heart-wrenching as well.  In a sense it's about first love that's in many ways fulfilling but also misunderstood.  Some passages are so beautiful but at the same time they break your heart."

The Tortoise and the Hare, Elizabeth Jenkins - "I'm going to borrow Hilary Mantel's very apt description of the story and also call it "exquisite".  When I first began reading I knew it was a book deserving to be read slowly.  As a matter of fact I found myself wanting to stop and reread passages along the way.  The subject matter is not particularly happy.  It's a novel about marriage and infidelity.  But Jenkins twists things around a bit and breathes new life into what might seem like a clichéd topic."

Beware of Pity, Stefan Zweig - "Although in many ways Stefan Zweig's Beware of Pity is a distressing read, I can't help but admire the work in the same way I admired The Post-Office Girl earlier this year.  In Beware of Pity Zweig shows what happens when the best intentions are misinterpreted for something they're not and how people mire themselves in deceit to tragic consequences.

I read so few nonfiction books this year I don't think I can pick a favorite as I enjoyed them all and don't think I could choose just one. 

I do have a few honorable mentions, however.

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson - She does 'disturbing' oh so well!  If you've not read her, you really must add her to your list.

The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey - This was in part an inspiration for Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger.  A classic mystery tale that's excellently done.

Greenery Street, Denis Mackail - Pure, unadulterated comfort read.  I loved it and will keep it high on my list of books to turn to when I'm in need of a really nice story that's not too taxing but very entertaining.  

So, there you have it.  Lots of favorites.  So much for starting off the new year fresh as I'm in the midst of some really good books that I'll not likely finish now until early next year.  That's okay--nothing like getting the ball rolling right away.

A Few Numbers for 2009

Looking back at my reading year has become a bit of a tradition, so I thought I'd share a few numbers.  I might possibly still finish a book or two, but this is pretty much how things have ended up.

• Books completed: 86
• Fiction (not mysteries or short stories and I'm counting classics separately, too): 51
• Nonfiction: 6
• Classics: 6
• Books from the Modern Library list: 0
• Mysteries: 19
• YA novels: 0
• Books written by women: 64
• Books written by men: 22
• Books written by multiple authors: 0 
• Books by American authors: 15 
• Books by British authors: 48
• Books by Canadian/Australian/Irish authors: 7
• Books in translation: 14
• Short story collections: 3 
• Graphic novels: 0
• Plays: 1
• Virago Modern Classics: 4 
• Persephone Books: 4
• Books read that were checked out from the library: 13 
• Rereads: 6
• Books club reads: 13 (Slaves of Golconda, Cornflower's Book Group, and my Postal Reading Group)
• Different books by the same author: 6 (Sarah Waters, Molly Keane, Stefan Zweig, Georgette Heyer, Chandra Prasad, Mollie Panter-Downes)

I read about the same number of books as last year but what I read is very different than previous years.  I seem to be on a downward slope when it comes to classics.  Only six this year, 15 last year and 17 in 2007.  My all time high was 25 in 2006.  I think I need to work on that in 2010.  Nearly all the books I read were written in the 20th or 21st centuries with the exception of one in the 17th and three in the 19th.  I did read more male authors than last year--22 this year compared with only 14 last year.  I stayed about the same with mysteries and Virago Modern Classics and Persephone Books, though I wouldn't mind reading more of the latter two.  My library reads seem to have gone down as well from last year when I read 23--ten fewer this year.  I did a bit more rereading and both Mollie Panter-Downes and Georgette Heyer were authors I reached for more often in the last couple of years.  My stats from previous years are here: 2008, 2007, 2006.

Reading Notes and Other Miscellanea

Out of my pile of Christmas projects I managed to finish one thing over the holiday.  I'm not quite sure what I will make out of it.  It was designed as a Christmas ornament, but I will probably finish it as a pinkeep (which looks like this).  If I'm feeling especially industrious I will actually do the finishing over my break rather than adding it to my 'stitched but not finished' bin!

 

I've already started a new project.  Instead of browsing through my bins and pulling out lots of different projects (which usually then just sit by my bed for weeks before noticing them and then deciding I'm not really in the mood for them after all), I've just picked one that I really like and started stitching.  It's always those first stitches that are hardest.  Once a few motifs are there I tend to be more interested in adding to them and making progress.  Well, we'll see if it works this time.  This is called "Sampler Farm" by The Goode Huswife.  I wonder how much I can stitch in a week's time?  

