A Work in Progress

Things I wanted to do, did(?), and might do.

Where has the year gone?  I really did plan on checking in here more often than I have.  (That is a wanted to do).  I have been reading, though my reading is, as usual, ALL over the place. (Did and doing).  I have lots of ideas of where I would like to go in the coming year.  (Might do?).  How do I possibly catch up now, however.

Last time I was here Typepad was having issues with book/reading lists, so I gave that up.  In reality I have a Lot of books in progress.  I have a lot of carryovers from last year.  Dare I share them here?  Maybe a curated list of what I want to finish or take forward into the new year.  I have been weeding my book collection and trying (very hard) to think about what I would take with me if/when I downsize my life.  Very difficult task.  I have been much better at letting books go that I have read and finished and am likely not going to revisit.  More of that needs to happen and will.  Library books rule!

Is it worth now filling in all the books I read this year here on my sidebar (they are listed in Goodreads, of which I have very mixed feelings about). One of the things I started was a physical journal where my plan was to (yes by hand) write out all the books I have read since beginning this blog and continuing on (because in my world paper is not dead).  I think I made it through a few years but it languishes (like so many projects).  And what to do about 'here'.  Is Tyepad and the blogging world becoming obsolete.  Does anyone actually ever pass through here anymore?  I am absent online quite a lot, but how do I connect up with virtual friends, if not here.

First a little housekeeping.  My current reads/books I am dipping into or do want to finish reading.

Bellewether, Susanna Kearsley -- Bit of a slow burn.  Lots of interesting historical information and a dual timeline story.  I think I prefer the historical story over the contemporary one.  Will either of the heroines actually get together with the heroes?  Remains to be seen, but I am going to keep going and find out.

Small Bomb at Dimperley, Lissa Evans -- Post WWII setting and I have heard good things about.  Poor hardcover means I am reluctant to carry it about with me and have been seduced by other books, but I will get back to it.

Tides, Sarah Freeman -- Short paragraphs spaced out and I should have finished a long time ago, but the story deals with some trauma and I find myself not reaching for it as I should.

Remember Love, Mary Balogh -- She is a reliable comfort read for me--in the vein of Georgette Heyer.  Not steamy really, but certainly more intimate than Mrs. Heyer.  

Death of an Author, E.C.R. Lorac -- Oh, now this is a twisty one.  I keep thinking I might know what is going wrong and then the story take another turn.

Only Here, Only Now, Tom Newlands -- This is the last book for my public library reading challenge (one where a character has a disability.  So, this might be a stretch, but the main character (a girl growing up in a broken home in 1990s Scotland) has ADHD.  I really like it, and Cora has such an engaging voice--it is the hardcover I am carrying around with me.  (Library books and last books to complete a challenge get the attention over my own personal books it would seem).

And oh dear, the books I started and what to do about them?  Asterisked books are those I am far enough into that I just need to give them attention to finish.  And the others?  Maybe they will get returned to their spots on the TBR for later reading?  I am a reader of whim as you can see.

*The Dolphin House, Audrey Shulman -- I really do like this book a lot, but I struggle (more so these days) with cruelty to women and animals (in this case the setting is 1960s and we all know how things went in that era).

*Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery, Rosalie Knecht

*The Third Girl, Agatha Christie

*Second Self, Chloe Ashby

*Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny -- I went to Quebec Canada this past summer and it was my takealong book, but I got bogged down, but still very cool to see places mentioned in or inspired in the book.

Girls on the Line, Aimie Runyan

The Way of All Flesh, Ambrose Parry

Hare House, Sally Hinchcliffe

Well, you get the idea.  There might be a few more, but at what point do you just let the book go, even though in theory you want to read it (but must admit to yourself you can't read them all--at least not all at once).

I would like to clear the decks, though, going into 2025.  I have a list of books that are parts of sets that I would like to continue on with.  I think I am going to attempt to read along with the group reading Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time.  I tried this a long time ago, but didn't manage it.  It looks like the group is going to just read the books over the course of the year.

I'm not (at least it doesn't feel like it is time yet with so much tidying I have in front of me) making real plans for next year, but I do want to spend more time reading my Viragos and Persephones and maybe starting a few new (well classic really) mystery series.

