Goodness, how time flies! Here we are in the middle of May already. I can’t say that I have been doing much reading, I’ve been too busy gardening instead. But things in the garden should calm down soon and take less attention than they have. Also, this approaching weekend is supposed to be rainy and there are few things as good as a rainy weekend to encourage one to spend lots of time reading.
I was thinking I didn’t do such a good job of finishing books I had going in April, but looking back I did really well. Though I am still reading How We Became Posthuman by Katherine Hayles and Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector by Benjamin Moser. I am going to have to make a big push to finish at least one of them this month because I am tired of telling you I am still reading them and you are probably tired of me telling you the same.
A book I mentioned last month that I was going to read, To Save Everything, Click Here by Evgeny Morozov, I have decided not to read after all. I read the introduction of it today and it just didn’t pull me in and I have so many other things to read I didn’t see the sense in pursuing it further. So instead I started reading New Grub Street by George Gissing. I haven’t gotten far but it seemed to hit the spot.
I am about fifty pages away from finishing Pitch Dark by Renata Adler. It is a short but complex book, requiring full attention. It is my NYRBs Classics subscription books from March. The NYRB folks send such good, rich books that it is impossible for me to keep up with them. I suspect I will get even farther behind since the April book which I will be starting not long after I finish the Adler is The Crisis of the European Mind, 1680-1715 by Paul Hazard. It is an intellectual history and I am very much looking forward to it.
I’ve also been reading Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds. It is very good. Did you know she won the poetry Pulitzer for it not long ago? I’ve got Edward Thomas’s poetry waiting in the wings.
The in-progress pile also contains Paradise Lot: Two Plant Geeks, One-Tenth of an Acre and the Making of an Edible Oasis in the City by Eric Toenmeier and Jonathan Bates. The book is about how the two bought a duplex in the city and proceeded to turn the yard into a garden paradise. It is very encouraging for my own gardening efforts and I am enjoying it very much.
Soon to be begun is The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for years but hadn’t gotten around to. What finally got me to read it now is the Slaves. We will be discussing the book starting June 8th so there is plenty of time left to join in if you want to read it too!
Oh, and how could I forget? I am also in the middle of reading Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf. Danielle got the book as part of her Melville House Art of the Novella subscription and since it too is a book I have wanted to read for ages, I asked if she’d mind me reading along. I’ve not gotten so very far, sixty pages maybe, and so far so good. But then I had no doubt about that!
I get a three-day weekend at the end of the month because of the Memorial Day holiday and I am hoping to spend a good part of it with a book in front of my face. I can hardly wait!
So this is your ‘not too much reading’ mode? I’ve only been reading Swann’s Way (plus rereading Gatsby and one more maybe, forgot) in the past two months. Can’t say it’s all due to birding. But yes, I know you’re a devoted gardener. Good that you can finally start now that spring is here to stay.
LikeLike
Arti, heh, yup. 🙂 I hope you are continuing to enjoy Swann’s Way! It is indeed nice that I have finally been able to garden. Spring took its time this year and now everything has to be done in a rush. Soon though it will be lazy summer.
LikeLike
Stef, your reading list is a lot more intellectually challenging than mine. I decided to go with some very easy stuff for a couple of months. I wanted to read The Leopard along with the Slaves, but my library does not have it. I’m trying to get through I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith, but it’s a bit of a slog. Please…someone out there tell me to hang with it! Please. Tell me it starts slow, but that I should stick with it. I would love to read the Adler, but I don’t think I can take anything too challenging right now because it’s feeling too much like summer here. Maybe come fall. I’ll be looking forward to your review of it.
LikeLike
You have a rich menu of books to read. New Grub Street is absolutely gripping and some of its concerns link with the David Shields book. The Leopard is also fantastic. Much looking forward to your reviews of these.
LikeLike
Ian, a rich menu, I like it! 🙂 Glad to hear New Grub Street is so gripping and even a good link with Shields! I’ll probably start The Leopard this weekend or next. Since you’ve read it I look forward to any thoughts you have on it too!
LikeLike
Back home and able to properly catch up on my favourite blogs. Once again you amaze with with all the books you have on the go at once. I have to concur with Ian, though, and say New Grub Street is a great read. Ever since reading it several years ago I have wanted to read more Gissings but haven’t managed it yet. I know that whenever I do I will enjoy it because he writes well and is writing about a time of great social and economic change that I always find intriguing.
LikeLike
whisperinggums, hope you had good travels! So far I am enjoy New Grub Street quite a lot. Gissing is engaging and a darn good writer. Don’t know why I have waited so long to read him!
