Currently Reading

I never can stick to one book at a time. I am very much a mood reader and sometimes my mood is flighty and finicky. Besides the three books I am going to talk about in this post I also always have a light detective/mystery novel that I am reading on my Kindle at work.

I have only just started Foundation: The History of England from its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors. I read Ackroyd’s book about London a few years ago and loved it. Apparently, my fascination with all things British has moved on from specifically the WWII era to encompass the entire history of a nation. I’m good with that. Ackroyd’s writing style is very approachable and he throws in lots of detail about the way people lived. It looks like there are 6 volumes in his history of England so they should keep me busy for a while.

My husband heard about Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World on a CBC radio show and though it sounded just my cup of tea. That man knows me well. You can see in the photo that I already have a good number of sticky notes marking passages I particularly love and I am only 60 or so pages into the book. I’m going to quote one passage that I think is so good. If this doesn’t make you want to read the book then I don’t know what will.

Let’s talk about you for a moment, the person reading these lines. Right now, with the book open in your hands, you are engaged in a mysterious, unsettling activity, though habit prevents you from being amazed. Think carefully. You are completly quiet, eyes moving over rows of letters made into meaning, that deliver ideas independent from the world now surrounding you. In other words, you have withdrawn to an inner chamber where absent voices speak, where there are ghosts only you can see (in this case, my phantom self), and where the pace of time’s passage is the measure of your level of interest or boredom. You have created a parallel world like the illusion of cinema, a world that depends on you alone. At any moment, you can avert your gaze from these lines and return to the action and movement of the outside world. But in the meantime, you remain on the edge, in a place where you’ve chosen to be. There is an almost magical aura to the act of reading.

I don’t remember where I heard about The Visitors by Mary McMinnies but I am grateful I did. It tells the story of Milly Purdoe, the wife of a minor British official stationed in a shabby old city that seems to be based on Krakow, Poland. Milly is self-centered, charming, and determined to go her own way in a city that is equally determined to limit her freedom. She encounters “a forceful American journalist, members of the diplomatic corps, the agents (open and secret) of the new regime, and relics of the former aristocracy, some of them admirable, some detestable — all fascinating.” I am halfway through the book* and so far I love it. All the characters are such personalities. I simply know that Milly is riding for a fall and, despite her flaws, I keep wanting to shout “no” at her and pull her back when she is being flighty and silly. I have already put a library hold for McMinnies’ first novel, Flying Fox.

What have you been reading lately? Do you read multiple books at the same time?

*And halfway is where I will stay for a while. I picked it up this afternoon and discovered it is missing about 30 pages in the middle. Instead, about 30 pages from earlier in the book are repeated. This is the only copy available in the entire extensive library system. I bought a copy online but it will take a week or so to get here. I complained to my son about not being able to finish the book and he said “That’s okay. I’m sure you’ve got 8 others started.” He, too, knows me very well.