Saturday, March 28, 2015

So many books, so little time... ;)

(OK, I'll admit, there's more time than there used to be, since I lost my job. ;)  But since I got my first computer in 1996, I also spend a lot of time on the Internet that I used to spend reading books and magazines. Anyway...)

The stack of unread books beside my bed is multiplying faster than the dust bunnies underneath it. I see a new book that I MUST HAVE NOW!! Buy it (especially if it's on sale, or the paperback version I've been patiently holding out for), bring it home. And then something else captures my attention, and I buy THAT and bring it home. (Some people spend their money on alcohol and cigarettes... dh & I spend our money on reading material.) And I'm torn -- which one to pick up first??  Decisions, decisions... (Anyone else feel this way sometimes??)

Right now, I'm hellbent on getting through "The Two Mrs. Abbotts" -- book #3 of the "Miss Buncle" trilogy by D.E. Stevenson. (Book #1, "Miss Buncle's Book," is reviewed here.  A review of book #2, "Miss Buncle Married," will be forthcoming.) My Yahoo group (how I joined up with them is an interesting story, described here) is almost finished discussing "The Two Mrs. Abbotts,"  and will be moving on to "The Four Graces" -- which I gather is tangentially related to the three Miss Buncle books;  hence, my desire to finish TTMA -- starting the first week of April. And I would really like to take part in the discussion, having chased the group unsuccessfully for the past three books. :p

I want to get through both these books, ideally over the next week & a half (!) -- & then get started on Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" -- because the BBC adaptation begins on PBS on April 5th, and I like to at least TRY to read a book before I see the movie (or TV show, in this case). I figure I will only need to read the first few chapters before the first episode, right? ;) 

And then, in June, PBS is supposed to start showing another BBC costume drama -- "Poldark" -- set in Cornwall in the late 1700s/early 1800s. I read all the Poldark novels (by Winston Graham) as a young teenager. The BBC adapted the first several books back in the mid-1970s, with a charismatic actor named Robin Ellis in the title role, and it was a huge hit there, as well as on PBS. In Canada, the series was shown on CBC, after the national news broadcast (which was then at 11 o'clock), on a school night. And my mother (who had also read the books) let me stay up late to watch with her. :)

The new adaptation, starring a buff young Irish actor named Aidan Turner and covering the first two novels in the series, is already a huge hit in Britain.  And of course, since it's been (cough cough) awhile since I read the books (I did see a rerun of the original TV series as a newlywed), I would like to refresh my memory before THAT show begins.

Meanwhile, my recent purchases (some in store, some online, all of which I am dying to dive into) include:
(Not to mention the other books in the "to read" pile(s) that came before them, lol.)

Have you read any of these? What are you reading right now, and what's in your "to read" pile or reading wishlist?

3 comments:

  1. The fact you have a stack of books beside your bed that are not 1) textbooks and 2) required reading puts you WELL ahead of me.

    Zero recommendations, but am looking forward to the reviews (especially for te English literature).

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  2. I am currently reading 'A Tale for the Time Being' and really enjoying it. A good ecological education as well as being a moving novel! I also have Wolf Hall on my nightstand in the 'to read' list!

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  3. I just finished Wolf Hall - it was good, but it was a slog. It's a very dense book. I hope that the series conveys the characters as well.

    Right now, I'm reading The Princess Bride. It's one of two things that I think the screen adaptation works better than the book (the other is Game of Thrones - I try to read the books, but I end up just not caring because of all the minute, unimportant characters who are so thoroughly described...and then killed off immediately.)

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