The other reading I have been thinking about is being part of a community of readers who are interested in reading diverse authors, reading about climate change and nature, and current events, social history, etc.  There have been so many changes in the world close by and far away.  There are people who are happy about it and others who are a little more fearful (being in the latter group).  I would be nice to have a group of like minded readers.  If you are interested, please do mention it.

Sorry this is so long.  I guess I don't post often, but when I do I make up for missed opportunities.  Maybe this will be my new year's resolution?  We'll see.  

A Baker's Dozen for Summer (or Beyond)

I love reading plans like this: The 20 Books of Summer (open to interpretation, which for me I managed to whittle down to a baker's dozen of 13).   Of course if you asked me to create another stack of books next week there would be an almost completely different set of books, but most of these have been high on my TBR.  For me, this many books even in the 'carefree' days of summer is unlikely to be read.  But it's fun to think about all the books I want to read (not thinking about those in progress books or library holds that are on the hold shelf or soon to be available...).  If I can manage five or six books from these stacks I will consider it a big goal accomplished.  Some have been on my TBR for many years and others very recent additions.  Not shown is the book I have picked up and started to read:

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (International Booker Prize winner)

The other hopefuls:

Second Self, Chloe Ashby

Bright Young Women, Jessica Knoll (crime)

Only Every Yours, Louise O'Neill (dystopian)

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, Fannie Flag (Fried Green Tomatoes was a much loved read)

The Leviathan, Rosie Andrews (a much anticipated gothic novel)

The Chatham School Affair, Thoma H. Cook (a reread--he is such a great crime/mystery storyteller)

Shutter, Ramona Emerson

Drowning Ruth, Christina Schwarz (another reread)

The Trespasser, Tana French (love her novels and it's been a while)

The Strangeness of Beauty, Lydia Minatoya (another long held TBRer that I keep looking at and picking up)

Secret Identity, Alex Segura

The Last Days of Leda Grey, Essie Fox

Honestly, I think this is just an excuse for me to start yet more new books. (Blink blink).  Are you reading anything in particular for summer?  A special project, something studious or just pure escapist?

Reading Sets, Series and Authors

I'm not much of a completionist in any sense of the word.  I chip away at mystery series, but only a very few have I actually kept up with or completed.  Sometimes I begin books and then let them linger on my nightstand and then let them go back to their piles or shelves.  I am a firm believer in not pushing myself to finish something I am not enjoying it or if it is just not the right story at the  moment (which means it happens a lot since I am very much a mood reader).  And there are books that are duos or trilogies or quartets that I look at and mean to read in their entirety.  Oh, and then there are all the many authors who I collect because I read one of their books, fell in love and then wanted to read all of them.  I have lots of collected authors waiting to be revisited.

So in the last couple of years I have been trying to pick up a set of books or an author to try and read (and complete) over the course of the year.

In 2022 I read all of M.M. Kaye's "Death in ..." series.  I had read one or two many years ago and felt like revisiting one of the books.  I had managed to collect the five she had published, so what the heck, I would try and read them all and indeed, I did.  Most I loved and some a little less so, but it was fun reading my way through them.  I have a couple saved on my Audible wishlist for later listening.  And they are keepers for maybe another reread.

Last year I picked up (again ... I had read the first volume at least twice, and the second once, but never the whole set) Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles.  I loved what I had read, but somehow just run out of steam each time to continue on.  However, I managed to read the original four volumes by the end of the year save for the fifth volume, All Change, which is currently on my nightstand and I am slowly enjoying chipping away at.  Since she published the last book many, many years after the first four, I have given myself a break and consider it a tying up of the stories.  (By the way, she is an author I have read and would like to read all of her books eventually).

I felt it was an accomplishment I am pleased with still, that I read Elena Ferrante's quartet of books beginning with My Brilliant Friend.  I admit the read was at times challenging, and the politics occasionally seemed over my head, but it was a really wonderful experience and I loved the stories.  There was something very raw and real about them and I was constantly conflicted by what I felt about the characters and their interactions, but there was a complexity in them that felt so real to me and I loved them for that.

