I haven’t done a reading update in awhile so I thought today seemed like the perfect day for it.
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I requested this from the library on a whim a little over a week ago after Danielle mentioned it. Hers is not the only blog I’ve seen the book on, but she was the book that broke the camel’s back. Or something like that. I picked up the book from the library just this last Saturday and already I’m over halfway through. It’s a good read
- The Iliad. My husband and I are on book eleven on the audio version. On my reading version I am on book eight. Hector is my favorite character and it makes me sad thinking about his inevitable demise. I keep thinking that maybe this time he’ll live and Paris will give Helen back and Troy will remain standing.
- Clarissa. I picked her up for a bit over the weekend to find Clarissa’s Uncle proposed to the widowed mother of Clarissa’s best friend! This is the most excitement that had happened in the book in pages.
- Summit Avenue. I started this one long ago as a book to read during lunch at work. Then I set it aside and it stayed aside until this last weekend when I read a big chunk of it. It is set in Minneapolis just before and during World War I. I was initially excited to get a history lesson of my adopted city, but it hasn’t turned out to be much of one. It isn’t about the city, it just happens to be a story set here. That’s a bit of a disappointment, but it is a good story so it isn’t a complete washout.
- Spring is in the air here and my fingers are itching to dig in the dirt. That will be impossible until the end of April or early May so I pulled out Vita Sackville-West’s In Your Garden. This is a collection of her gardening articles from 1946-1950. I can’t read this regularly, there is only so much a person can take. But when read sporadically in small doses they are highly entertaining. I mean, how can you not enjoy someone who, when talking about a hybrid Peruvian lily, says things like “Keep the orange away from the coral, for they do not mix well together, and whoever it was who said Nature made no mistakes in colour-harmony was either colour-blind or a sentimentalist. Nature sometimes makes the most hideous mistakes; and it is up to us gardeners to control and correct them.”
- The Histories by Herodotus. I read the introduction to this last night. Fascinating stuff. Like did you know that the word “historian” in Greek is a combination of inquirer, evaluator, and judge? And Herodotus is the first to write about past events using evidence and eye-witness interviews of the people involved. I’m excited about this book!
- My philosophy project. It has not stalled, I am in it deep. That’s why I’m reading The Iliad, why I read Hesiod and why I’m about to embark on Herodotus. It’s all background reading for Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Context, there must be context.
- Proust. I have taken a long break, too long from reading Proust. I read the introduction to the new translation of The Guermantes Way and that’s as far as I got. If I can manage to not spend the whole night reading The Book Thief then maybe I will manage to finally leap in with this one.
I need to get back to Virginia Woolf as well as The Fabric of the Cosmos, but with so many good books to read it’s hard to give them all time. There might be a good snowstorm heading my way Friday through the weekend. We haven’t had one yet this winter, but I’m hoping that maybe this time I’ll have a good excuse to stay in and read all weekend.
It is impressive that you have been able to stick with Clarissa. I finally gave up on Pamela. It just didn’t seem to move at all.
Your philosophy project sounds fascinating. It looks like a lot of hard work, but reading in context is rewarding.
I love the way you’re doing the philosophy project — slowly, giving yourself time to read deeply and get context. I’d love to do something like that too, but I tend to get impatient …
I can’t wait for the philosophy project to come into its own. Boy do I love Plato and Aristotle. It will be my sincere hope to read along with you, at least a little…
Keeping my fingers crossed you get that snowstorm so you can have some uninterrupted reading time! Have you read anything else by Vita Sackville-West? If not, I highly recommend All Passion Spent.
Your reading plan is nicely structured. If only I’m as organised. Were this focused and organised when you were young or is this a skill that can be learned?
But you remind me of my own neglect of Proust. Have to kick start the Proust reading – after I’m done with quite a few books. *sigh*
Have fun with Herodotus. I had wanted to read it since i watched The English Patient (yes, a rather disreputable reason, but I love the book and the film). Just never got around to it. Yet.
I’m almost finished The Book Thief and have really enjoyed reading it. I love the unusual point of view and the interesting characters. It’s very touching and truly one of those ‘can’t put it down’ books.
I read Clarissa in 2005 (and I must add gratuitously, that my youngest daughter is named Clarissa, but not because of this book). The epistolary form is sometimes hard to believe. Would someone really record all those conversations in a letter?
