I'm down to four books since my last update. These are the books I'd really like to finish before the end of the year. One book was set aside for the simple fact I hadn't started reading it yet. I will save Mr. Stegner for next year. As I finish books a few new ones have popped up on my sidebar, though most will be what I'm reading after the first of the new year. I'll be very happy if I can keep my current reads pile down to a low roar next year, but we'll see what happens.
I've got a few new books to share that I'm looking forward to reading. Simon Mawer's The Glass Room was short listed for the Booker Prize. Irregardless of that it's one I've heard good things about and the story really appeals to me. I found one of Mawer's earlier novels at the last library sale I attended so hope to get to one or both sometime soon. Elizabeth Chadwick is an author I think I would enjoy and have had several people recommend her books to me. Sourcebooks has started publishing her work here in the US, so I'll finally get to read her. I've got The Scarlet Lion to try first, which is set in 1100s England and France. I had never heard of Elizabeth Jolley before The Vera Wright Trilogy showed up in my mailbox. Jolley is an Australian author, and this group of novels begin in 1939 England and follows Vera through to 1950s Australia. The accompanying biographical material about her states "Her style is distinctive, her voice is original, and many literary critics say there has never been a writer like her. In fact, most would ultimately agree she was beyond category." She sounds like someone I would like very much!
And I recently mentioned Winston Graham's Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall 1783-1787. It came in the mail today (along with my Reading Woman 2010 calendar), so I'm ready to start reading from my list! This is the first in a series of books by Graham that Sourcebooks is publishing. I'm becoming a fan of Sourcebooks as not only are they reissuing Georgette Heyer's novels here in the US, and now Winston Graham's and Daphne du Maurier's, but also books by R.F. Delderfield (yet to read but have one on my TBR pile--another recommended to me author), and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles's Morland Family Dynasty books (though already have most of the set from the UK publisher). They seem to publish lots of historical fiction, so I'll be curious to see what new authors/titles they bring out in the spring. So many good books to read. Do you ever feel the weight of them all?!