Ready for the Weekend Book Notes

Hello all, I've been very remiss in posting this month.  I have been thinking of all the bookishness I would like to share but finding myself short of time (or too tired) when I am not at work. 

My library is in the process of migrating from one ILS (integrated library system--our online catalog and all the support software that is how we function on the back end) to a new one that involves not only my university campus but all campuses that are part of the Nebraska system.  It has been in the works for so long and all of a sudden the actual dates of migrating and going live are quick approaching.  Moving to a new system, trying to understand how it works all while still working in the old system.  Ah, and nothing like learning it via zoom (when the world becomes a little more normal I hope to never take part in another zoom session if I can help it!).

It's a bit of a sorry excuse, but at the end of the day there are always several things on my mental list that I want to do but then think . . . I swear I am going to do this tomorrow.  So, just a few notes of what I have been up to and then soon to share real posts in the coming days.

The last time I posted I was thinking of what my new monthly prompt would be.  I picked one and started to read only to discover it was just not quite the book to match my mood.  I have picked up The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama and am quite enjoying it.  It is a gentle story set just before WWII about a young Chinese man who is recuperating from an illness in Japan.  Yes, there is a garden, more than one, and the seaside.  Why is it that gardening is so recuperative?  I have read this author before many years ago and am happy to revisit her work.  

Lately I find myself wanting to reach more often for books long on my shelves--redisoveries or rediscovering authors I have not thought of for far too long.  That said, my constant complaint (and why should I be so greedy, but you know how it goes), I am still moving at a snail's pace with my reading.  I feel like there is one me on one shoulder and another on the other.  One says, slow and steady and don't worry, and don't get caught up in the desire for more.  The other says, look at that stack of books, I want to start that one now (even without having finished one).  What's another new book, who is looking anyway?!  But then I go to Goodreads and see how many books behind in my reading challenge I am (and November is so near), that I have, three times now, reduced the number of books I hope to read.  I finally finished one yesterday, only to find I was three books behind (now two).  The eternal internal struggle over my reading . . .

I get to think of my next reading prompt, though.  I think I shall be finishing the Tsukiyama novel this weekend, so expect a new list early next week (I am already considering which books will be in that stack).  I am already contemplating changing my next year prompt reading.  Rather than a theme for each month, something a little different.  I'm just thinking now so will share later.  Maye a change will be a nice inspiration.

I have pulled a couple of books by Margaret Atwood to read for her Margaret Atwood Reading Month.  It has been quite a long time since I had read any of her books--other than A Handmaid's Tale, which I reread this year for the nth time.  To be on the safe side I think I will read one of her shorter novels.  I have read several books several times, but her earliest novels I am very hazy about (whether I really read them or did not and just think I did).  I guess those unknowns are fair game for choosing now (and considering them a new read).  

And I was happy to see that Caroline's German Literature Month is on again this year.  I have also been very remiss in connecting up with my online reading friends (for which I apologize to you all profusely), so I fear I have missed out on a lot of really good bookishness.  I have a little stack of books translated from German (and admit I have also ordered a couple of books that piqued my curiosity).  As soon as those books arrive I will share the stack, though I am going to again rein in my enthusiasm and try to realistically just choose one.

I have been (in keeping with this year's theme) Very Bad about not reading my NYRBs as they arrive.  Not even making an effort to pretend I am keeping up.  Do I dare renew my subscription?  I was looking at their website and at their forthcoming books and too many look appealing.  There is the idea of 'maybe I need a treat--a little self care' and should allow myself that monthly new book (shh-on the knowledge that that is not the only book that comes through my front door).  And then there are all those library books.  I do go over my holds list, however, and I cancel books that I might otherwise have taken home and just perused.  Now with the quarantining of library books for a full week at a minimum, when they are checked in by a patron--I fear too many books sitting and waiting, which will just gum up my account.

Such a weird world we are living in.  My current mystery novel is An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd.  This is one of the Nurse Bess Crawford novels set during WWI.  In this instalment the Spanish Flu serves as part of the mystery.  It has been sort of interesting to read about the epidemic, if only peripherally, considering our own circumstances.

