“What I’m Reading” is my contribution to the WWW Wednesday meme run by Sam from Taking On a World of Words. The Ws represent three questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
What I’m reading now
I have four books on the go at the moment, soon to be reduced to just two.
I’d planned to read To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf for the #1925Club, only to discover that I’d got my titles muddled and it was actually Mrs Dalloway that was published in 1925. I’d re-read Mrs Dalloway only a couple of years ago, and didn’t fancy another visit so soon.
There is a dearth of 1925 novels in my TBR so I tried the local library. All they had available immediately was The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie and Carry On Jeeves by P G Wodehouse. Well I’ve tried them but they’re not to my taste so will be abandoned. The copy of The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham is still stuck somewhere between two library branches and is unlikely tor reach me in time. So, sadly I won’t be able to join in with Karen and Simon’s 10th anniversary reading week.
That leaves Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby, her debut novel published in 1923. It’s an interesting character study about a young Yorkshire farmer’s wife who tries to giver her life purpose by doing good deeds. The arrival of young radical threatens to disrupt her life and the traditions of her community.
In parallel I’m reading Relearning to Read: Adventures in Not-Knowing,by Ann Morgan. This is partly based on her experiences of reading a book from every country participating in the 2012 Olympics. She poses the question of how to approach books that represent unfamiliar territory for a reader and whether, that unfamiliarity actually enhances the reading experience. I’m not far into the book yet but it’s raising many interesting questions.
What I just finished reading
I’m now up to date with the Amgash series of novels by Elizabeth Strout, having just finished the most recently published: Tell me Everything, Initially I found it underwhelming but then I started to understand the significance of that title. It’s a novel about the connections we make by sharing stories — stories about our own lives and those who flit in and out of our history.
What I’ll read next
If the Somerset Maugham book materialises soon, then I’ll read that though I also have a library copy of The Names by Florence Knapp lined up. This is an intriguing sounding novel which asks what influence the choice of our name has on our lives. It’s a “What if…” kind of novel.
After that it will be head down for Novellas in November…..
What do you think of P G Wodenhouse? I’ve never read any of his Jeeves novels. Are they an acquired taste?
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