Dead Souls Finis! My Post to Follow

Peak fall foliage season and perfect weather has been keeping me outdoors all day long. Hiking, tennis, hiking! I will be posting about Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls in the next couple of days. (I hear there's rain in the forecast on Tuesday. Maybe I'll have a few extra minutes.) I read along with Katrina of Pining for the West and please don't miss her excellent post and summation about this Russian classic.

As I've discussed, I'm in the process of getting lined up for the Classics Club. Before I post my list, though, I'll probably already be reading several of Henry David Thoreau's classic writings for the Classics Club. His memoirs and thoughts about hiking in Maine, for one. I will keep you posted. It's the right time of year for reading a nature writer, because I feel especially close to the wilderness right now. I haven't read Walden since I was eighteen. I remember it so vividly that I'm not sure I'll be reading that title, but The Maine Woods, I'll definitely be reading.

Coming Soon to My Door--Classics Club

After years of reading about other bloggers' adventures with Classics Club, I find that I am now summoning a list of 50 titles, which I am fairly certain I won't be able to finish reading within five years. But who knows? Onward!

I'm making the list not only from my memory of classics unread, but also with the help of Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia. My older brother gave me the first edition of this encyclopedia for my college graduation back in 1975, I believe. What a great gift for a reader!

Then I picked up a paperback Third Edition at a book sale about seven years ago. And finally, I bought the Fifth Edition with my birthday money at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont, about four years ago. I love the Fifth Edition, because of its expansive inclusion of World Lit titles.

I am also consulting the Oxford Companion to English Literature and the Reader's Companion to American Literature. The Benet's covers World Literature, but I will also consider other reference lists for World Lit titles. It will be very much a Classics List from my point of view, as I know it is for most people who participate.

At the moment, I'm in the midst of my first Classics Club title. I'm reading the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls. I'm almost halfway through, but I don't feel I can say a word about it yet. Just where is Gogol going? That is the question. And most important of all, I am reading the book with Katrina of Pining for the West, who has the book on her Classics Club List.

I will post my first 25 titles in the next few weeks. Although it's fun, it takes time and effort to pull together a list of 50 that I'm eager to read.

Reflecting on In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Well, it's still summer in the North Country. This week will see temps in the mid-80s all week and lots of that lovely humidity to go with it. Labor Day is late this year--Monday, September 7th--, and its late arrival always feels weird to me. As if it's shortening our already way-too-short autumn. Already lots of the red maples are turning color. "Stop!" I want to shout at them. "Wait until it becomes cool enough for hiking and enjoying the outdoors."

I so very much enjoyed reading In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume, an adult book she labored over for five years, from 2009-2014. A tremendous amount of research went into this novel, which, for most people, will be considered an historical novel, given that it's set in 1951-1952 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the site of three horrific airline crashes between December 1951 and April 1952.

What makes this novel especially realistic and fascinating is that Judy Blume was a young teen in Elizabeth during this time (Blume was born 12 February 1938). Her characters are rich, and as always, she is so unbelievably in tune with her teenage characters, especially the impressionable 15-year-old Mira, the character at the heart of the story. But what makes this book is that she's not the only character from whose point of view the story is told. It's also the story of her entire family, her neighbors, and her most devoted friends, who also figure prominently. I think Blume's talent of drawing readers into her world of rich characters,  coupled with the extensive research she did that made this book the creation it is. Blume is now 77 years old, which is hard to believe. She's been such a fixture in children's and young adult literature, and in her constant battle against censorship in American letters. Best wishes to her! And please, Judy, may we have another book?

Very Late August and Fall Reading Bonanza

You may have recalled, months ago, that I hinted at a career change. Since May 12 and due to end tomorrow, August 23, 15 weeks later, I will have completed an arduous course so that I can receive my certificate from Boston University in Genealogical Research. Yes, I will be hanging out my shingle to practice professional genealogy. This jibes perfectly with my intense interests in U.S. History. My initial specialties are in the areas of New York and New England genealogical research, with a special interest in the Colonial Period (1620-1776). I have loads more education to pursue, but I will be doing that alongside professional work in the future.

So! Because the stress of the past weeks have led to a full-blown case of shingles just diagnosed yesterday, I will start, slowly, to resume a more normal, balanced, and hopefully healthier lifestyle, because all I've been able to do, literally, for all this time is study and work on assignments and reports. I learned a tremendous amount, but the human cost was high.

That's why I'm happy to announce that in this initial let-down period, due to begin tomorrow, reading adventures will be a central focus. Walking to regain strength and stamina will be an equally important plan.

Second Life by S. J. Watson was such a huge disappointment! His debut Before I Go to Sleep was so mind-blowing, so original that I almost can't believe that he wrote such a hum-drum thriller as Second Life. Maybe he was too busy writing the screenplay to the Before I Go to Sleep movie, which is supposed to be out? About to come out, starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, among others. Have you read Second Life or the debut novel?

