I didn’t plan on taking a blogging break during my Thanksgiving holiday but it just sort of happened that way. It was a wonderful little break and I did ever so much reading.
Let’s see, what did I read? I read some good essays in my NYRBs about Qatar, about the 9/11 memorial, and even about some books I want to read and others that it was sufficient to just read about someone else reading them. I still don’t feel like I have made headway in my backlog of NYRBs though, I have three and a half of the magazines to get through and I keep getting a new one in my mailbox every two weeks.
I finished reading Bill Bryson’s At Home. You may recall that I borrowed the Kindle book from my library and kept the wifi turned off when it came due so I got to continue reading it. And it worked great. I turned on the wifi after I finished reading it and it immediately went poof! And then A nice little note from Amazon downloaded that said the book disappeared because my loan period was up. But the really awesome thing, as if that wasn’t awesome enough, is that all of my notes and highlights are saved even though I no longer have the book. I went looking for another e-book to borrow from the library to start reading on my commute to work come Monday and couldn’t find one I wanted to borrow. I did find a new biography about Margaret Fuller on NetGalley to read though. I’m hoping it will be good. There will be a proper post about the Bryson book in a day or two.
I read Nabakov’s lecture on Ulysses and found myself laughing and making admiring noises and wishing I could have had Nabokov as a professor in college. I have had his Lectures on Literature sitting on my shelf for over a year and I never opened it thinking that when I did I would make a project of it, reading each book he lectures about along with the lecture. But now that I pulled it off the shelf to read the Ulysses lecture I find that I have already read all but one of the books he lectures on! I don’t know why I assumed I hadn’t read any of the books he lectures on. But now I am tickled and will be reading the lectures on Mansfield Park, Bleak House, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Swann’s Way over the next few weeks very likely. There is also a lecture on Madame Bovary, and while I have read the book, it was several years ago. I have the new translation so I think I will plan to read it and the lecture in early 2012. The only book he lectures on that I haven’t read is Kafka’s Metamorphosis. So that will go on my 2012 plan too.
Speaking of 2012 plan, as you may have noticed, I have begun putting one together. I had a list started even before I pulled Nabokov’s lectures off my shelf. The plan is still in its infancy and won’t be anywhere near firmed up until the end of 2011 so you’ll just have to wait to hear more about it.
I started reading Susan Hill’s Howard’s End is on the Landing. It is not turning out to be the comforting bookish love sort of book I had hoped it to be but I am enjoying it well enough. I also started reading The Dyer’s Hand by W.H. Auden and did get some bookish loving in the first two essays, “Reading” and “Writing.” Both are aphoristic gold mines that you will be hearing more about later.
Also in the just-had-to-start pile is Euripides’ play Children of Heracles. Just because he killed his wife and children in Heracles doesn’t mean that there aren’t any others. Oh no. Heracles sowed his seed widely. I’m about halfway through and there is about to be a human sacrifice. Oh those wacky Greeks!
If all that reading isn’t enough, I am also about a dozen pages from the end of Wild Life by Molly Gloss. I’ll be posting about it on Wednesday as part of the Slaves discussion. I have really enjoyed the book and look forward to finding out what the others who have read it thought of it.
Whew! I think that covers everything. As you see, while I may have taken a little break from the blog, my time away was well spent. Only about three and a half weeks until my Christmas-Solstice vacation/ holiday begins during which time I will be having a marvelous end-of-year reading binge. Can’t wait!
I’ve really enjoyed Wild Life (although I should hve saved the first part for a time when I had more concentrated reading hours). Looking forward to your post
I had high hopes for Howard’s End is on the landing but it just wasn’t what I expected it to be and although I quite enjoyed it I couldn’t help thinking that she had missed a great opportunity somehow. I remember thinking that just about any bookish person could have written something more interesting about their reading experiences and books.
I have just started Howard’s End is on the Landing, so I can’t comment much yet on what you said. I am awed by how much you read over your unplanned break! I also now have several books to look out for, especially Auden’s one. Thanks, Stefanie! I can also hardly wait to hear your 2012 reading plan too.
Well, unplanned holidays seem almost better than planned ones from the look of it? I’m glad you could finish Bryson with the little wifi trick. I can’t believe you’re already making plans for 2012! Looking forward to reading them though…
Jodie, glad you liked Wild Life! I am looking forward to your post on it as well!
