I have been reading up a storm lately. My list just keeps getting longer too. I have four books I am currently reading. FOUR. I haven’t had that many on the go in a very long time. It’s exciting but at the same time overwhelming, if you can be overwhelmed in a good way. I’ve just been really excited about reading lately. I realize I haven’t done a books or current reads post in quite a long time and at this point it would be a lot of work to backtrack and try to write about all of the books I have read since that last post. I think it will be easier if I just start from what I am reading this moment. I have quite a pile of books on the go these days and several more waiting on my “to-read” list. That all being said (as Khan says in Star Trek: Into Darkness), shall we begin?
The four books I have on the go right now are a bit of an eclectic collection. Two classics, one rather dramatic fiction, and another quite popular one. I have been really taking advantage of my local library’s digital catalogue thanks to the Overdrive Media app on phone, and two of the books I am currently reading are borrowed: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Schriver and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
We Need to Talk About Kevin is a book that is quite a bit outside of my usual comfort zone. It is a book about a boy who perpetrated a shooting at his high school, only through the eyes of the boy’s mother. What makes it more interesting is that the novel is written in the form of letters written by the mother to the father. It is a different perspective and has made for an interesting if a little depressing read. It is some pretty heavy subject material and not for the faint-hearted in my opinion. I feel like I am plodding through this one more slowly than I normally would, but I think it has a lot to do with the content. My first 3 weeks of borrowing it from the library ended recently and I was only about 25% finished the book. I have a hold on it now, as suddenly there are two other people ahead of me to read it now. And so now I sit and wait to get it back so I can finally finish it.
In the meantime though, I borrowed The Help. Yes, the one the movie is based on. It is about a white girl in Jackson, Mississippi who write a book about the fired help (i.e. african american women working as maids) and the repercussions associated with writing the book. It’s an interesting read and a relatively quick read too. I like how it ties the fictional events of the story with actual events that took place during the same time period. It’s not a favourite of mine, but is still worth the read.
I mentioned I have a couple classics on the go as well. I am revisiting The Hobbit for the first time in a few years and I am reading Jane Eyre for the first time. I have been reading Tolkien since I was a kid and decided it was high time I read The Hobbit again. And Jane Eyre: I have seen the movie(s), read book reviews, bought the book and now I am finally reading it. I am only a few pages in and I feel like I am accomplishing something by finally reading it.
Now, keeping the four books I am currently reading in mind, you can understand the slightly overwhelmed feeling I described. NOW add to that TWO MORE books to read that I have just purchased that I am super excited to start reading. Let me tell you about them:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: From the writer of the stories Coraline and Stardust (which I love). It’s a bit of a thriller, a little bit sci-fi, a little bit fantasy. I found it in the Sci-fi/Fantasy section of Chapters. I’m just super pumped to read it.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood: What can I say? I have been a bit of a fan since I read The Handmaid’s Tale. This one is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopic future on earth and through the eyes of one man we learn how it came to be that way. I love a good dystopic world story and this one is no different.
I bought these and wanted to start reading them right away. Alas, I think I should probably wait until I finish a couple of the current books I am reading. Until then I have to add them to my to-read list, which may seem short to some but I find it is constantly growing these days:
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood (on hold through Overdrive!)
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
- Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood
I will let you all know in the near future how things go with this list…
