If there is one good thing about a long holiday weekend that is going to end with a snowy, sleety, wintry mix of weather, it is . . . I have a perfect excuse to stay indoors and read. Actually, two good things, if I am trying to be optimistic about bad winter weather. An excuse to stay indoors and the fact that I am lucky I don't have to drag myself out of bed early to deal with nasty winter weather and slick sidewalks on my Monday morning walk to the bus stop in order to get to work on time. In anticipation I am already thinking about getting up just early enough to go make a hot, steaming cup of coffee grab a nice toasted English muffin and then get back in bed with a book. From the sound of the forecast both Sunday and Monday are not going to be nice weather days. Which means perfect reading days.
Not even halfway into the month--and only the first month of the new year and I am beginning to waver on one of my good intentions. The intention to not allow myself to pick up books pell mell without having finished a book first. I have actually started a couple of new books, but then I have also finished a couple of books, too, so no cheating yet. (And I am hoping over the long weekend to write 'reviews' of those two books as well the last book I finished in 2016).
The problem is that temptations abound! Powells just announced their shortlist for this year's Tournament of Books. I have one of the books already on my TBR pile and there are a few others that I have wanted to try, and then there are a few new-to-me books, too, that might be worth looking at.
And then there is a movie coming out next month that I want to read before seeing the film adaptation! Best not to leave it too long so I am prepared before the movie opens. I even found my copy last night and it is very conveniently sitting next to my bed.
Book Riot always has the best reading lists and I have been exploring titles from their 100 Recommended Books by Arab Women. I have even checked one or two out from the library already (see just below . . . re: library book temptations).
January 20 looms heavy on the horizon and I am not looking forward to what comes next. Uncertainty comes next, but I am curious about what these authors will have to say about the prospect. My copy should be arriving this weekend.
And then there are just the normal garden variety everyday temptations, like library books. I have a small but growing stack that I will be perusing this weekend. And a few new books have graced my mailbox in the last few days as well.
And I have been thinking it is time for me to pick a new Penguin Little Black Classic. I have tentatively pulled John Ruskin's Traffic out, but I am not sure if it is exactly matching my mood at the moment. I tried a page or two and he is perhaps a bit more erudite than I can manage at the moment. But I also found a Jane Austen that would make a nice companion to Persuasion. And there is an H.G. Wells that would be a great follow up to the John Wyndham I just read (and will be telling you about).
I need to choose a new mystery since I am finishing Sara Sheridan's wonderful Mirabelle Bevan/Vesta Churchill mystery. I am leaning heavily towards two books translated from Norwegian (since I am slow out of the starting gate with translated fiction this year).
If I can stay on track, however, I will be reading short stories (two New Yorker stories, the next one by John Burnside: "Peach Melba", the last Advent Calendar story and the stories Smithereens sent me) and whichever books on my sidebar that call out to me. With so many really good books on the go at the moment I am not sure which couple to really concentrate on this weekend.
And if the bad weather decides to travel north or south of me, I won't mind a bit. But I will still fill as much spare time with books this weekend. I can read just as well in dry weather (yes, please!) as in cold and wet!