I've been lulled into a false sense of being in an endless summer as despite it being mid-September yesterday our temperatures here were just a few degrees shy of 100F. I should revel in the summer sunshine and warmth, right? Unfortunately it is a good 25 degrees too warm for me. When I last checked a book out and I was given a due date of early November it was a little jarring. I feel like I am frittering away my reading time shuffling books about endlessly, so I am trying to get into a reading routine that is enjoyable and at the same time hoping to begin tidying things up before the end of the year (which is a mere three months and a few weeks away).
Although for once I am actually pretty pleased with the books I have chosen to pick up and spend time with this year, I do feel certain areas in my reading have been neglected or books I was so excited to read have languished. Where have all the classics gone this year? The mystery series that I had hoped to continue on with but haven't. All those Viragos and Persephones. Part of me wants to go and peruse my shelves to fill in those gaps (which would mean adding another book to the reading pile), and part of me is ready to make a list of books currently on the go and then read through them and line them off one by one. I think somewhere in between is what will work best.
I have been switching (or trying to) back and forth between my current short story collection, John Burnside's Something Like Happy, and another very dippable book, Heidi Julavit's The Folded Clock, which is a collection of short writings presented in diary format. I love the Burnside, which I just wrote about, so today I'm reading his story "Godwit". Tomorrow I will read a few diary entries in the Julavits. I'm a little uncertain how I feel about the latter book. I have read her before, a very long time ago, though I recall nothing about the experience now. I like her writing, but I feel a little like an observer looking in and rather than the warm familiar feeling I get from Burnside's writing. But it is early days yet, so I am hoping her writing will grow on me.
I cannot for the life of me settle on one good mystery. I hate to think how many I have picked up and in some cases started but then set down or not finished. I am reading B.A. Paris's The Breakdown, which got rave reviews and it is very much a page turner. I tend to leave it at home rather than carrying about a hardcover, so I just read a bit each day, but as the due date looms I will either have to commit to it fully or send it back. The thing with thrillers and novels of suspense is I am (and I know I have remarked on it numerous times, so I apologize) feeling quite jaded about them. There is just this sameyness to them that makes me feel ambivalent (and hence my desire for a good detective novel and puzzle to sort out). Once again we have the female character that is going or is being driven a little mad. What did she see, did she see a murder, did she do something she shouldn't have . . . I feel like this is well traversed terrain no matter how well the author writes.
But I am quite enjoying this month's 'back to school' prompt of Bilgewater. It is nicely quirky and engaging and different and unexpected. It's kind of a breath of fresh air, which I guess is what I need right now? I want to read more of Jane Gardam's novels and I want to read Sherman Alexie when I finish this. See how one book sprouts into two?
I am thoroughly enjoying my reread of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. I saw all the movie adaptations one after the other over the course of three or four weeks and they made me want to pick the books back up and read them in much the same manner. I am liking the story more the second time around and should finish the first book this weekend and have the second one at the ready.
The other book I have been spending time with of late is Patricia Highsmith's Carol (or the Price of Salt as it was originally published) in anticipation of seeing the movie (finally and happily on the big screen) later this month. I saw the film adaptation of Orlando last month and need to get back to the book and finish it as well (as you can see it went on to the back burner . . .). Virginia Woolf. I know it is probably one of her 'easier' books, but I am sure I am going to need to reread it.
The one area I have fizzled on this month is my RIP reading. I think it is just suffering from the 'can't squeeze another book in at the moment' syndrome. I halfheartedly started Helen Dunmore's The Greatcoat and given time to get into the story I think I will like it, but I have not given it much attention. And now I am eyeing a book I don't even own but my library does, Cat Winters's The Uninvited with its overtones of the supernatural and a ghost story at its center.
So, I guess we'll see where my reading takes me this weekend. Where is yours taking you?