I have a number of other books in progress and several newish galley copies that I want to give a shout out for.  Those to follow soon.  New library books to share and a few new purchases.  When I am not reading or worrying about work I have been watching lots and lots of old movies on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).  I like that there are no outside ads on that channel (no more political ads, please) and it is a gentle kind of distraction.

I am well and hope you and your families are the same.  I hope you have had a chance to go out and safely vote, or plan to in the coming days.  And I hope you are happily immersed in a very good book!

Comments

[Linda]

No sweat. The migration sounds like a huge undertaking that will take--and sap!--all your energy.

I am reading new things this month, but am also chilling out re-reading Gladys Taber. She is so good for chilling out with.

[Cathy]

Thanks to you I read Barbara Pym's A Few Green Leaves. I think this is my favorite of hers. I would love to take a class on her writing as I think there's so much more to it than I'm getting on my own.

Hang in there w the system change...it really will get better.

[Kathy A Johnson]

That change over does sound like a taxing one, and heaven knows the just living life is draining these days. Hope you are allowing your reading to be a comfort and a solace rather than an additional challenge.

I've been watching the Geraldine McEwan iteration of the Miss Marple mysteries, courtesy of Hoopla, and just finished the latest Inspector Gamache mystery (set in Paris!) which I absolutely loved. And I'm also doing a little Agatha Christie project, which I'll write about on my blog, to honor the 100th anniversary of her first book.

[Smithereens]

Just as you're reading Bess Crawford novels set during WWI, I've finished Vera Brittain's memoir of WWI as a nurse too. I'm all for a lighter read now so I've taken the Mrs Pollifax book you sent me a while ago, it is delightful!! I hope your new IT system works well and without any glitch...

[Linda]

Smithereens, I loved TESTAMENT OF YOUTH. I read it after it was presented on MASTERPIECE THEATRE in 1980.

[BuriedInPrint]

I relate to the ongoing pull between old and new "discoveries": it's a constant state for me. And, lately, I've been thinking a lot about plans for reading in 2021 and trying to conceive of a balance in that sense, from the start (especially given the need to reduce outings, which means a change in -- or lack of -- public library borrowing habits). Thanks, also, for linking to Margaret Atwood Reading Month, and I'm glad to see that you are enjoying your selection. Here's the link to the 2020 launch, which includes a link to the Bingo, if you're curious! http://www.buriedinprint.com/margaret-atwood-reading-month-marm-bingo/

[Danielle]

Linda--I was thinking about Gladys Taber and how much I loved my monthly chapters last year. She is truly delightful and a perfect author for our unhappy times. We have gotten to the freeze point--no more work in the old system and now waiting to go live at the end of December so now it is time to learn the new system. A different kind of stress, but at least it is an interim point.
Cathy--Ugh--we switched systems about six years ago--and here we are again. That learning curve for the new system is proving steep, but we are not yet 'live'. I love Barbara Pym and I would be right with you for a class on her work! I am so glad you read and enjoyed this book. It DOES look good and I need to read it, too!
Kathy--Such good reads for you! I need to pick up a Agatha Christie--I have one (A Miss Marple) set aside to sneak into my pile soon. And I really need to get back to the Gamache books. I have a coworker who has read all of them, too, and enjoyed this last one as well.
Smithereens--Ugh--that new system is very complex and it has taken me days to try and figure out a potential new workflow. I am going to need every work day I have before we go live to learn it. Anyway...did you like Mrs Pollifax? I have the first two books waiting... She sounds right up my alley. I really liked the Bess Crawford mystery--it was so interesting reading a book that touched peripherally anyway, on the Spanish Flu. Strangely familiar. I have the next book to read, too.
Linda--Did you watch the new adaptation of the Brittain book? I need to read it--it looks like quite a commitment!
BIP--Thanks for the link! It is my plan to write tomorrow (ooh, two days in a row--is it possible?) about my Atwood selection. I have to try and get at least one post in before the end of the month, which is sort of scarily fast approaching. And I am curious about your 2021 plans, which I hope we'll chat about! I have sort of been thinking about them as well as trying to figure out how to accomplish a bit more this year than I am on an actual path to do. It is so hard to avoid the pull of the new even as I look longingly at all my own piles of not so old and some very old books!