Anyway, it is worth the effort to trudge through it, although that is always how it felt to me–trudging. I was so furious with Clarissa’s family. It’s really hard to reconcile modern values with 17th century ones.
This is a little off topic, but I just wanted to say that I was so interested to see pictures of Minneapolis when the American Idol auditions were held there. It looked like such a lovely city!
I want to read Herodotus. Maybe next year. . .
Brad, Clarissa moves at a glacial pace so I can only manage a few pages a week. I am excited about my philosophy project. The hard part is knowing it is going to take a very long time.
Dorothy, I am so impatient I am already trying to plan the reading after Greece!
Ted, I am hoping to finally reach Plato by the end of of summer and am naivley thinking I can be done with Aristotle by the end of the year. But I haven’t even decided which of their writings I am going to read yet. I’d love for you to join in the reading though if you have the time and inclination.
Iliana, I’ve read some of Vita’s poetry and one of her novels but not All Passion Spent. That one is on my bookshelf though and I look at it and wonder, when?
Dark Orpheus, this is the most structured my reading has ever been. It is surprising to me that I’m managing to do it. My introduction to Herodotus mentions The English Patient and how integral The Histories are to the story. There are worse reasons to want to read a book than it being part of a movie you like. Makes me want to read Ondaatje.
Kim, yes, all that. I am dreading the end of the book. I don’t want anyone to die.
Karen, I wonder about the letters too. But you are right, it is a trudge, though I don’t plan on giving up on it.
Litlove, I was wondering if you had watched since you said you were going to. They did manage to get some pretty views of the city. And most of the really crazy people were not from Minnesota which was a relief
Ah Susan, you’ll pick him up on a whim and then won’t be able to put him down.
I bought Herodotus for the same reason as Dark Orpheus–he has Long been on my shelf as I was motivated to want to read him when I read The English Patient! I’m glad I am not the only one. And I haven’t read him yet! Our snow is melting away. It should be all gone just in time for the same snow you are getting this weekend. It needs to be either nothing or enough snow so I get a snow day!! Maybe I should take Monday off–I need a good reading day! I have a couple of mysteries set in Minn/St Paul–I am not sure if you really read mysteries, but if you are interested I can pass along the titles. I never come across anything contemporary set in Omaha and rarely in NE. But it can be fun to read books with settings you are familiar with. You Proustians have finally compelled me to buy Swann’s Way. Not sure when I will read it, but I am always interested in everyone’s Proust posts!! Sorry…am rambling here, but you are reading so many good things!! I admire your structured reading–all those wonderful philosophy books! I always wish I could be so good, but then I get drawn into the shiny new books that are just published–I need to find some happy medium! And I am almost halfway through the Book Thief, too, and have really gotten into the story!
Sounds like you’ve got a lot going on! I can’t wait to read your review of The Book Thief.
You have a fascinating selection there. I too am in awe of your Clarissa reading feat. I enjoyed Pamela
Two people who bought Herodotus because of The English Patient. I saw the movie but I have no recollection of, well, anything. Maybe after I have finished Herodotus I will have to get a copy of The English Patient. And I think you really need to take Monday off. You deserve a reading day! I hope you like Swann’s Way when you get to it.
Lesley, I even left off some books! I can’t believe I forgot to mention Emerson!
Thanks Literary Acquisitionist. Clarissa may be hefty but Pamela is nothing to sniff at either!
Oh Danielle, I forgot to mention, that even though I am not much of a mystery reader, I’d love to know your title recommendations for ones that take place in the Twin Cities!
Your philosophy project is very impressive — and has gotten me ready for a dabble in Emerson et al.
I am ramping up for Proust too — I kind of miss him. It’s weird to have a thing with a dead, gay, neurotic Frenchman, but there it is.
I love Herodotus. However, I recommend going slowly, since the main problem I had when reading it was information overload. It was worth the effort though. I’ve also found that other history books use Herodotus as a source which send me back to browsing my copy.
LK, I am very much looking forward to your thoughts on Emerson. As for Proust, I couldn’t have said it better myself
Ed, thank you for the tip! I have a tendency to rush through books sometimes, but I will make the effort to go slowly through this one.