If I was truly Bookish, I’d have figured out the number of pages per day!
Inspired by Cathi and her new Pen and Pink endeavor, I am going to start posting more in depth posts about my reading. While knitting may be my buoy, reading is my anchor. I love to read, absolutely love it. I cannot take books out of the library (eh, hem…I STILL have the Knitters Guide to finishing techniques and two Plum books out. We get DAILY phone calls from the Boston Public Library. They have a scary recorded system. “This - is — the — Boston —- Public — Library. —- Wen–day—Blah blah blah.” I swear, it is almost enough to scare me in to returning them!) because I must own them. I prefer used to new. In my opinion used books have more of a soul and I almost always find a relic of the book’s former life in its pages. A picture, airline stub, a grocery list. Finding these pieces of life left in a book makes the whole experience of finding and reading a used book so romantic. I love to give books as gifts and have yet to determine if it is tacky to give a used book. My gut tells me yes, only because others do not necessarily feel as I do. However, if I know you like them you will most certainly get one from me!Reading is a very organic process for me. I used to have a section on my sidebar - “On the bookshelf” - a list of books that I was going to read next. Try as I may I cannot prescribe to this mode. My desire for a book changes with the wind. As I get into a book I become consumed and rarely stray from book monogamy (this past year has been one huge frustrating exception to this rule.) When I finish a book the taste in my mouth, the smell in the air, or the feeling in my body makes me choose a book. I cannot stick to a list. The one time this rule does not apply is to my book club books. I belong to a local book club and I love that these talented woman tell me what to read when.
What can I say? I am a picture of contradictions.
In 2005 I read quite a bit. Here is the short list, as far as I can remember it:
Something Rising (Light and Swift) by Haven Kimmel
** - Books read for my real-life Book Club.
I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some there. There are about 32 titles there or 2.5 books a month. Wow. That is quite a bit more than I had thought. However, the Janet Evanovich Books don’t count in my book (ha! puns are fun!) so, in reality, I read 20 books or about 1.5 books per month. What a good little Bookish Girl I am.
My favorite of the bunch? Hmmm, cannot pick one. They are like my babies each with their own personalities and quirks. I would say that reading Murder on the Orient Express brought me to a new place in my reading. It started me off on a quest for mystery type novels with quirky characters. The Plum novels totally brought that thirst to a very serious disease. I enjoyed reading these but the last one brought a lot of eye rolling in its general direction. Not because it was any worse than the others, or less interesting. It just finally got old, and predictable, and irritating. I will still seek out another series of book-candy but will try to steer clear of the “I have a template that I’m using for every book and you’ll like it dammit” authors.
As far as book-candy goes. This is the first year in my reading career that I have sought out such a thing. It is a strange beast and I need to process it more before I can define or understand the appeal. For now, it is defined as a book I know will leave me feeling light, a sure bet, something that won’t throw a punch or leave me aching (A Million Little Pieces is the opposite of book-candy. The book is blatant in its gut hitting angst, it doesn’t hid from it and will leave you groggy.) As I get older I find more of a need for these sure-bets. I am not entirely sure why. It has happened with my movie watching as well.
On to the first finished book of 2006 (the bulk of this was read in 2005):
The first book that I finished in 2006 was Devil in the White City (borrowed from the lovely Elisa.) I listened to the first half of this courtesy of my ipod and aubible.com (love that site.) I like listening to books, but have discovered that only the book-candy books are really good this way (another reason why book-candy needs to find a way into my reading list, I love to listen to books during my commute.) Devil in the White City is non-fiction written like fiction. It was meticulous in its facts and scenes set during the Chicago World’s Fair in the late 19th century. I found it interesting and would recommend it to someone who enjoys history or who has lived in or around Chicago. However, I did not love it and would not read it again (in the book’s defense, there are only about a dozen books that I would ever read again. I’m not a big re-reader.) It was a bit dull in places and repetitive. It did present a wonderful sense of place (one of the qualities I love to see in my books) and made me wish that our world still had the wonder of discovery. Such as the wonder found in riding, or seeing, the first Ferris Wheel. It also made me thankful that although our world may be a bit heavy on the communication (phones, newspapers, Internet) at least it’s easy for us to figure out if someone is “missing”, “dead”, or “on vacation in Europe.”
The book that I’m finishing right now is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. As I mentioned above, 2005 was also the first year that I fell prey to the multiple book on the night stand syndrome. I guess that I thought if it worked with my knitting maybe it would work with my books. Not. so. much. Jonanthan Strange was a victim in this arrangement. He kept getting pushed aside. Only 75 pages left!