I don't expect to be out and about much this coming week while I'm on vacation.  This holiday was a bit of a bust thanks to the snow.  Plow trucks have still not cleared my street yet (three days after the snow has stopped) and someone decided to abandon their car partially in an intersection at the top of my hill making things even more messy (I don't think a plow can even get through).  It's a bit disappointing not being able to see friends who are in town over the holidays or hang with family.  If nothing else it would be nice if the sun decided to poke through the clouds just a bit as it makes for very dreary days.  I'll stick with my reading (stitching and my Inspector Lynley marathon--am on season three).

I don't think I'm going to finish the last two books from my end of the year pile.  If not, I'll just carry them over.  It's taking me ages to read Wives and Daughters, though I'm going to make a push to get through the last 300 pages before Thursday night.  And I'm really enjoying The Alchemy of Paint, but there's just too much information which makes it impossible to breeze through it, nor would I want to.

I'm juggling a few other books, though, and enjoying them enormously.  If I was a little disappointed by The Last Kashmiri Rose, A Duty to the Dead is completely making up for it.  From the first page I've been totally engaged with the story, which is quite action packed at the start at least.  I've also been reading Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer.  If I finish it before the end of the year it may well make my favorites list!  I'm so glad I was asked to read along or it would be sitting buried in a book pile right now!  I've also been dipping into The Greatest Knight, which is another totally absorbing reading and pure escapism.  I'm still eying this pile, though I'm trying hard not to start too many new books.  I won't be starting the new year with quite the small stack of books as I had hoped, but I guess by now I should know I just can't kick the book habit and be happy with my piles (no matter how towering they become).

I expect the rest of my posts this week will be to wrap up my reading year.  I've not looked at my list of books read yet, though I have a few in mind that stick out as favorites.  And I have a few (hopefully very few) plans for next year, but I'll save those for the next few days.  Is it just me, or does it seem like 2009 simply flew by?  I don't think I'm ready for 2010 yet.

The Last Kashmiri Rose

A while back I was very much in the mood for a nice cozy mystery and decided to finally give Barbara Cleverly's series set in 1920s India a try.  The period was right and this had the added bonus of an exotic (not to mention warm!) setting, so I picked up The Last Kashmiri Rose the first Joe Sandilands mystery.  It languished a bit as I set to work tying up loose ends in my reading, but now that I'm on vacation I thought it time to dedicate a few hours to finishing it and finally discovering the identity of the murderer.

There's an interesting story behind the series.  The author came across an old trunk in her attic filled with family memorabilia including photos of a long lost relative.  The man was a great-uncle of her husband's who was a Brigadier and spent many years in India.  Along with photos there were reminiscences (the relative being an "elegant writer") of a vanished India.  This gave Cleverly the inspiration for her Detective Sandilands, and in this series she dramatizes the life of the original Brigadier Sandilands. 

As for the fictional counterpart Detective Joe Sandilands is an interesting character.  Basically on loan from Scotland Yard Joe Sandilands is nearly at the end of "six months' secondment from the Met to the Bengal Police" when he's asked to stay and work on a troubling case.  Handsome and gentlemanly he was raised in the north of England on the borderlands and was training at the Bar when the Great War broke out.  After witnessing the harrowing carnage of the battlefields he decided he could do more good for his men training as a detective rather than returning to the Bar. 

It's a messy case he's offered.  A particularly gruesome death of the wife of a Bengal Grey officer turns out not to be suicide as first thought.  The victim was found in her bath, her wrists slit nearly to the bone, yet there appears to be no sign of forced entry or easy exit.  As well the crime scene has been gawked at and compromised by half the residents of the British station passing through for a look.  The victim isn't the first wife to meet with a nasty death.  Several other wives before the war also died in curious circumstances, possibly accidents, but there are too many coincidences for this last death to be ignored.  It's hoped that Joe, with his new methods of investigation, can solve the mysteries of these deaths, some more than a decade old.    

I don't know much about the British Raj, so I can't account for the accuracy of the setting.  Certainly there was an exoticism to the locale--the houses, the dusty roads, the summer heat, the colonial attitudes and lifestyle of the officers and their wives.  The story centers very much on the Anglo-Indian version of life and one character notes to Joe that he isn't seeing the "real India" as life on the station, where this elite corps of British cavalrymen live, is more British than Britain.  There are occasional glances of the "real India" though, so I suspect this is something that will be fleshed out more in later books. 

