Goodbye January and so nice to see you February, though the cold is continuing here with a nice gusty Arctic blast to start the month. At least now, however, it's easier to think that 'next month is the start of spring'. I will be telling myself that a lot this month. So, while I wait out the cold, I have several new books that I am starting to read and the promise of a few more as I finish up a few holdovers from last month.
I'm hoping that I can squeeze in two prompt books this month. Because I have been thinking about it so much of late I decided to start with Sarah Moss's Bodies of Light (there are two books that come after that continue the story, I believe). I have heard many good things about it and as it is a bit shorter than most of the other books I was considering it should be a good fit (and hopefully I can still read one of the other even shorter novels, too). It is set in the Victorian era and touches on art and science and growing up and coming of age, none of which will come without struggle.
Since Stefanie and I had so much fun reading John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids we decided to pick another book to read in tandem, so Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe it is. I have only just barely started, but it seems to almost read like fiction. I had to have this one as soon as it came out, so I am happy to finally start reading it.
My other new addition to the reading pile is Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which I am reading along with Buried in Print. It won all kinds of awards and judging by the first few pages that I read yesterday I can see why. The narrator instantly draws you in and has a most wonderful 'voice'. I love hearing him in my mind and the cadences of his dialogue is almost musical, but musical in a very energetic way. I only worry now, as the title is "brief" and "wondrous" . . . brief? Am I going to get attached to Oscar and then lose him? Only time will tell what it means.
On the horizon I have a few more books that I will soon get to. I do this and wonder if you do, too . . . I mentally plan out what I will read when I finish a particular book. Aside from the pleasure of thinking about what I will be reading soon, there is that extra little nudge and incentive to stay on track with my current reads. My reading pile is not going to stay tidy, I know that, but I can at least try and make my reading flow better than I usually do.
So, as soon as I finish Molly Hughes's A London Child of the 1870s, which I have in a Persephone edition, I plan on picking up a Virago Modern Classic. Every year I lament that I read so few of those books of each publisher that I am trying to at least keep one on my reading pile throughout the course of the year. I feel like I need to do something special to celebrate the 40th anniversary of those lovely VMCs! Since yesterday marked her 100th birthday, she is going to be my next Virago selection. Now deciding which Muriel Spark novel!
I might have to jump the queue with my next mystery read. I am working on Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs (and maybe a weekend of determined and only Poirot reading would finish it), but I am eager to watch the new Netflix's new Babylon Berlin. I quickly ordered the book Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher, the first book of several from what I understand. Do I begin watching before reading? Read first and watch later? Or read and watch in tandem (which is tricky with a crime show). The show is a German import and I had heard it would be subtitled (which is preferable for my tastes), but I see the trailer is dubbed, so I will have to investigate that--maybe there is an option to watch both ways? My other crime selection is the much anticipated French novel The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani, which is also waiting on my bedside pile.
I haven't peeked yet to try and guess which new NYRB Classic will be the next subscription book, but I don't expect it for another week or two yet, which will give me time to keep making progress on Eileen Chang's Little Reunions. I was very hesitant when it first came and I began reading, but while that eight page list of characters still seems rather formidable, I must say I am not finding the reading as hard going as I thought it might be. It has taken me a while to get into the story, but I am finding a certain rhythm with it. And I have even been using that character list as a reinforcement of who's who. I have tried a little trick with it, and it seems to be working. I just set out each day to read 5-6 pages. I know it seems like very little, but it is steady reading and I am making slow progress. I likely will jump into the February book while continuing on with my daily ration of pages with the Chang. It has become a habit and it is working, so I think I will have to try this with a few other books that seem a little stalled at the moment!
Be gone cold, I will have no more of you. Wishful thinking. But I have lots and lots of books to help keep my mind distracted from those cold north winds (and once again, that threat of weekend snow).
Happy weekend reading everyone.