A chronic case of start-i-tus. There's a name for what I suffer from--start-i-tus. The condition is marked by restlessness and inability to focus on one story. Increased heart rate when faced with a stack of new books. The glazing of eyes when too much time is spent with 'just one book'. At present there is no known cure, but the worst of the symptoms can be alleviated with a fresh supply of new stories when the subject's mind begins wandering.
I actually am making progress on my reading piles, but it happens to be slow progress. (It's the journey not the destination, right? I'll get there). After a few more challenging and thoughtful reads, I'm hoping to move along in a few other books at a more 'rapid' clip. I am hoping to finish my current mystery read tonight (and am contemplating which new mystery to pick up next--one of my holdovers from my month of mystery reading or something entirely new--a cozy? A thriller? Or maybe a good gritty crime novel? Not sure what I am exactly in the mood for). One of my interlibrary loan books needs to be returned next Monday, so more attention will be paid to it this week in order to finish on time. And even though Paris in July has come and gone, I am still there mentally and inside the covers of a book.
So while I'm working away on those books I am (as you already know) looking forward to starting (or in the case of one or two--continuing reading) a few new books as well. I've got two novellas that I need to write about, and am ready to pick up a new one from my small pile. I am leaning towards Nikolai Gogol's How the Two Ivans Quarrelled (not least as it is the shortest book in my novella pile but also because I have yet to read anything by Gogol).
I dug out my copy of Barbara Pym's Excellent Women for a reread as it is this month's Slaves of Golconda choice. Barbara Pym's world is such a comforting one that I am looking forward to getting back into it. And I mentioned Pilippe Claudel's Grey Souls yesterday. I've got my copy at the ready. Both books will be discussed at the end of the month.
My current NYRB read is Russell Hoban's very quirky (but hugely entertaining) Turtle Diary about two lonely-ish people who meet at the turtle tank in the London Zoo and discover both have a fantasy of setting turtles free. And I think they are indeed going to do it.
The book that is under wraps in the pile is my current postal round book, which I must start tonight I think so I can have plenty of time to read and get it into the mail by September 1. The title and author are hidden away in case anyone from the group drops by--I don't want to spoil their fun later (we never know which book is coming our way). But I'll tell you what it is--just click here.
And that monster of a book on the bottom, Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, I mentioned earlier and still have high hopes of reading. The schedule is a generous one--it will take a year to get from page one to page 1474. I tried to read it once before. Will this second try be successful?
Can you believe that next month it will be time for RIP? I already have a mental reading list started (are you surprised? I didn't think so). And then in October it will be time for my trip to San Francisco--time is speeding by. Good thing this is a long month. I am going to need every hour of all 31 days this month!
How about you? Are you reading anything special this month?