Slim pickings, I know.
I’ve been listless and out-of-sorts this month; there’s a to-do list that’s getting longer and longer and I get spooked every time I think about sitting down to tick something off. Then at bedtime, when I usually do most of my reading – except I’m not supposed to read in bed anymore: just another item in the ‘Fucked Up Rules For People With A Fucked Up Jaw’ lore – I’m too tired.
The Summer Without Men is a slender novel (slender, but by no means ‘slight’) about a woman who is learning to adjust to life after her husband leaves her for another lover. She moves to be closer to her mother and teaches a summer creative writing class to a group of girls. That’s pretty much the plot in a nutshell, but Siri Hustvedt has such compassion and understanding of the main character, Mia, that this warmth of feeling permeates everything. I finished quickly and felt the better for having picked it up.
The Plague was tougher fare (or tougher than expected, as I tore through The Outsider) but it was fascinating too. I think part of the reason why is that I enjoy dialogue driven novels. And while that’s not to say The Plague is dialogue free, the passages of description and reflection it contains did take some patience (will add that ‘Part Four’, with Tarrou’s life-story, was amazing).
Foundation – on the other hand – is dialogue rich, but I don’t think I’m in the right mood at the moment to persist with it.
Two out of the three are on my 1001 Books list, so that’s also something!
What are you reading this month?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I love all Asimov but the Foundation series is an especial favourite of mine. But yes, you have to be in the right mindframe. The Robot books are easier going and get you into the Asimovian world space pretty effectively.
I did not like The Plague, but then I was forced to read it at 16 for school! Have not read The Summer Without Men, but it sounds interesting, I’ll give it a go.
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I have started reading the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer – I heard him interviewed on Triple J.
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Me too, because my 9yo purchased it at the school book fair and told me I should read it
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Summer without Men sounds interesting. I’m between books at the moment. After I read a good book it takes a while for me to move onto the next. I’m still savouring The Fall by Ryan Quinn. I was captivated by it, yet didn’t expect to. It is beautifully written.
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I’d love to hear your final thoughts on Asimov’s Foundation. I haven’t read that one yet, but I loved ‘I, Robot’ so am intrigued.
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I’ve been re-reading the Narnia Chronicles. Not read any of the books since I was a child, the story gets progressively more heavy handed with the message and the writing suffers as the series progresses. Have reached the last book and my need for completeness wants to read it but my desire for something good to read makes me put it down again each time I pick it up.
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