In the last few years I feel like I am looking back more and more and appreciating books published earlier in the last century (aside from my ongoing love of interwar year novels) almost more than contemporary fiction (though there is a lot of great books out there and I have a constantly maxed out library queue of forthcoming books).  When I was young, maybe middle school age, I read some of Constance C. Greene's Al books.  I remember saving my allowance and going to the mall where there was a newsstand with many magazines and a variety of mass market books (oh, those were the days!) and I recall buying A Girl Called, Al.  The books are set in 1970s NYC and narrated by Al's best friend.  The series begins when they are in 7th grade and the story has stayed with me.  I decided to revisit the books and read all of them, and they were a delight.  Maybe a little dated for today's middle schoolers, but I loved going back in time.

So, what to choose to work on this year?  I have many sets of books.  Perhaps I will add a tab up top and begin a list of sets and series (though not mystery series, since that is a rabbit hole to dive down into and I dabble in a lot of different mystery series), but groups of related books or authors I collect.

At the moment I am considering reading Martha Grimes's Emma Graham books, which begins with Hotel Paradise (a favorite book of mine that I have read several times and am happy to revisit again).  Grimes manages to present a young girl in a small town just pitch perfect in my opinion.  There are four books.  I have read the first two, but never read the whole set together.

I've also got the Habits of the House trilogy by Fay Weldon, which is her nod towards Downton Abbey (which I thoroughly enjoyed). The first book is Habits of the House, and is an upstairs/downstairs story, which I am fond of and have not read in a while but it might just match my mood.

I think I will likely add other possibilities later, but if you have a favorite set or series, do share!

Thinking about Second Half of 2023

Hello friends.  It has been a long while.  Longer than I realized actually.  I'm here and reading away, as many books on the go as usual.  (Which for me can be a pile).  It's so easy to be offline when you start (or maybe stop is the better word).  I've got a bit more than half a year of my Typepad subscription left and it seems a shame to ignore it when it has been paid for.  I guess it's time to think about whether to try and be more present or just let things go (here that is).  My intentions are always good and the idea of a semi- or even just weekly post seems manageable, but then it never seems to materialize.  I wonder how many of my virtual book blogging friends are still around (feel free to raise your hands and say hello).

While I ponder these questions, I do keep up my bookishness in the background (or rather, in real life).  I am not very present in general on social media, though I do read a lot of online newsletters and newspapers/magazines.  I keep an occasional eye on Twitter by way of a daily digest.  When I think about things or reach out and click on an outside link I do quite enjoy being a lurker at least.  So, one more try, and I'll see how it goes.  I have not wanted to let things go entirely and lose all the content (some of the reviews and many of the lists) from my previous postings here, but as I seem to refer to them less and less, maybe it would not matter to let them just disappear from the ether?

As I contemplate whether to discontinue blogging, I can finish out this year and share a little of what I have been up to; or rather today, I will share some ideas of where I hope my rest of 2023 reading will take me.  Last year I read/reread M.M. Kaye's romantic suspense novels, her "Death in . . ." series of books.  This year I am rereading/reading Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicle series of five books.  I have read the first two multiple times (usually thinking I need to read the series through but not quite completing the task), but this year I am finally into volume three, Confusion, so I am about halfway through with two volumes left.

I love Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries, but the last couple of years have not seen me pick up more than a book or so a year.  I am at letter V (V is for Vengeance) and I feel it is time to see Kinsey through to letter Y.  I have all the books, and I can (and just may) revisit them later, but I want to finish out the series.

This year is definitely one to try and complete or make progress (okay, and maybe start) some favorite series.  I have been spending time with Ruth Galloway (Elly Griffiths) and solicitor Ben O'Keeffe of Inishowen (Andrea Carter).  I plan on getting back to Alan Parks's Harry McCoy novels and read the second and third Vera Kelly books by Rosalie Knecht.  I've been keeping up with Jacqueline Winspear (has Maisie finally retired?) and Ashley Weaver's newest Electra McDonnell novel is one of my current reads.  I've tried a Deborah Crombie mystery (and hope to read more) and now am trying something entirely different, the first Falco mystery by Lindsey Davis!

I have this loose plan on reading all of Annie Ernaux's memoirs/novels, but that may carry over to another year.  I like her writing very much.  And I have been revisiting a series of childhood favorite books by Constance C. Greene featuring "Al"-Alexandra.  They are just as delightful as the first time around.  

That's a few highlights.  I do want to read more literary fiction in general and much more literature in translation, too.  

