Can you believe the calendar says September already? Seems like I say that every month, not that it’s September, but you know what I mean. August was a decent month for reading. I didn’t finish a huge number of books but I did start reading a huge number! Yes, yes, there is definitely an imbalance there, but I suspect that even if there were some sort of magic pill or vitamin supplement to right the imbalance, I would refuse to take it. Besides, it all works out in the end anyway and there is no reason to get ruffled about it.
What’s on tap for the month? Should I repeat myself from a few August posts? Sure, why not, you may not have read those, or maybe you have forgotten unless you are creepy weird and keep diligent track of all the titles I mention that I am reading.
Ok, so this is what’s going on:
- Rare and Commonplace Flowers: The Story of Elizabeth Bishop and Lota de Macedo Soares by Carmen L. Oliveira. Thank goodness I got this one from the university library so I don’t have to rush through it! The book goes along with my study of Elizabeth Bishop. I am also reading the Complete Poems and have made it through the first two books she published. In addition, I am reading her letters, One Art. So very good!
- The Rider by Tim Krabbé. A classic in the realm of cycling memoirs. The opening is fabulous. It begins just before a race and you can really feel the tension and excitement.
- The Republic of the Imagination by Azar Nafisi. I am about to begin on her close reading of Huckleberry Finn and I expect it will be good. Even if it isn’t, the introduction of this book is fantastic and is alone worth the price of admission. I plan on writing about that introduction soon because its themes have popped up in a few other places recently.
- Still Time by Jean Hegland. I am enjoying this one very much. It is about a Shakespeare professor who has Alzheimer’s and is slowly losing his memory. Rich with Shakespeare quotes and references, celebratory, yet sad.
- I am sorry to say I failed to finish reading The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak. I have not intentionally dragged this one out so long. Hopefully September will see me getting to the end of it!
- Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear. I am loving this book so much right now. I am reading it on my commute and at lunch and I have almost missed my stop a couple times and have been a tad late returning from lunch once or twice.
- Oscar Wilde’s Women by Eleanor Fitzsimons. This is for a Library Journal review and is about the women in Wilde’s life who influenced him.
Phew, got all that?
Now, just arrived and about to arrive from the library, a number of books that I placed hold requests on at the beginning of the summer!
- Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. I don’t remember where I came across this but it looks really good. Includes stories from the 1970s to the present and authors like Joanna Russ, Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson.
- From one of the hottest indie presses around right now (Graywolf), Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus Dean. The title pretty much says it all.
- The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar: Essays on Poets and Poetry by Helen Vendler. It’s new and been getting great reviews and there is at least one essay in it about Elizabeth Bishop.
- Through the Woods by Emily Carroll. Short stories. Mysterious. Spine-tingling. Perfect for the RIP Challenge! Such good timing on its arrival too.
And speaking of the RIP Challenge, it’s on! This year it is being hosted by The Estella Society. And it is the ten-year anniversary of what has become an annual event for a good many people. Given that pile of in progress books I just listed, I am not certain how much creepy reading I will get in this year, but I will manage at least one book. It runs until October 31st, so maybe I will be able to slip in something else that’s short. You just never know!
Your post made me LOL, literally. I don’t know how you fit in all the reading with everything else you do. You’re awesome. I’m still reading Steve Jobs 700 page book form May! I guess it’s all about priorities….
LikeLike
Helen, I don’t know how I do it either Helen! I have to admit I had a laugh too because it’s a lot even for me. September will be interesting!
LikeLike
Well…if its any consolation, lately I have been starting a lot of books, but finishing is another thing! RIP Challenge, will only add to the whole excitement…I must find some really chilling stuff!!!! Thank God September is here…at least winter now will come and we will be done with this god awful season called Summer!!! trust me, summers are HORRIBLE in my part of the world!
LikeLike
cirtnecce, that is a comfort! I am always glad to know I am not alone in my insanity 🙂 I am glad for September too. We are winding up a pretty hot and humid week but next week’s forecast looks very much like Autumn.
LikeLike
I like the sound of the Hegland book. One to add to my wish list I think. How is the Shafak? I keep picking this off the shelf in the shop but am not convinced I’ll like it so back it goes.
LikeLike
BookerTalk, the Hegland book is very enjoyable. I like the Shafak even though I keep setting it aside. It’s a good story. Not a page-turner, but character driven and enjoyable.
LikeLike
Yes, I like the sound of the Hegland too … and the Nafisi too.
LikeLike
whisperinggums, the Hegland couldn’t be more different than Into the Forest in terms of story. I like all the Shakespeare stuff and at the moment I have no idea where the story is going and that keeps it interesting. Nafisi is wonderful and the introduction very thoughtful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, the year is flying by far too quickly for my tastes, too! For once, drum roll please, I think I may actually have finished more books than started. It won’t last, but it has been such a very long time coming, I am sort of pleased with myself. I did start a few new ones, and I even managed to finish those in a reasonably timely manner. Let me know what you think of the Carroll story collection–I am always on the look out for good short stories in general, but now for the next couple of months I hope to read short stories that will go along with RIP. You have lots of good books on the go, so as long as you are enjoying them, I would not feel bad in the least for starting them either! 🙂
LikeLike
Danielle, congratulations! I know how hard that is too! I hope you find some good creepy short stories! So far all the books on the go are really good. And I have managed to finish two of them already!
LikeLike
Looks like a delicious month of reading, Stefanie. The Republic of the Imagination is on my TBR list. As for Jean Hegland, have you read her Into the Forest? It has been adapted into a film and will have its premiere at TIFF this September, directed by Canadian director Patricia Rozema, whose works include the 1999 version of Mansfield Park. I haven’t read any of her books, so look forward to your review of Still Time.
LikeLike
Arti, every month is usually delicious 🙂 I have read Into the Forest, long time ago, pre-blogging days. It was really good. I heard there was going to be a movie, and I am looking forward to seeing it!
LikeLike
What a wonderful list – I’m envious! I wish I had the superpower to read everyone else’s book lists as well as my own! (Although just my own would be a good place to start.)
I’ve left the Keats biography unfinished for so many months now I’ve started it again…
LikeLike
Helen, heh, that would be some superpower! I have a hard enough time getting through my own lists sometimes. I gave up on the Keats bio entirely since I wasn’t getting on with the poetry. If you finish the bio and tell me how amazing it is I might have to borrow it from the library again!
LikeLike
I must agree with helcha8’s comment — it always astounds me how much you read… the volume of it. I admire that a lot. I read seven books in August and am into my second one in September, but for me, that is a rare spate of prolific reading. But with you, it is normal to read far more than this. And yet lead a busy life… unlike me, a textbook-hermit and recluse. I don’t know how you do it, but I think it is admirable.
You made me look up that Leaving Orbit book, because that is a topic of great interest to me.
All the best to you, Stefanie.
LikeLike
Cipriano, One of the downsides of having so many books in progress at once is that I tend to finish them in small batches with wide spaces of not finishing anything in between. Public transit and a Kobo help facilitate reading back and forth to work. If ti weren’t for that some days would see me hardly reading anything at all. I am very much looking forward to Leaving Orbit, I have heard good things about it.
LikeLike
I feel a leetle bit guilty having just added to your pile – but only a little. I know how lovely it is to be inundated with good books! Sounds like you are in an ocean of bookish goodness at the moment, Stefanie. And I agree with you – how CAN it be autumn already???
LikeLike
Litlove, don’t feel guilty! I could have said no! 🙂
LikeLike