I was all set this morning to tuck a new book into my bookbag for the day (along with several other 'in progress' books), but I managed to talk myself out of it. For the moment, that is. As I have read a few very satisfying thrillers and am in need of something from that genre on my pile I was thinking it was time to pick up a good detective novel. I have several candidates including a few translated works by women.
But it was raining (and I wanted to keep my bag light) and I thought of the books I still want to finish this month (still optimistically have a whole week) and this weekend will be prime reading/finishing time. So the book stayed at home and I continue with the same books that have been keeping me company for what feels like ages. This is my problem, you know. Surely I am not someone who can't focus for long periods of time on one book, one story, one author? Do I really need a constant influx of 'new'? I cave into whim and whimsy, what can I say. You would think it would be enough to have more than a few books to select from off my night table, but apparently I don't just need different, I also want 'new'. That it something I struggle with am working on.
But off on the horizon there are always bookish projects to look forward to. With fall and the start of a new school year, I always feel like it is a nice for fresh new ideas and new projects and of course, I have several in mind.
In September as part of a Gender Revolt/Queer Film celebration there is going to be a series of films at a local indie which includes Carol from a couple of years ago. I missed it in the original release but I am happy to finally see it on the big screen. Last night I pulled off the shelves my copy of Patricia Highsmith's Carol (The Price of Salt) and what might be a perfect pairing, Jill Dawson's The Crime Writer. Both books I have long wanted to read and now have the perfect opportunity. As part of that same film series I am reading Virginia Woolf's Orlando and plan on seeing the film tomorrow. I don't think I will have finished reading by then (and part of the reason a new book stayed behind this morning), but I hope to finish it over the course of the weekend. It is not hard reading, but I am trying to read slowly but suspect I am still missing important ideas. Of course, for myself, Virginia Woolf's books always require more than one read, so maybe the film will help fill in the picture as I go.
There are several other reading pairings that I have on my radar this fall (well, in some cases I have wanted to do them for ages now). I am very keen to read Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire, which is actually sitting at home on my library book pile. I should really just dive right in, but as it is a retelling of Antigone, I had hoped to read the play first. And I have found a couple of other versions of the play as well-reinterpretations like the Antigone Project and Burial at Thebes by Seamus Heaney. It's probably far too ambitious for how much free time I have to dedicate to reading projects but it sounds enticing nonetheless.
And on the back (back, back, back) burners are Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed along with Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Colm Toibin's House of Names and reading about Clytemnestra and Agamemnon.
I am thinking of my September prompt, which is 'back to school' and have a list of school-setting-themed books started. So if you have a favorite novel set in academia, do share. I have a few reading possibilities in mind already, but I never quite know what I will choose until that moment I start reading.
A sure sign of autumn (yes, I am ready for autumn!) is Carl's RIP readalong, which I have yet to see an announcement for, but I know if it happens it is literally just around the corner. In any case, for me, autumn reading will include a ghost story or two, something atmospheric and maybe Victoriana-ish. I have not given those reading possibilities too much thought yet, but I am sure I will have no problem thinking up a few books that would read nicely for the season. (And again, if you have something you plan on reading this fall, do share).
I'm quite ready now to move on to these new reading pleasures, but a week left of August and the weekend coming quickly, so I will still be spending time for the next few days with Orlando, Nevil Shute, a mini trip to Mars and an unsettling stay in Greece . . .