However, I have finally planned a short real, away from home, vacation and will be traveling to New York City in August.  I would love any New Yorkers or those familiar with the city to share any must-sees and must-dos particularly that have to do with books, bookstores, library, literary-related places and also places for film lovers (next to books I am a film lover and spend most weekends seeing as many movies (old and new) as I can at a local indie cinema.  

I am also in need of a really good quintessially-NYC novel to read this summer.  (Well, maybe more than one, but at the moment I am thinking I will pick up a Betty Green novel--I have already read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, so maybe another of her books).  I want a book that is as much about the place as the people and the plot.  Suggestions welcome.  

I know I say this every time I post (which is hardly never these days), but I do want to check in here more often.  If nothing else, there is a lot of clean-up and catching up that must be taken care of.  

Happy reading everyone.

Nine More (or maybe 13) Left to Go!

Time is quickly slipping away, isn't it.  I wonder if I will be able to meet my Good Reads goal this year.  I have nine books left to make the goal I set, but if I can manage 13, I will reach the goal I have in the back of my mind.  Perhaps wishful thinking?  I applaud my friends who have not only made their goals but in several cases have even surpassed them (Bravo, I say to you all!).  Of course it is not a good idea to compare myself--it has once again been a wonky year with a lot of stress, so to manage even what I have is a success.  

But meeting my goal is there, but more I would like to try and clear off my reading pile that is seriously weighing down (okay not literally) my nightstand.  I am working on completing at this point.  If I begin any new books, I set my sights on carrying those over to the new year, save a few potential graphic novels that might easily be squeezed in this year yet.

The 'clean up pile' (to reach my goal) in no particular order:

1. The Wonder Spot, Melissa Banks
2. Dying Fall, Elly Griffiths
3. The Outrun, Amy Liptrot
4. Bobby March Will Live Forever, Alan Parks
5. Death in the Andamans, M.M. Kaye
6. Zorrie, Laird Hunt
7. Malice, Keigo Higashino
8. Shattered Silk, Barbara Michaels
9. Knots and Crosses, Ian Rankin
10. The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May
11. The Cut, Chris Brookmyre
12. After the War is Over, Jennifer Robson
13. Graphic Novel?

Whew. Yes, this has been a year of lots of mystery and crime novels and far too many starts without finishing a book first.  Must work on that.

And you?  How are you all doing friends. Are you at a leisurely point in the year where you are just reading and relaxing?  Trying to finish to meet a goal?  Not worried at all and just cruising along (a good idea) without setting expectations on yourself.  Why count, really?  I ask myself that every year, but it never quite stops me from doing it over and over again.  Goals are really just suggestions, right?

Summer Reading: Thrills and Chills

Lately a number of my reading selections have been guided less by my own choice and more by a couple of book groups I belong to.  While I love the groups and especially the members whose enthusiasm for reading is very infectious, I do feel like I have wandered away from the books I most feel like reading. 

A friend asked if I had a summer reading project in the works, which in previous years I have planned and looked forward to enormously.  I had not given it much thought this year, however.  I have been feeling limited in my reading time, and as a slow reader in general, book club books (some I have really enjoyed and others less so) take away from my own reading piles.  I think I am going on hiatus from the book groups this summer and going to indulge in a very loosely themed (and rather last moment) summer reading project.  

I think it is time to get back to my favorite genre--mysteries and thrillers.  Some of these are authors or books I have long had on my shelves.  Some are newish releases and some are older authors just discovered.  In any case mysteries seem the perfect distraction this summer.  I love a good puzzle.  Some of the books are not straightforward puzzles/mysteries, I think all of them will fit nicely into the psychological realm.

Search the Shadows, Barbara Michaels -- "Abandoning her carefully planned future, Haskell Maloney seeks the truth behind her past: Who is her real father? Was her mother's fatal car crash really an accident? Her search leads her to the study of Egyptology, where watching from the shadows of a cold museum, a ruthless killer waits to strike."

Lonely Hearts, John Harvey -- "In this detective story two women are murdered after having a blind date with a man contacted through the personal column in the local paper. Inspector Resnick soon discovers that the likely murderer is an academic at the university who follows him and his girlfriend to the most unlikely places."

Goodnight, Irene, Jan Burke -- "When a fellow reporter is blown up while investigating an unsolved murder from 1955, Irene Kelly is determined to solve the mystery despite the threat of death."

