Monday, September 1, 2014

September: the summer leftovers


August came and went and so did that month's reading time. I love being with my family, but every day for the last three weeks was spent with some new adventure, and carving out a rare, spare moment for myself was just mission impossible.  I did manage to sneak in some post-bedtime reading, so all was not completely lost, but watching the books come to the door knowing I couldn't possibly get to them for a long while was beyond agony for me. Oh well. There are worse things to be addicted to than reading.

September is the month of summer leftovers. From  the original list, here's what I have left:

The Antiquarian, by Gustavo Faverón Patriau -- 
The Quick, by Lauren Owen
The Explorers: A Story of Fearless Outcasts, Blundering Geniuses, and Impossible Success, by Martin Dugard

The Mad and the Bad, by Jean-Patrick Manchette
The Lotus and the Storm, by Lan Cao 
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, by Haruki Murakami

Online reading group books for this month:

Birdman, by Mo Hayder
Dark Entries, by Robert Aickman (already started)
and whatever the literary darkness group decides on -- they're having trouble with consensus issues right now.

Then there are a few books sent to me from publishers so these will probably be in the first reading wave: 

The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters
Dancer in the Dust, by Thomas H. Cook (finished - review first thing tomorrow a.m.)
The White Van, by Patrick Hoffman 
After I'm Gone, by Laura Lippman (finished - review 09/04)
Spring Tide, by Cilia and Rolf Borjlind
The Stone Wife, by Peter Lovesey
The Children's Act, by Ian McEwan
The Summer of Long Knives, by Jim Snowden (for 09/17)

I also have most of the Booker Prize longlist novels so obviously my dance card is pretty full right now. 

It's soooo good to be back to normal again. I'd much rather stress about having too much too read than not having time to read at all! 

3 comments:

  1. Well, good you sneaked in some reading even while entertaining relatives.

    You have quite an interesting list of books to be read. I avidly anticipate reading the reviews. I'd like to see what you think of the Manchette, Murakami, Hayder, Waters and a few others. Even if I can't get to all of these books, I get an idea of what I'd like to strive to read -- and, let's face it, I love to read book reviews, especially of crime fiction.

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    1. Hi Kathy. I'm just at chapter 6 of The Paying Guests, and so far so good. When I'm finished with that, I think I can finish the rest of the publisher-sent books easily. I'm really trying to make up for lost time here -- 3 weeks is a lot of books missed. If you'd like the Sarah Waters book after I'm done, I'll be happy to send it to you!

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  2. Thank you, Nancy. I would love that. And I'll loan it around, too, so other readers will get to read it, too.

    I've read two by Waters, and one of them blew me away. And she's so politically astute, too, which I appreciate.

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