Yesterday I finished reading The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham and for once I haven’t started reading another book. As it’s getting close to Christmas and the end of the year I thought I’d look at the books I’ve listed as currently reading. Some of them have been sitting there for a while now and probably shouldn’t be on my list.
I started All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque in November before Remembrance Day, but since then I haven’t read any more. I think I need to go back to the beginning now as I’ve forgotten what I’ve read. So that is coming off the list for the time being.
I am making good progress with Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and have now got only just 
over 200 pages to go. That sounds as though it’s a chore to read but it really isn’t. I started it way back in March when I borrowed a copy from the library. I renewed it a few times and then realised that I should buy my own copy as it is a mammoth book that I’ll probably re-read in a few years time. This book is staying on the list and I hope to finish it by the end of this year. I have had quite long gaps between my reading but haven’t had any difficulty in remembering what has happened and amazingly even though there is a large cast of characters they have all (nearly all) stuck in my mind. It’s almost as though I’ve been living with the story. Next year I’m planning to read another long book – The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and hope that’ll be as easy to keep up with as Les Miserables.
Wild Mary by Patrick Marnham, a biography of Mary Wesley and The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry are also books that have come to a temporary halt. This is because I got sidetracked by Martin Edward’s The Arsenic Labyrinth – see here and also by The Tiger in the Smoke, which I’ll write about in another post. I’ll get back to them soon.
Finally I’m reading Georgette Heyer’s Detection Unlimited, which is not one of her Regency novels. It reminds me of some of Agatha Christie’s books so far. I think you could describe it a a cosy crime mystery. Solicitor Sampson Warrenby is found sitting under an oak tree with a bullet through his forehead. As nearly everybody disliked him intensely there are many suspects.
One book I have been tempted to start but haven’t is one I borrowed this week from the library. I don’t seem able to return books without borrowing others and I picked up P G Wodehouse’s Something Fresh. It’s been years since I read any Wodehouse and this is the first Blandings novel introducing the dotty Lord Emsworth and his son the Hon. Freddie Threepwood. I like the cover.
BooksPlease 
You’ve got quite a few books on the go – really admirable. My niece came over (from Holland) last summer and finished Les Miserables (in English!) when she was staying with us. She enjoyed it. I still haven’t read it, put off by the length or by the volume? (It’s difficult to stick sucha thick book in your briefcase for reading on the train…). The Ode Less Travelled is another book that you can pick and chose from, better not to read it in one go I think.
Enjoy your reading this Sunday! And thank you for popping by on my blog.
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Good luck with Les Miserables. It sounds like you are almost finished. I shy away from biggies. I finally finished One Hundred Years of Solitude and it felt like I’d been on African safari.
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I do the same thing, Margaret – books often stay in my ‘currently reading’ spot for weeks after I’ve abandoned them or set them aside. And having to start over again with one I’ve set aside can be so aggravating, especially if it’s one I’m not terribly fond of.
I hope your weekend is going well. Happy reading!
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I’d like to read Wild Mary. I loved The Camomile Lawn. I’ve heard that she had quite a life!
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I find I can’t read more than a book at a time, as otherwise I similarly let some books lag. Congratulations on almost finishing Le Mis, it’s quite an achievement although I confess not one I’ll be emulating anytime soon.
I think All quiet on the Western Front is most effective read in one stretch, and would recommend it you to some time in the future. The ode less travelled is also worth persevering with.
I mean to read the Wesley bio once I’ve finished all her books, which I’m rationing out. I’ve read a few Heyer mysteries (although not this one) and think their strength is their characters rather than their plot, which of course Christie was a master of. I also haven’t read Wodehouse in years, but would like to read him again in 2009.
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I read All Quiet on the Western Front in one sitting for a university course I was taking years ago and always meant to reread it. Also, PG Wodehouse is one of those authors I’d like to read, but I’m not entirely sure where the best place to start is?
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I found The Count of Monte Cristo to be much quicker, easier, and more engaging than Les Miserables. It was on my list of favorites a couple of years ago. There was a point a few hundred pages from the end where I just could not put the book down. Les Mis, while enjoyable, was an effort for me to finish.
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I *loved* the Count of Monte Cristo. Compared to Les Mis, it is a breeze (not that LM was hard, but I moved through it very slowly!). Good luck finishing the rest of your books. I’ll be carrying most of mine over into the new year I think.
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