How is it possible that the month is already flying by and in just over a week students will be returning to the campus where I work?! I am ready to let the heat of summer go and be replaced with some milder weather, but I'm not quite sure when that is going to happen. While it has not been quite as bad as those few weeks of over 100F days, even days in the mid-90s with humidity are too much for me.
So, ten days into my trial run of only "three books (okay, four)" at a time reading stack and it is both much easier than I expected but sort of hard, too. What is nice and easy is there is no agonizing over what to take with me to work or on errands. They are small enough I can take all four if I want or just choose two. I don't mind so much lingering over one book or story and returning to it over the course of the day (which is how I read--carving out as much reading time here and there on my free moments as I can).
I do look longingly over my TBR piles and sometimes I pull out a book and peruse it or read the description, but it is less for the intention of diving in and adding it to the reading pile than for the possibility of moving it to the top of the TBR in anticipation of rotating it in sooner or later. I do have a mental queue going--a book I must read next (a review copy maybe or book club book or some sort of online readalong perhaps) or one I am just excited to start.
But what has been challenging is the stack of library books. So far they are just sitting there and I am watching the due dates approach and mostly returning them to the library (and getting in line again or just noting the title for some other day). Library books just don't wait like my own books. There is that usually short window of opportunity to read it (unless it is an older title that no one else is waiting to read). So what do I do about those library books? If I absolutely want to read it just put it next in line? Cheat and read it on the side? The reader's dilemma!
Just a few other things before I dive into the weekend. I am going to see a Japanese film that is about a murder and looks quite suspenseful, The Third Murder (Sandome no satsujin). When I saw the trailer I knew I had to plan on seeing it. I wonder if it is based on a book? I have been wanting to read some Japanese crime (another subject for that mental queue I have going).
I came across an Italian author who lives in London and writes a US-based detective series. Her name is Valentina Giambanco, and it looks like she has published five Alice Madison thrillers that are set in Seattle. I have ordered the first book in the series as I like the setting and am curious how the story will feel written by a European. I read loads of books written by Americans set in Britain or other countries, but I think it is rare I come across the reverse.
And I leave you with a couple of links. I will also be perusing these lists of anticipated books that are coming out this fall: PW's Most Anticipated Books and this more general (across a variety of genres) 2018 Fall Announcements.
Happy reading everyone.