I’ve been making pretty steady progress this month, even finishing a few things between picking up other things! (Like Nick Mamatas’ I Am Providence, which if you’ve ever been to a fan con or if you just enjoy Lovecraft’s fiction, you’ll find insightful and hilarious and dark.) I’ve been dragging my heels on a few, and I Am Providence possessed a handful of days where it was all I read, so other things may have suffered progress a bit. (I’m looking at you Style! DARN YOU!) Too many good books to read, and never enough time! (Also a little obsession with the show Gotham has chewed away at my reading time a bit…)
But! Current reading is as follows:
Notes:
The Girls – I’m a little past a third of the way into this one, and am just waiting for the ebook to become available again, so I can finish it. I’ve enjoyed it so far, though it can be a bit squirmy at times, but it’s an interesting concept, and I look forward to finishing it.
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror – I’m still exactly where I was a month ago in this one. It’s just not top-of-mind for some reason, though lately I have been thinking about some of the stories I’ve already read in the first section (and fondly!), so I may just need to push it to the front of the line and give it a little loving care.
Selected Stories of O. Henry – pg. 24 of 401 – Hey! A tiny, minuscule bit of progress on this! I was in the mood for something brief and delightful the other night, and picked this one up. I really do enjoy his stories, and they’re easy to just pick off one by one, so maybe I’ll try to not worry about sitting down with large chunks of time for this one and just worm my way through it.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Still very early on in this one, I think four or five chapters in. It’s an interesting book, but I’m not sure if it’s my typical half-distracted reading environment or what, but I’ve had a bit of trouble getting sucked into it. Le Carre’s writing is fantastic, though, so I’m hoping once the ball really gets rolling, I’ll be hooked along for the ride.
Osama – … Just haven’t been picking this one up lately. Maybe it’s the ebook format, maybe it’s the dreamy, wandering tone, I’m not sure. I always enjoy Tidhar’s writing when I’m reading it, but it’s lost a little of the power to pull me back to it once I’ve set it aside. Need to think about how to get through this one…
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – Biography of author Shirley Jackson, just started. I picked this one up for my b-day because I’d been eyeing it ever since I heard it was coming out. It’s an exhaustive history (the thing is 500 pages before the endnotes), and right now we’re mired in the historical architecture of San Francisco, which Jackson’s ancestors in the mid-1800s became rich from building. It is interesting, but I’m kind of like “okay, okay, I get where she gets her interest in architecture, but seriously, can we get to when she’s born already?” I just barely got to when she was born, about 25 substantial pages in, but now we’re talking about the town where she grew up in CA and it’s developmental history. It’s that kind of book.). That said, if Franklin is this exhaustive about Jackson’s ancestors, it should provide some absolutely amazing insights once we get to Jackson herself in the later segments.
Style – 
The Soul of an Octopus – Still need to track this one down in audiobook format. I do need a new audiobook, so maybe I’ll spring for this one in the coming week or so…
The Strand Magazine – Just started the latest issue, mostly reading through for the fiction to start getting a little in touch with short crime fiction and how it works. Interesting stuff, so far, I just need to set aside time to focus on it.
Albedo One Issue #45 – Still working on this one, but I’m several stories in. So far it’s been a fine issue, but I’m quite not blown away. Ditto with above strategy–just need to set time aside.
And that’s it for now, folks!
Maggie Slater 