As entertaining reads go, I did enjoy this mystery, but it was lacking in some way.  I'm not sure I can explain why or what it was that seemed to be missing.  It may simply be the case of a first book in a series and people and places aren't necessarily as developed as I would have liked.  Maybe it just didn't feel as fully dimensional as I wanted it to be. I could visualize it, but only to a point.  It wasn't quite as vivid as I had hoped it would be (something I was expecting with an Indian setting).  However, as far as the mystery goes, it was fairly well plotted and had some nice twists.  I wasn't shocked by the culprit, but satisfied the conclusion.  I'm curious about the series and plan on reading more, and I find Joe an interesting character and one I expect to be expanded upon.  He's a bit of a playboy, and not what I expected when I first started reading and maybe that's my biggest draw along with learning more about Britain's role in India's history during this period. 

I'm sticking to the 1920s, though I'll be moving back to Britain as I pick up Charles Todd's A Duty to the Dead next (one from my vacation pile).

Last (New) Books of the Year

Well, yesterday was one of the stranger Christmases I've celebrated, but bad weather will do that to you sometimes.  I made loads of Christmas cookies earlier in the week to share with family and ate way too many of them!  And I spent lots of time reading, which always is a welcome way to pass the hours.  Hopefully today I'll finally get to see my family, so while I'm off traversing the piles of snow, I leave you with my last stack of new books for 2009! 

A few more books I might read over the rest of my break (or later as the case may be):

Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens -- Complete impulse buy when I saw this on the bookstore shelves.  The book has been a topic of discussion in one of my online book groups, and it sounds very good.

Mary Anne, Daphne du Maurier -- It's so nice to see DdM's books in US bookstores.  This is a Regency nove, and it will be very interesting to see how Daphne handles it after reading so much Georgette Heyer.

The Lie, Petra Hammersfahr -- This is a German crime novel about a doppelgangers.  It sounds quite good.

Beauvallet, Georgette Heyer -- Another yummy Heyer novel--another story set in the Georgian period.

The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi -- This is the winner of the Prix Goncourt--a story set in modern Afghanistan, which I fear will be in some ways painful to read but rewarding as well.

I received my first gift card (hopefully not my only one) of the season on my last day of work and I didn't waste any time using it.  I spent it the same day it was given to me.  How's that for an act of desperation--I've not book shopped for a while now so it was fun to browse the shelves of the bookstore! Did anyone else get a gift card or a book (or two?) for Christmas?

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to those who celebrate.  I hope you have a safe holiday and find many good things under your tree this year!  As I am in the Midwest I am assured of a white Christmas!  As a matter of fact it's snowing now and due to continue through to Saturday.  Fingers crossed I have no problems getting to my family's house tomorrow to enjoy the day.  Very best wishes everyone!

 

A little update: I'm afraid I'm snowed in today.  As you can see we got a little snow overnight (of course this is on top of what we got a week and a half ago) and it's still snowing and blowing, so I'm in hibernation mode this Christmas.  My family celebrations are postponed a day or so until everyone can safely get around.  So I've been trying to stay warm under fleecy blankets and am reading the afternoon away.  I guess Mother Nature doesn't take holidays off, eh? 

 

Check out this drift on my neighbor's house.  It's looking pretty precarious, isn't it!  Most of my windows are iced over, so I can't even look outside, but maybe that's a good thing.  I hope everyone is somewhere warm and cozy and indoors!

These Old Shades

I love the cover of These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer.  The young woman fits my idea to a 'T' of how I imagined Heyer's heroine, Léonie Bonnard, to appear as I was reading.  She's quite the impish character, and the rosy cheeks and slight arch to the eyebrow, and the tiniest bit of hauteur in her face match the description of her character perfectly.  Published in 1926 These Old Shades is one of Heyer's earliest novels and in some ways is very different than the other books I've read so far by her.  It's a slightly darker story than her later frothy concoctions, though there is still Heyer's trademark attention to detail and and entertaining storytelling.  Typical of her earlier work it's as much a swashbuckling tale of adventure as a romance.

What makes the tone darker is the hero, Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, also known as Satanas.  His reputation is well earned.  He's a rakish, debauched man, wealthy and infinitely bored with life.  Unfaithful to the women he's loved and left, his forty years have made him jaded and cynical.  It will take a smart, plucky young lady, upon first encounter dressed in the guise of a lad, to melt his devilish heart.

These Old Shades is set in mid-eighteenth century France, perhaps the best backdrop for such a decadent man as Justin whose snuff box and quizzing glass are always close at hand.  He's nothing if not fashionably dressed!   