Katrina, yes, I am feeling the same way as you about the book; enjoying it but it could have been so much better.
Susan, I’ll be interested in your thoughts on Howard’s End is on the Landing. I got lucky with my break and didn’t have anything in particular that had to be done so got to indulge in a little reading binge. And I am always glad to add books to other’s TBR piles
Smithereens, you are right, I couldn’t have planned the holiday better! I was a bit surprised myself when I realized I was already making plans for 2012. They are getting a bit out of control and I will eventually have to start pruning them back so they will be at least in the neighborhood of realistic.
I didn’t get in as much reading as I hoped to–that is always the case. Next time I am not going to talk about it and anticipate it and maybe it will work out better! I’d like to read the Nabokov essays on Madame B and Anna K–I have both of his lecture books and should really follow your lead! I actually finished the Slaves book and my post is almost all written–can you believe it? I can’t–that’s what I was working on in my break. I have mixed feelings about it–loved the first two thirds and the last part didn’t go over quite as well for me–I am also very curious to see what everyone thinks. As if my own reading plans aren’t enough to keep me busy–I’m looking forward to hearing about yours, too!
I picked up “Buying A Fishing Rod For My Grandfather” from the library. I liked to first two stories enough to request a copy from paperbackswap. Thanks for the good recommendation.
I guess that was kind of a random place to leave that comment. I thought of it because I have that book sitting right in front of me.
Unplanned breaks are often the best. That Nabokov books sounds terrific. I could actually do your original plan (read the book and then read the lecture), because I’ve read very few of those books. Of course, then I’d HAVE to read Ulysses, wouldn’t I?
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I read The Dyer’s Hand a long, long time ago, and I remember admiring it, but I’ve lost the details. I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts about it and maybe remembering something!
A post worth waiting for Stefanie … and glad you allowed yourself to have a break. Things were a little quieter in blogland over the last week but that just gave we non-Americans a bit of a chance to catch up. Love the sound of the Nabokov lecture. I have his Speak, memory in my TBR but i despair of ever getting to it. Individual lectures sound more a goer. Would love to read the Mansfield park and Bleak House ones.
What wonderful reading you accomplished! I have read chapters from The Dyer’s Hand and think it a vastly superior book to the Susan Hill (which must surely have been a collection of blog posts from the days when she had a blog – plus she is mean about Jane Austen, which made me put my stern face on). But oh dear I had better confess that I forgot about the Slaves. It’s because I completely overcommitted myself this month, and will have to hasten to post something about poor old Musil before Thursday when German Literature Month runs out. If you see me signing up for too many challenges again, feel free to remind me of all my ignominious failures to complete!!
Danielle, not planning anything for the holiday really worked out well I think and I am trying really hard to do the same for the end of the year holidays. I don’t have Nabokov’s lectures on Russian literature but I now plan on acquiring them sometime soonish. You are impressively ahead of the game if you have your Wild Life post almost done! I expect end-of-year summations will start to appear shortly. I love those and I love reading about everyone’s plans for the next year too.
Justin, LOL, no problem! You are ahead of me on the Gao, I haven’t gotten to it yet! But I am very much looking forward to it.
Emily B, I think you’d enjoy Nabokov’s lectures. And yeah, you’d definitely HAVE to read Ulyssess then
Rebecca, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the whole Dyer’s Hand. I haven’t gotten past the first two wonderful essays and feared that the rest might not be as good!
Whisperinggums, you’re so sweet, thanks! I’m really looking forward to finding out what he has to say about Mansfield Park and Bleak House and will very likely post about the lectures individually unless they turn out to be too detailed, but I’ll be figuring that out soon as I plan to read the one on Austen this coming weekend.
Litlove, it was a nice feeling to spend so much time reading especially since I was so blah and stuck in the middle of so many things. I just got to Hill’s chapter on Austen last night and it made me very grumpy and I considered quitting the book altogether but kept reading, telling myself that everyone didn’t have to love Jane. I didn’t realize she had had a blog but now that you mention it, the chapters do tend to be blog-length and rather unconnected from each other. Hmm… Over-extended your reading? I can’t imagine that every happening!