I have so many books to read next. I started In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume last night before bed. Blume grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey. From the late fall of 1952 through the late winter of 1953, three separate commercial airplanes crashed into this densely inhabited town just west of Newark, New Jersey. Blume was a young teenager at the time, a most impressionable age. In any event, this is a work of fiction, but it's clear she's drawing on her memories of the times. It's reading beautifully at this point and is from the point of view of a young teen.

I haven't read a Julia Spencer-Fleming mystery for at least a year, and it's high time I read one. Thou Shall Not Want is my next title in the series. It's my favorite mystery series, as I know I've mentioned before.

I hope you can expect more regular posts from me in the weeks to come. The grueling part of my 2015 has come to an end.

Finally Reading a Classic This Year

Just as I was about to dig in to another suspense thriller, I was overcome with a hankering for an English classic. My fingers immediately pried the Penguin edition of Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from an overstuffed shelf in my treasured bedroom floor-to-ceiling bookcase. I climbed into bed and dug in on a late coolish summer evening, with owls calling all around me. Perfect atmosphere. I was hooked by page 8.

The print is so small, though. The book is 485 pages, so I guess they needed to do that. My eyes are straining, but I can make it. Already, at page 37, I'm bemoaning that soon I will have read both of Anne Bronte's books. Such a spell it casts.

Are you or have you been involved in a classic read this summer. Do tell!

Some Good Books in 2015: Part I

Currently enjoying The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble. I'm almost positive that JoAnn at Lakeside Musing blogged about this book in the past 2-5 months or so. It's been on my mind ever since. I'm more than halfway through...  I do get a kick out of Drabble, always have. This one is no exception! Recommended.

Some exceptionally good books have tracked me down this year. I have had very little time to browse in libraries or shop or cruise online, but I've managed to find some greats.

The best book of 2015 so far for me has been: Black House, the first book of The Lewis Trilogy by Peter May. (It's in my 2015 blogroll.) This book was much more than mere "crime fiction." The Isle of Lewis is its own character. And the pinnacles of rocks, in the middle of the ocean, to the northwest, where men and special older boys go for a bird hunt annually, is portrayed so realistically, so unfathomably well, that I don't need to visit the Hebrides, or the Isle of Lewis. I was so immersed. The plot was unstoppable, twisting and turning and developing, I was in awe. The characters were portrayed with a keen, psychologically astute insight. You'll notice I've awarded it 5 stars. Very, very impressive. Have you read anything by Peter May?

Trying Hard to Be Back Again

This will be a very brief, modest post. Although this year has seen me hectic and busy virtually all the time, I will say my usual, "Thank goodness for books, thank goodness for the reading habit," which has made it possible for me to endure the tempest. As I stated in a post earlier this year, I am undergoing a career change, and as much as I'm welcoming it, the switch has not allowed me time to do anything but study and prepare. Enough of that for today.

Believe it or not, I've never read Maisie Dobbs, nor a single one of Jacqueline Winspear's series or her other WWI novel published last year (2014). Just this afternoon, after eight hours of work, I relaxed with the very first in the series, entitled Maisie Dobbs, and almost couldn't stop reading. It's a surprise to me I've never read one, but when I think of all the books in the world I've read since its publication in 2003, I understand. Maureen Corrigan, the premier book reviewer for National Public Radio, had this to say upon the publication of the tenth anniversary edition of the original Maisie Dobbs.

My birthday in early June brought with it a Kindle Fire to add to my Nook HD. The Fire may seem superfluous, but it comes with lots of Amazon Prime goodies and incredible Amazon music possibilities (!), which made the $99 for the Fire too hard to pass up. I still love the Nook, but Kindle Fire has its uses, so I'm using both. It has come to the point where I begrudge the public library's loan periods and fines. I'm such a mood reader, always have been, that with e-books, many of which I can get very, very inexpensively, it only makes sense to read e-books. I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but it's becoming increasingly true that I only want e-books. The prime exceptions to this new rule are dense historical works with footnotes and bibliographies, dense historical novels, and science non-fiction.

I hope to be catching up with all of you soon.

The Year of Reading...Very, Very Badly

After a horrendously long hiatus, I hope to blog a post in the next few days.

January Reading 2015

This January my mind has been so full of financial decisions and resultant career maneuvering that I have not had the energy to blog at all.

I'm so sorry to say that I have not been able to host a Russian Literature Month this January, as I'm certain all readers must be aware by now. I still want to host it, but the month and opportunity are not on the horizon for now. Thanks for understanding, and I regret the false advertisement!

So what have I been reading?
I recently finished Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom, the very first title in Cornwell's Anglo-Saxon/Viking series. I did enjoy the time period and the history, and I really liked the character Uhtred, son of Uhtred, but I had less appreciation for the frequent battle scenes, at least not as much as others might. But I must say that the novel has enhanced my interest in the Viking-period in English history. I want to know more! Bernard Cornwell's latest novel in this series (#8, I believe) has just been published in the U.S.--The Empty Throne.

The Girl on the Train! Yes, I have succumbed to all the hype, and the novel is indeed a page-turner which will appeal to readers deprived of sunlight and thrills. I set aside the hour from 4pm-5pm with reading for fun, and this one has made the hour whiz by.