The Hours Before Dawn, Celia Fremlin -- Virago Modern Classic!  "This novel, one of the "Virago Crime Classics", combines humour with a look at the danger and suspense in the tyranny of motherhood. It also explores the redeeming power of love."

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Alice Feeney -- "Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can't recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts--paper, cotton, pottery, tin--and each year Adam's wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn't randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn't want them to live happily ever after.Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget."

Cecile is Dead, Georges Simenon -- "In the dreary suburbs of Paris, the merciless greed of a seemingly respectable woman is unearthed by her long suffering niece, and Maigret discovers the far-reaching consequences of their actions."

Signs of Life, Anna Raverat -- "Ten years ago, Rachel had an affair. It left her life in pieces. Now, writing at her window, she tries to put those pieces together again.  She has her memories, recollections of dreams, and her old yellow notebook. More than anything, she wants to be honest.  Rachel knows that her memory is patchy and her notebook incomplete. But there is something else. Something terrible happened to her lover.  Her account is hypnotic, delicate, disquieting and bold. But is she telling us the truth?"

The Lamplighters, Emma Stonex --"Inspired by a haunting true story, a gorgeous and atmospheric novel about the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a remote tower miles from the Cornish coast--and about the wives who were left behind."

The King of Fools, Frederic Dard -- "A fiendish tale of passion, betrayal, and murder in Edinburgh, Scotland--from the master of French noir."

Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers -- "The classic mystery that first featured Harriet Vane, companion sleuth to the dashing, perennially popular private investigator, Lord Peter Wimsey, from the mystery writer widely considered the greatest mystery novelist of the Golden Age."

The Heights, Louise Candlish -- "The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among warehouses in London. Its roof terrace is so discreet, you wouldn't know it existed if you weren't standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that's when you see a man up there--a man you'd recognize anywhere. He may be older now, but it's definitely him.But that can't be because he's been dead for over two years. You know this for a fact.Because you're the one who killed him."

Nightshift, Kiare Ladner -- "A riveting debut novel of complex female friendship and obsession, following one young woman's decision to abandon her normal life and join the otherworldly, nocturnal existence of London's nightshift workers."

Not shown (am waiting for my copy to come in the mail) A Tidy Ending, Joanna Cannon -- "Linda lives on a nice, normal street.
She has a nice, normal husband and a nice, normal life.  But Linda isn't entirely satisfied. And then the murders start."

A proper baker's dozen of very enticing reads.  I always dream big with books, so my pile is larger than what I can realistically read.  My goal is to read 6-7 over the course of the summer.  I am starting with Nightshift, which I was so excited to get months ago!

Lazy Reading Days...Not Just for Summer

Summer reading.  To plan or not to plan.  I seem to be on the 'lazy reader' plan when it comes to reading these days.  I am (barely) keeping up with my Goodreads reading goal, for what that's worth.  Mostly I am grazing and my reading is mostly haphazard.  I wonder if I would be happier to either A) Just read at whim and graze to my heart's content (the result being my reading continues to go all over the place and I start more books than I finish) or B) Try and get back into (or just start) a reading routine that focuses on just a very Reasonable number of books in progress at one time (the result hopefully being that I finish books in a more timely manner).

My reading roadblocks?  Good question. 

• A disrupted life thanks to the last couple of years (how long can I use that as a reason for my scatterbrain approach to reading and a lack of engaging with my online reading friends). 
• I am now in a couple of in person reading groups where I am reading books I likely would not ordinarily have chosen.  This is good and maybe a little bad.  Good to try new books and read outside my comfort zone.  Bad when you are a slow reader and are spending time with a book you might not otherwise not have chosen.  Good as it means engaging with other local readers and being part of a reading/social group and widening horizons.   
• Being generally lazy, interested in too many things and attempting to tackle them all at once.  Or maybe not lazy but too interested and maybe having too short an attention span.
• Maybe not enough free time to accomplish all the things I want yet not having a goal in mind and a way to achieve it.  (When I say goal, this is really meant quite loosely).

All this to preface choosing a new book to read as I have finished one that was most enjoyable.  I can heartily and warmly recommend Susan Stokes-Chapman's Pandora, a novel set in 18th century London.  The book was a bit of a splurge since it is new and comes in an oversized paperback (also cloth) format, but worth every penny.  I do hope she is busily at work on a new novel.  Pandora has a bit of greek mythology to it--just dipping the toe really.  

