I dabble a lot in books, can you tell? Most of the books here are (at least the pile in the front) the books I am currently reading. Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden is good, but I swear it has taken me Forever to get through it. As much as I am enjoying the story now, I wonder if it could have been cut down just a bit without losing any of the drama (and there is plenty of drama). I AM going to finish it this month. Mostly I seem to be spending time with my Australian authors this month.
The pile in the back are books I started and was enjoying, but when you have two piles like these to choose from something has to end up on the back burner. The Kate Summerscale book is an intended read . . . as in it came my way as a reader's copy and while I am excited to get to it, I admit I am trying to finish a few other things as I am sure it is going to require a little concentration at least initially to get into the story (I know it is nonfiction, but Summerscale has a good knack for writing really riveting books).
Oh, poor Jane Smiley. Last book of the trilogy and I have even been in the mood of late to get back to it (must finish it this year so it stays firmly planted in that pile). But I can only manage one chunkster (the Morton) at once. I had gotten about 80 pages into it, but upon recent reflection (I picked it up to look at and see if I could dive back in) I see I will need to go back to the beginning and start again (or do very serious skimming). The Thien is also really good (still want to pick up a few books from the Baileys list . . .) and it is a must finish as well.
I do have a stack of library books (maybe will share them another day). Some of them are only 'dipping-into' books, trying out a new author, that sort of thing. But I do have several that I really really really do want to get to. But it's summer and oppressively hot and my concentration levels are low (and to be honest my blogging levels even lower at the moment), so I think I do need to try and be kind to myself and allow the bar to be set lower than I like and just be happy with what I can manage and not disappointed that some books must be set aside or returned or simply abandoned until later (or maybe in a few cases indefinitely).
Which brings me to this pile of books I really do want to finish reading. Most are from this year at least. I admit that the N. Scott Momaday is good, but I was not enjoying it for some reason. The edition of the Thirkell I have has so many typographical errors in the text as to be annoying and distracting even though the reading is easy. A few books were just recently picked up and might just be returned quietly to the shelves as I hadn't really invested all that much time in them. Nonfiction is always my challenge. I want to read them all and they are all so good, but sometimes they are just so dense or long and I read nonfiction ever so slowly and then I get greedy and want something else. Hence this problem with so many unfinished nonfiction books.
I talk about bedside book piles sometimes. Here they are. The books are often changing. Either they are recent purchases or books I am so very tempted to start sooner than later (I try and resist until I Finish something else, but keeping them close by gives me a sense of security and knowledge that I can just reach over and pick one up . . .).
And for comparison's sake here is last year pile that I was working on at just about this time in July. A few did end up back in their spots in the shelves but I, at least, managed to finish more than I put back.
So, midyear clean up begins. I will be "reading Australia" through August and maybe spending August trying to finish books rather than start new ones. (Why does that sound so very difficult?). I keep telling myself pick up ONE book, and read it until you finish and then pick up another and surely this method will see me finishing all those books, but it might take a while. I have so much will power sometimes, but never when it comes to books.
I wonder who is willing to share their reading piles? If you do, let me know (and I won't feel so very alone!).