"He walked mincingly, for the red heels of his shoes were very high.  A long purple cloak, rose-lined, hung from his shoulders and was allowed to fall carelessly back from his dress, revealing a full-skirted coat of purple satin, heavily laced with gold; a waistcoat of flowered silk; faultless small clothes; and a lavish sprinkling of jewels on his cravat and breast.  A three-cornered hat, point-edged, was set upon his powdered wig, and in his hand he carried a long beribboned cane."

One evening as he's leaving the home of his mistress he encounters a street urchin barreling across his path in obvious distress as he tries to escape the clutches of a man who turns out to be the young man's brother.  For the price of a diamond tie-pin young Léon is sold to the Duke, though Léon sees it as a good thing if it means avoiding yet more beatings.  It turns out to be nothing short of a miraculous rise out of the Parisian gutters to the Duke's sumptuous household.  Léon becomes Justin's page and causes quite a stir amongst the aristocratic class.  Léon will follow the Duke anywhere, so indebted does he feel to him, even following him to some of Paris's lowbrow establishments Justin is known to frequent.  It would appear, however, that the Duke does in the end have a conscious.

It becomes quickly obvious that hiding under that short mop of curly red hair is a young woman not a young man.  While the Duke may be of shallow morals he's nothing if not proper.  So he whisks Léonie off to his sister Fanny in England where she can become a respectable young lady.  As Justin's ward she must learn to dress and act as befits her new station, but her temper is as fiery as her hair and she will only relent if Justin agrees to teach her the art of swordplay.  She doesn't trade her breeches for petticoats without a fight, but when she does she's quite a becoming young woman, much to the Duke's surprise.

Tied into this rags to riches transformation is a mystery.  Altruism isn't one of Justin's strong points.  Just what did he see in Léon/Léonie's face with her distinct red hair and black eyebrows.  And what does she have to do with Justin's arch enemy, the Comte de Saint Vire?  It's generally assumed a man of Justin's rank would never take into his household let alone harbor sentimental feelings for anyone base-born.  Little more than a child of the slums Léonie may appear to be, her countenance is one of distinguished features and her early life included an education not received by many young females.  Just where did she come from? 

This early Heyer novel was an interesting read.  Although at times playful, it had its dark moments and the characters weren't necessarily motivated by charitable considerations.  The Duke is a brooding, vengeful man whose heart only softens through Léonie's unflagging devotion to him.  Heyer wrote These Old Shades at about the same time that she married and in some ways is intensely romantic.  Because there was a General Strike on at the time it was published it had virtually no publicity yet it sold more than 190,000 copies in hardcover and essentially launched her career. 

These Old Shades is one of several novels that Heyer wrote featuring heroines who choose to don men's clothing for various reasons. One of my favorite books by Georgette Heyer is The Corinthian, which is much lighter and humorous with wonderfully witty dialogue and has yet another young woman who must dress as a boy to get out of a sticky situation.  Very fun reading indeed.  Despite their flaws, though, I came to really like the characters in These Old Shades.  Even the supporting cast of characters were well formed and contributed to the development of the story.  There were a few things that I found to be somewhat awkward, however.  Léonie's intense adoration to the point on kneeling down and kissing the Duke's hand felt slightly over the top, but perhaps it was in keeping with the period and the fact she was rescued from a dreary life with no future.  And the Duke would often call Léonie "Infant" and reply to his male friends with "my dear", which was probably just an affectation, but they sounded strange to my ears.  Still, these are minor, fidgety things, no doubt simply a matter of taste or preference.

It's hard to miss with a Heyer novel.  As comfort read material goes she ranks as one of my favorite authors.  These Old Shades is an entirely satisfying read and as is almost always the case with her books, hit just the right spot when I needed something light and entertaining.  I'll quite happily continue to work my way through her novels.  Next up is Beauvallet, another early novel, which I'll be picking up soon after the beginning of the new year and will be curious to see how it compares.  Thanks to Sourcebooks for sending These Old Shades my way.   

Teaser Tuesday: The Greatest Knight

Many thanks for all the wonderful suggestions for comfort reads.  I think I ask for reading suggestions quite often and I do appreciate all the ideas that are passed along to me.  I always write them down in my notebook.  As it turns out I got Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight from the library just as I was working on that post.  As I want to read it before starting The Scarlet Lion (which I happened to get as a review copy), I went ahead and dived in.  In terms of a gripping read, this is certainly it.  Not all historical fiction is created equally.  In the hands of a good author the past can really come alive and I am finding that to be the case with Chadwick.  I'd never heard of William Marshal before, but he's an actual historical figure and Chadwick calls him "perhaps the greatest knight of the Middle Ages". 