How do I follow up such a pleasurable read?  I may be moving slowly, but it does make it worth it when this is the sort of story I am spending my time in.  So I want something with a similar feel, though it can be some other era.  I had a couple of books in mind, but my other shortcoming (?) these days is acquiring more new books than I can possible keep up with (maybe this is part of the start-i-tis issue I am dealing with currently), and I find a cursory glance at my book piles results in a staggering pile to choose from:

Mrs. England, Stacey Halls

The Lamplighters, Emma Stonex

A Theatre for Dreamers, Polly Samson

The New Mrs. Clifton, Elizabeth Buchan

The Lady Tree and/or The Memory Palace, Christie Dickason

The Museum of Broken Promises, Elizabeth Buchan

Snow Country, Sebastian Faulks

So a few questions for you--have you read any of these (and hopefully enjoyed them)?  How is your reading going these days?  Was there ever a blip that threw you off?  How did you get back to it?  Or how has it changed your reading style?  And what plans, or do you have any for summer/

Looking Forward to a More Bookish 2022

Last year was not the worst reading year ever, but it was a disappointing one.  I did manage to read more than a few books that I really enjoyed, and I still plan on sharing some of the books that stood out.  Most of my reading plans/goals pretty much fell by the wayside and I feel like I have sadly lost touch with so many of my bookish friends.  Maybe this year will be better on all fronts.  And maybe I will just accept the small victories rather than worry about achieving difficult goals.  If nothing else, the last couple of years in life and work has taught me that it's best to learn to be flexible and be ready to adapt to changes.

So, here is my new(ish) start to my 2022 reading year.  A couple of the books in my pile are carryovers from last year (the bottom two in the back pile).  Most are books I picked out and dipped into at the end of the year and I am excited to read.  The two in front are books I am reading along with others.  Wilkie Collins's Jezebel's Daughter is the first of what I hope will be more classics this year.  Smithereens and I are going to take our time and read and chat about it.  He is a favorite author of mine.  I have read most of his 'big'/famous books, but this looks like it will be classic sensationalist fare.

There is a quartet of books published by Virago Modern Classics written by Dorothy Richardson called Pilgrimage.  The four volumes consist of thirteen books by Richardson beginning with Pointed Roofs.  I'm joining a group of readers who are tackling the thirteen books over the course of this year.  Anyone is welcome to join, you can follow the discussion on Twitter #PilgrimageTogether.  On Wednesday there is a kickoff discussion (you can find the link via Evenbrite on the group website).  I am really looking forward to this.  I have three of the four volumes, and am ready to start reading this week.

I have given up my Excel spreadsheet tracking down all sorts of details of my reading choices (I pretty much end up reading the same sorts of books every year anyway), but I have a new book journal to jot down the books I read and any notes along the way.  I have no big plans, but I do have my GoodReads Challenge goal (last year I had to shorten it not once but twice in order to complete it).  And I am joining my public library's reading challenge, too.

I have given up my NYRB subscription (I never received my November or December books from 2021--I think it is a sign I need to just buy the books that appeal from my local indie bookstore).  And my lone magazine subscription will be the New Yorker and maybe I will manage to read all the stories this year?

Mostly I'll just see where my reading leads me.  Interesting things are surely going to pop up this year that will take me in different directions, so I am ready to discover lots of amazing books!

And you?  Do you have any special plans?  How are you kicking off your reading year?

Never too Early or Too Late to Plan

In the more recent past I was feeling pressure by having too many plans or making too many goals.  If I didn't reach them or feel like I accomplished what I set out to do it was disappointing.  Reading is meant to be a pleasure above all else, at least for me.  If those goals were getting in the way of that pleasure, it messed my reading life up. 

Now, however, after a tumultuous last couple of years (and not just thanks to the pandemic, but also family issues, etc.), I feel like I would do much better in a (reading) world that is more structured.  As always, failure is okay, and maybe even good.  But I want to be more thoughtful about my reading.  That doesn't mean I want to (someday I will, however) break the 100 books read goal.  Or that I can't or won't pick books that are pure comfort reads.  Even if I read less, my reading just needs to be more satisfying.  And that satisfaction can take on a number of meanings, too.

