This year, I'm spending my reading time with 60 books that have been favorites in the past or are new but by favorite authors or they are on my bookshelf in the I-want-to-read-someday category or the I'm-too-tired-to-think and just-want-to-be-entertained category.
1. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
I love the rather sly way that Forster comments on his society through his characters. And the way he moves himself in and out of the book as a narrator. He's always there, though mostly lurking in the background. Started on May 18 and finished on May 21.
2. Watership Down by Richard Adams
I fell deeply in love with this book the first time I read it and still think that his rabbit words like hraka and silflay and hrududu are just as brilliant as Dr. Seuss's gems like grickle grass and Sneetches. I started this on May 22 and finished on June 1.
3. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
More wordy than I remember but really, Toad should run for Congress. A more unrepentent character doesn't exist in the English language unless it's Flashman.
4. Friends, Lovers, Chocolate by Alexander McCall Smith
I really liked this author from the first moment I read The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. But then I read 44 Scotland Street and became hooked on anything this man writes. I love his wry, philosophical tone, his gentleness and the fact that he doesn't try to overwhelm or entertain readers by graphically describing the most heinous of human acts. He lampoons the absurdity of contemporary life by pointing out that the more things change, the more they stay the same whether it's in Botswana or academia or the apartment house where you life.
Really, a most civilized way to spend time.
5. Harry Potter 1 by J.K. Rowling
Finished this on June 11. Reading a book that flows like this one, that entertains without ever being shallow or mundane, is so much fun. I like re-reading books like this because I can pay attention to how the writer is working, how details that will appear later are worked in from the beginning, how much she hewed to the classic mythological plot. Gotta read another. They are like cinnamon toast. Comfort food to the max.
6. Harry Potter 2 by J.K. Rowling
Finished reading on June 15. Did some granular analysis of the way she writes because reading Harry is such a smooth experience. Even if these books were "meant" for young readers, the language in them is not simplistic. So the way she handles her sentences can tell you a lot about why the books succeed.
By my analysis, about 60 percent of her text is dialogue. And dialogue reads faster than any other kind of sentence structure, as long as it's done well. I think that our speech habits reinforce this type of reading. Also, well done dialogue is short, pungent sentences. Long speeches on the page, just like long speeches in person, get bogged down and boring.
7. Mrs. Jeffries in the Nick of Time by Emily Brightwell
No discernible nutritional value at all but I needed something very light, that didn't insult my intelligence too much and entertained when I was tired. Started June 20, 2010 and finished on June 23.
8. Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennen
Good enough to be interesting all the way through though I'm not sure it would stand up as a classic nor would I decide to reread it. But it was fine for what it was, didn't insult my intelligence, and was well-written enough to keep me to the end.
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Number 3)
I've decided that I want to have them all read before I go to see the next movie, 7.1, that comes out in November. I enjoyed this all again but at this point, I know I won't reread these for many years. It's like The Hobbit and the Tolkien trilogy. I read them often and then didn't for a very long time. You have to let them fade so that you get to trip across an incident or character you'd forgotten and enjoy them all over again.
10. Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast of St. Stephen by Emily Brightwell
Still not able to settle into anything too substantial or too slow. It's summer time and with what's going on with my Mom, I'm reading light.
11. Crooked Heart by Christian Sumners
OK, kept me entertained on an evening when all I wanted was something wordy to veg in.
12. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
I can't remember the last time when I ripped through so many novels, one after the other. I've even been curling up in my chair (OK, the dog thinks it's her chair) in the evenings to read instead of quilting. I've tried a couple of times to get into something a bit more serious (David Copperfield) or non-fiction but I think that the combination of a hot summer (which makes my brain wilt) plus the decline of my Mom and some other stuff going on around here means I've needed a place to retreat inside my own head. Not that Harry Potter is brainless stuff. On the contrary, Rowling tackles some pretty tough issues such as class warfare and the high cost of intolerance. It's just that I can surrender to Hogwarts and leave this world behind for a little while. A respite.
13. Herbs and the Earth by Henry Beston
What a magnificent treasure of a book. Delicious sentence after sentence after sentence.
14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, British edition by J.K. Rowling
It was fun to read the British edition and catch some of the different words they use from American English. The one that really struck me was the term "revising" for studying. I love Harry Potter but have had my fill for a bit. I feel the need to read something slower.
15. The Eternity Ring by Patricia Wentworth
Eh, ok. Don't think I'd read another. Certainly not the worst but not very compelling.
15. The Daughters of Cain by Colin Dexter
I've watched the Inspector Morse series from the BBC a few times but have never read one of the books. Wonderfully literate, so far, and enough off-kilter to keep you interested. I do seem to be on something of a schlocky mystery roll, don't I?
16. Plug Your Book by Steve Weber
Part of my four business book reading seminar. Lots of ideas here. Also a lesson in how quickly something like this gets dated. Very little mention of FaceBook and some things in Amazon have changed since it was publishing.
17. The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall
The second of four business books. I've decided the only way to read these is straight through, like novels, pen in hand to take notes on any inspirations that float by. Once I'm through numbers 3 and 4, I'll compile the notes and boil them down to my own marketing plan.
18. Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith
A lovely little story book based on Celtic myths. A charmer, and it's printed in that perfect-for-bed reading size, 5 x 8. You can hold it with one hand and lay on your side and read.
19. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Listed to on tape. Finished in print.
20. At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
A really-not-great mystery in the schlocky tradition that's good to read when you need to have your head occupied but not too much. I read this while sitting vigil with my mother as she lay dying. I honestly can't remember much of what it was about.
21. Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh
Another not really-great, schlocky mystery that's even less remembered than number 20. The second book read while sitting vigil with my Mom.
22. Emma by Jane Austen
One of Austen's top four novels, this one has never been my favorite. That spot has been reserved for Persuasion ever since I read it the first time. But Emma's love and care for her father reminded me, I guess, of caring for my Mom. Still, Austen satisfies like no one else.
23. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
OK, I admit, I am an Alexander McCall Smith junkie. I just adore his soothing, human, kind, warm, droll way of looking at the world through his characters.
24. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I keep trying to read these slowly so I can clearly see that Rowling does that just pulls you into her world. But I can't.
25. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane's most famous. I feel like a child who needs to read the same story over and over again for the reassurance that the world today is as I found it yesterday.
26. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
This book takes a couple of reads to get all of the detail. Otherwise, you won't know what's going on in the movies.
27. The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton
Watched the made-for-tv series and then read the book. They really do complement each other well.
28. Still Life by Louise Penny
I loved this book. And it's a great cover!
29. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Not sure I agree with all of his premises but it is though provoking indeed!
30. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
Recommend this author, for sure.
31. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
I liked The Sugar Queen by the same author a bit better but this is fun.
32. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Always good.
33. The Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill
Not sure I agree with all of his conclusions but it's a good read, for sure.
34. The Careful Use of Compliments by Alexander McCall Smith
Isabel Dalhousie, what a delight!
35. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
I've really become fond of this author. I like her philosophical detective.
36. Justice Hall by Laurie King
Another in the Sherlock Holmes continuation. This one is good.
37. Jane and the Wandering Eye by Stephanie Barron
Really, someone should have taken the time to edit this. Or given the author more time to write a good book.
38. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
Great new find (for me) of an author. Another Canadian like Louise Penny but from a totally different part of that wonderful country. Both came out of television work, interestingly enough, which probably accounts for the great way they have of setting scenes.
39. Persuasion by Jane Austen
Ah Jane, Anne and her Frederick are reconciled once again.
40. Jane Austen by Carol Shields
Interesting biography, done from a novelist's point of view.