LikeLike
I didn’t know either when I finally got to him ….
LikeLike
You have got to like a novel with a character called Jasper Milvain in it!
LikeLike
Ian, Jasper Milvain is a most excellent name and quite an interesting character too.
LikeLike
I am pleased that there is a bit of a Gissing ripple going on. He is a favourite novelist, Orwell thought him one of the very best English novelists. Not sure I find him “engaging” as he was bitterly reactionary and can make Thomas Hardy’s novels seem written by Pollyanna! But no question- New Grub Street and The Odd Women are well worth anyone reading.
LikeLike
Grad, nothing wrong with easy reading! I always like to have something light to read, and Paradise Lot is my current easy one. It makes good before bed reading. Too bad your library doesn’t h ave The Leopard. It’s such a classic too that it’s lack is sort of surprising. I have the Smith on my TBR shelf but have heard mixed comments on it. It seems to be a love it or hate it sort of book. Maybe it’s time to throw int he towel and move on if it is just a slog? Adler is really interesting. If you get the chance to read her sometime I’d be curious what you make of her.
LikeLike
Stag’s Leap! I’ll be interested to hear about that one. I have so many things I’d like to read and so little time. On the plus side, I’ll be spending Memorial Day weekend meeting Jo Walton and Farah Mendlesohn, which may be very interesting indeed.
LikeLike
Jeanne, it is a very personal, deeply felt book and very well written. Oh, sounds like your Memorial Day is going to be lots of fun!
LikeLike
Wow, its wonderful that you’re reading so much. I only wish I can even read as half as much as you. I have started making more effort and its a work in progress. You’ve actually inspired me to keep trying :).
LikeLike
kdabey, you are very kind. Good luck with your efforts. Part of my secret is to always have a book with me 🙂
LikeLike
The Paul Hazard book sounds fascinating. I’m off to look for a copy now. And, I’m tantalised by the reference to the Melville House Art of the Novella subscription. I shall have to explore that as well. Thank goodness for the internet!
LikeLike
Alex, I am really looking forward to the Hazard book. Danielle has been very much enjoying the subscription and they have sent her some really good books. The internet can certainly be a marvelous place!
LikeLike
Ooh lovely reading. I am simply longing to read New Grub Street but never seem to have the time or be in the right frame of mind for it. Must do better! I will be so interested to read your review. I’m also really looking forward to The Leopard – another book I’ve been promising myself I’d read but had failed to get around to (there seems to be a pattern here…!).
LikeLike
Litlove, New Grub Street is off to a great start. This is my first Gissing and I am surprised at how modern his voice sounds. Your pattern of failing to get around to is also my patter so don’t feel bad!
LikeLike
As always such a great pile of books in progress! I always feel like I talk about the same books over and over again, too! I am back to Virginia Woolf anf hope to catch up to you very soon! I think I might skip over the Hazard and go straight to Transit as I am anxious to read it. Or maybe I’ll be daring and start the Hazard too since i need to choose a new NF to start anyway (ah the joys of starting new books–hence the reason I always have so many in progress!). Must ditto the others and say I want to read New Grub Street, too. I was dipping into The Leopard this morning, but think it will be better to start it when I know I have more than five or ten minutes to read. And I’m looking forward to hearing what you thought about the Adler!
LikeLike
Danielle, two NYRBs at once? You are brave! Adler post coming early next week 🙂 New Grub Street is turning out to be quite good. I hope to spend some time with Woolf this weekend and of course a few other books!
LikeLike
The Leopard is so good!!! I’m looking forward to seeing what you think about it. 🙂
LikeLike
Colleen, everyone keeps saying The Leopard is so good which makes me glad but is also making me want to forget everything else and dive into it right now. I love that.
LikeLike
I’m so psyched you’re starting to read Gissing! I think you’ll get along very well with him. He’s one of my favorite Victorians.
I’ve bought my copy of The Leopard, but between my upcoming trip to Scotland later in the week and some issues involving my sister that’s continuing to suck all oxygen out of my life, I doubt I even get the chance to start it for awhile, let alone write coherently about it afterwards.
LikeLike
Susan, I am getting along quite well with Gissing. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I fell into the book. There is also something un-Victorian feeling about him that I can’t quite put my finger on.
If I were going to Scotland I know I wouldn’t even bother trying to read The Leopard! I hope things with your sister improve. And when you get back from traveling you’ll feel refreshed and energized.
LikeLike
Pingback: June Reading | So Many Books