But it is almost the weekend, so let's make this simple!  Simplicity is also a goal.  I have been thinking a lot lately about getting back to books that have a special meaning or that offer a challenge.  Something that will make me think, and feel full, and give a sense of satisfaction for having tackled it.  I want it to be really good, too.  

I have this idea of reading a bigger book, an older book, a classic (and that, too, can take on a variety of meanings) that I can make into a project.  I don't plan on doing this particular exercise, but I am thinking in this vein: not so very long ago I had planned on reading The Iliad and The Odyssey and then listening (in tandem--or maybe listening first and then reading) to the audio book. 

Why not do something similar with a chunky classic.  I know there are literature lectures available via The Great Courses.  There is one on English Literature, though it sounds as though that is a general course.  And I have seen one on short stories--one story per lecture, which would be great--read the story first and then listen to the lecture.  Still, I have in mind a longer book.  Where to find the lectures (free, please).  I have done a bit of searching but nothing I have come across is exactly what I have in mind.  A friend mentioned looking for podcasts, and I think she is on to something.  I have seen them for movies, and I am sure they must exist for particular books, too.

What to read?  This is part of the fun and excitement.  Sometimes I feel like thinking about books and my reading is 'almost' as good (the anticipation, right?) as the actual activity of reading (well, almost...).  I am not yet sure what I might tackle.  Something really hefty like Samuel Richardson's Clarissa or Pamela?  Fanny Burney?  Maybe Vanity Fair?  Something by Dickens?  Or, a favorite of mine--Wilkie Collins or Mary Elizabeth Braddon ?  Something more modern--D.H. Lawrence who has long been an author I wanted to try.  Henry James or Edith Wharton.  The choices are endless.  I need to peruse my shelves and then see what I can find to listen/read as an accompaniment to my reading project.

One idea anyway.  I have every expectation that there will be more reading projects/themes forthcoming.  Plans are good if they make me excited about my reading.

Just curious--have you had a particularly good reading experience with a classic that you made into a project?  What was the book and how did you approach your project (not to make that sound like work!--it's meant to be something enjoyable).

End of Year 'Clean-Up' Reading

First, many thanks for the comments on my last post--I appreciate them all and next on my to-do list is to get back to chatting again.  

Here we are in October, nearing the end of yet another very strange year.  It has been such a throwaway kind of year for me.  In respect to reading--pretty much all and any plans I made or thought about have gone down the drain.  That's okay.  I think this year is more about being kind to oneself, which I am heartily "trying" to do.

In the past, and I would like to attempt it again now, I have tried to tidy up my "in progress" reading pile.  I am notoriously bad (bad?) about picking up books on a whim and starting them even as my reading pile is a healthy size.  You know how it goes--you buy a new book, all your library requests come in at once, someone talks up a book that appeals.  For me, I am a mood reader and my mood changes very quickly sometimes.  

I have been whittling away quietly behind the scenes already, but the list is long.  Shall I share it?  Here are my current "in progress" books that I would like to either finish or send back to the shelves (or maybe just send off to a new home?) before the end of the year.  In no particular order--other than the ones I am actively reading being at the top (and a few of these are either for book clubs--more about those later--or new books I allowed myself as a reward for finishing a book):

1. White Ivy by Susie Yang
2. The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman (back to the TBR--wrong book for my current mood)
3. The Confessions of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert (pure escapism)
4. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (YA Book Club)
5. Know My Name by Chanel Miller (Kind of stressful so picked up something else for my NF read...)

And some of these are longtime languishers--others more recent--but you can only put so many books in your work tote bag at once:

1. Blue Monday by Nicci French 
2. The Janes by Louisa Luna
3. The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish
4. The Strange Files of Fremont Jones by Diane Day (a reread--I just felt a desire for a story set in San Francisco!)
5. The Long, Long Trail by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
6. The Ballroom by Anna Hope
7. On Bittersweet Place by Ronna Wineberg
8. King Solomon's Carpet by Ruth Rendell
9. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
10. Kate Remembered by Scott Berg

Some of the languishers are books from my earlier monthly prompts, some I simply started reading and was enjoying but I need to learn how to finish a couple of books before picking a new one to read (rather than vice versa--finish one and start two--my own math, right?).

If I could clear off those nine books (since they have been sitting for a long time in some cases) I would feel quite an accomplishment.