I won't talk about what I'm reading quite yet, but I do want to share a passage that I found interesting.  What I love about good historical fiction is getting a feel for a period, and I like an author who is good at visuals and can make me see the story in my mind as I read it (if that makes sense?).  It's also nice to get outside of the here and now, and the Middle Ages is about as far away as I can get at the moment I think.  

William Marshal eventually became part of Eleanor of Aquitane's household, which is described here.

"Although he was accustomed to the trappings of wealth, William was astounded by the transformation Eleanor's arrival had wrought on apartments that this morning had been bare.  Detailed embroideries in rich hues of red and gold blazed upon the walls while chained lamps hung from the roof beams and were augmented by candelabra alight with clear-burning  beeswax candles.  Oak benches strewn with plump cushions lined the sides of the room, as did several brightly painted coffers.  Thick woollen curtains decorated with exquisite stitchwork and tassels of gold silk enclosed the Queen's great bed.  Heavy scents of incense and musk drugged the air.  At a sideboard scaled with silverware, a squire poured wine into silver goblets.  Eleanor herself sat on a curved chair near a brazier, attended by her women and surrounded by a cluster of devoted men, including Salisbury."

What I always have a hard time imagining is the finery such as the embroidery or silver goblets contrasted with the rushes on the floor (which I think is like straw?) covering all the not very nice things that land on the floor!  Perhaps in a royal household like Queen Eleanor's things would have been tidier?  I expect things were not terribly clean at the time, however.  It's hard to think of people living in these conditions, but fascinating at the same time.  And books like these always make me appreciate living in the modern age.

Vacation Reading Binge

Okay, so I know this is an entirely unreasonable stack of books to contemplate for my week (plus a few days) off from work (beginning Tuesday at about 4:00...really, I'm not counting down...), but I can't help myself.  I don't actually plan on trying to read all of them, but it's more the stack I'll pull from as the mood hits me (oh, and I see I've left one off, too).  There are a couple that I do plan on reading even if they carry over from my vacation and they already sit on my night table, Rumer Godden's Greengage Summer and Julia Gregson's East of the Sun.  Otherwise these are just books I've been thinking about picking up lately.  And I still have a couple left from my end of the year stack, too.  Here's the rundown of reading possibilities (in case you want to click through and read more about them):

The Greengage Summer, Rumer Godden - Am reading this along with The Literary Stew and a few other folks.

Haunting Jordan, P.J.Alderman

The Editor's Wife, Clare Chambers - Clare Chambers is one of my favorite authors and she's the perfect person to pick up when in need of a comfort read.  Since that's just what I'm in the mood for at the moment, I've pulled out one of her unread novels.

The Passport, Herta Muller - This year's Nobel winner.  Even though it's a slim novel, this one might be more challenging than it appears.

Henrietta's War, Joyce Dennys - I've heard many, many good things about Joyce Dennys and must get around to this one (another for the category of comfort read, too).

Love's Shadow, Ada Leverson - This and the title below are Bloomsbury Group books.

Mrs Time of the Regiment, D.E. Stevenson

The Man of Property, John Galsworthy - I'm planning on reading this as my next classic after I finish Wives and Daughter.  It would be nice to start it while I'm on vacation, but if not that's okay, too.  I'm looking forward to starting the Forsyte Saga finally.

The Cemetery of Secrets, David Hewson - Italy as a setting sounds very tempting (with all the sow we've had I could use some warmth and sunshine), plus this has the added benefit of being a thriller and I've heard a page turner, too.

East of the Sun, Julia Gregson

Careless in Red, Elizabeth George - I hadn't really planned on reading anything by George at the moment, but after hearing she's already coming out with a new Lynley mystery, I'm suddenly in the mood.

A Duty to the Dead, Charles Todd - Another mystery that's gotten very good reviews.

And the one I forgot to add to the pile, Deanna Raybourn's Silent on the Moor.  I read her previous novel during my winter break a couple of years ago and was glued to it--I hope this will be the same.

I know many of these books have popped up on lists from time to time here, but hopefully I can actually get a few of them read finally.  Itchy fingers...where to start?!  I've been pretty good lately with sticking to my current reads pile, this feels like a real treat to just start one of these on a total whim!