I really should know better. For the last few weeks I have been reading five million books at once, give or take a million. My usual method is to have two books going at once, one fiction and one nonfiction, but somehow I just kept starting books until it got completely out of hand.
I spent quite a while binge reading a science fiction series that belongs to my son. I am not sure why, other than Lois McMaster Bujold I am not really a huge science fiction reader. However, a world of aliens, spacecraft, new worlds, and the occasional battle seems to have been just what I was in the mood for. Pure escapism.
At the same time, I am reading The Victorians by A. N. Wilson. I know, could I possibly have picked anything more different? I read Victoria--A Life by the same author earlier this year and was fascinated by it. I am finding this one a bit heavier going since it is about a time period instead of an individual but it is still very interesting. I just read about the Irish potato famine. Absolutely horrifying.
When I was raiding my son's bookshelves for science fiction I came across Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. He enjoyed it and wants me to pick up the rest of the series as I come across them. I also believe Hamlette from The Edge of the Precipice recommended them to me. I am about halfway through and my son says I am just reaching the good part. I must admit all the sailing jargon put me off a bit but I am persevering since the series is so beloved by many.
These are the only two book I have bought recently and I am reading one of them. Lory at The Emerald City Book Review is co-hosting a read-along of Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. She already posted the discussion questions for the week but since I am reading five million books at once I am a bit behind with this one. I am finding it absolutely fascinating though and keep inflicting interesting pieces of information on my family. Always a sign of a good book. I read a review of The Perfect Summer on a blog somewhere and promptly bought it. Now I can't remember which blog it was. I need to start writing these things down. I am not letting myself start it until I finish a few other books.
I also picked up Me Before You by JoJo Moyes at the library when I took my daughter on Saturday but I abandoned it half read because I was finding it so irritating. It seems to be a popular book and I know a movie was made of it but it seemed predictable and I just had no desire to continue. Now maybe if aliens had shown up and abducted the two main characters and there had been a huge space battle and the heroine had saved the day....
Do you read five million books at once? What have you been reading lately?
I read Me before you and saw the movie! The movie is a real tearjerker.yes, the book is predictable but I found it ok:) I never read more than one book at once:)
ReplyDeleteI think I was just in the wrong mood for it. Possibly, reading too many books at once did not help. I still haven't returned it to the library so you never know, maybe I will pick it up again.
DeleteI try to read only two books at once, but right now I've got four going, and two from the library waiting for me. And then I shoved those all aside and read two short books over the past couple days. Sometimes this just happens.
ReplyDeleteI tend to let all the sailing jargon flow over me when reading Patrick O'Brian's books -- bits of it have stuck, but it's the characters I read that series for :-) As usual.
I got along much better with Master and Commander once I started ignoring the sailing jargon. There are ships and sails and guns and that is all I need to know. I'll just let the rest pass me by and enjoy the story.
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