I’m afraid I’ve been incredibly lax in keeping track of my reading so far, and it shows in how many books I’ve finished this year (grand total of eight). But I have been reading some, just slowly and somewhat painstakingly.
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony – I’ve been neglecting this one lately, which is a damn shame, because I’m always so delighted whenever I pick it up! It’s just one of those delightfully chewy, thoughtful books that I don’t want to rush (but still need to make progress on!). I’ll probably try to read a few pages a night so I can process everything it brings to mind.
Going Clear – I just rather forgot I was reading this one, having gotten distracted by a few other cult and con-artist books. But it was fascinating, so I need to just put it somewhere visible so I remember to pick it up again.
Anna Karenin – (Karenin/Karenina–you know how it goes). I’ve really been enjoying this little romp into Moskow and St. Petersburg. It’s been too long since I read a classic, and I’m thrilled to be in the skillful hands of a master storyteller. It’s my bedtime reading right now, which is just the right mix of suspenseful and soothing society goings-on.
The Glass-Blowers – I’ve been meaning to read some more Daphne du Maurier ever since devouring Rebecca some many years ago, so I picked this one up via my favorite used-book dealer, Thriftbooks.com. Just thirty pages in or so, but already I’m excited to see where it goes. It feels a bit more romantically-styled than Rebecca was, but it’s charming, and I enjoy dipping into it. It’s a little close in general genre to Anna Karenin, so we’ll see how I juggle them. I rarely read two books of the same tone/genre, since I primarily poly-read to give myself options depending on mood and feel.
Verbalize – A writing craft book, which a fellow author recommended, and which so far I’m enjoying. The first two chapters were DYNAMITE, and I felt like I was on 100% the same page as the author, feeling that a lot of my own struggles with certain character-creation processes were being validated, and I still suspect it may be going more down that road with concrete exercises to try, but the current chapter I’m on has gone a bit vague, and I’m hoping it gets to the fundamentals of the process soon, otherwise it may feel like it’s falling into its own “magical hoo-doo” trap, which would be disappointing.
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I’ve got a bunch of other new and used books I’ve picked up over the last few weeks, which will probably make it onto this list sooner or later, too. I’m hoping to make a shelf of “to read” books so I can easily reach for something different and new whenever I’m itching to start something new.