Sorry posts have been brief this week, will try and write some proper reviews soon – my reading this month has mostly been re-reading, as I have re-read some of the central novels for my research. And more books with titles like Unmarried But Happy and The Bachelor Woman and Her Problems – interesting books from the first half of the 20th century about ‘surplus women’. In the name of research, but I can’t help enjoying reading those lovely old hardbacks, whatever might be inside them.
But I have also been reading for book group – and I thought I’d confirm to you all that (as a few of you guessed) A Confederacy of Dunces is the book I’m currently reading (as well as Great Expectations, Wise Children, The Element of Lavishness, A Reader on Reading, Singled Out, A Town in Bloom… yes, I do multitask when it comes to reading!)
Will report back on Confederacy of Dunces as soon as I can, since it’ll be due back at the library soon. Have a lovely Friday – I’m off to London to see some friends, and now just have to decide which to take of the seven books I’m reading…
So, to fill the gap where my inspiration is not (and because it’s always a fascinating question) – what are you reading at the moment?
Have fun in London, Simon! I'm reading Jo Ann Beard's In Zanesville this weekend. I hope it doesn't rain, because I'd like to read it outside!
Simon those books sound amazing! I want to read Unmarried but Happy! Who wrote it?
I am reading The Magnificent Spinster by May Sarton at the moment. It's fantastic. In fact, you would love it. I'm going to send it you when I'm finished!
I am reading William Pitt the Younger by William Hague. Not quite a typical summer read, but very well written and it keeps my attention. Bought a hardback copy for around $10 from the great Abe!
I'm reading Sisters of Fortune, by Jehanne Wake – and I'm going to be recommending it all over the place.
I have just finished Life in Miniature which opened my eyes so much. The lack of extended family support and the harm it can do is so apparent in the book, and it makes me grateful that I do have the support and care of so many people.
I'm supposed to be read Loving by Henry Green, but I got stuck in Camden Town without a book and had to rush into the nearest charity shop which was very uninspiringly provided with books. I came out with The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. I'm afraid I don't think its very good but I need to know what's going to happen in the end. Looking forward to hearing about the Dunces, which I sent back to the library without so much as opening it.
I've just finished reading Jsne Harris's new novel, 'Gillepie and I', which was creepily enthralling, (although I didn't like it as much as I loved her first book, 'The Observations', but that's a matter of taste, and I've also read Kate Morton's latest, 'The Distant Hours' which I found to be rather a 'curate's egg' of a novel—impossible to put down, but ultimately rather derivative (Rebecca, I capture the Csastle etc.) and the effect it's had on me is that I just want to return to those originals and not be seduced by new, bright covers in Waterstones!
Just starting "Graven With Diamonds: the many lives of Thomas Wyatt, courtier, poet, assassin, spy" by Nicola Shulman & just finished "London Under" by the ever excellent Peter Ackroyd. It's all about what lurks beneath the streets of London!Have a lovely weekend & don't look down too many holes :)
Now that's what I call multi-tasking! The first two books you mention look really interesting. Will try and hunt them down. I'm trying to finish Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson (a fantasy book) which is huge and only the 5th in a series of 10. It's really good. But I'm already itching to start Rebel Girls by Jill Liddington about suffragettes.
Hi Simon, I've just finished a book which I think you would probably love — assuming you're a fan of E.F. Benson, and I don't see how anyone could possibly not love Mapp and Lucia. (I'm quite fond of Dodo too, which I found as a teenager.) It's called "Good as God, Clever as the Devil" and is a biography of Mary Benson, wife of Archbishop E. W. Benson and mother of all those other Bensons. It's extremely interesting, and I think well-written too. I read it because of this review in the Guardian, and now I feel the need to tell someone about it who might like it.
Hi simon I m reading hear the wind sing Haruki Murakami ,a book which my library got me from US as it is hard to get hold of ,all the best stu
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. A book I've been keen to read for ages but just haven't got around to. Then Harriet commented that she turned back to the first page when she finished it…that did it for me!
I'm reading Violet to Vita: The Letters of Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West. I haven't got to the actual letters yet, I'm still reading the introduction.
I'm afraid I've abandoned The City and The City. It's an amazing concept but the story is somehow written really boringly (in my opinion).. the characters are dull. Shame.
Instead I borrowed Room off someone and I am two thirds of the way through within about 38 hours of having it. This is very unlike me. Hugely compelling and the best 'voice' of a little kid I've ever come across.
I am reading "Slaves of Solitude" by Patrick Hamilton and really enjoying it.
Have fun in London!
liz in Texas
I just finished 'Willful Creatures' by Aimee Bender, I found it a bit patchy, some of the stories were moving but some felt really flat. So now I am looking for my next book…
Dear Simon, I hope you enjoy A Confederacy of Dunces, in a sort of Pavlovian response I started smiling as soon as I saw the cover…
I hope you plan on writing about all those books though, they sound fab.
I am reading Hermes in Paris by Peter Vansittart. Have you read it? Has anyone? It's hard work and brilliant. I shall write a long and boring post about it soon.
I'm now about a third of the way through Kate Atkinson's One Good Turn and I don't think it's a patch on her earlier work Behind the Scenes at the Museum. If you want crime set in and around Edinburgh then read Ian Rankin, he does it so much better and his Edinburgh feels right, her's struck me as concocted from the pages of "The Rough Guide to Scotland" or somesuch. Not impressed, I may well give up on it.
Love A Confederacy of Dunces and can't wait to hear your thoughts.
I multitask some (at the least, one audiobook in the car and one book-book to read), but could never handle all those you have going!!
I'm listening to some light action/mystery stuff in the car (good fun) and have just started reading Manana Forever? Mexico and the Mexicans by Jorge Castaneda. It's early yet, but I'm concerned: I find the subject fascinating but he's pretty dry so far… hope it gets more readable or I may have to find a different source for the same info.
Am reading and loving The Hotel by Elizabeth Bowen, Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, and have on my reading table I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and The Greater Journey by David McCullough.
Currently reading The Provincial Lady in America, with I Capture the Castle waiting in the wings. Good luck with "Confederacy"–I loathed it and gave up after 50 pages, but most people I know think it's hilarious.
Wise Children makes perfect reading in London…
Have a lovely time. I have to run errands/shop in west-end so won't make it to NH but call if you happen to be at a loose end later in afternoon.
I am reading The Lessons by Naomi Alderman, which is set in Oxford University and is very reminiscent of Brideshead Revisited.
I meant earlier in afternoon as there is no later.
Okay, okay. I Capture the Castle has simply got to come off the Someday shelf and into the Next basket.