Books I Am Currently Reading
At any given moment, I am probably reading about seven books at a time. This isn’t a boast, either; some I intend to finish, some I am struggling through, some I am racing through, others I have stopped reading but think I am still reading but will not shelve because that would admit defeat.
I can not pick one book and stick with it. Oh no. I am a book whore and here is my current list of sluterature:
Give Me Ten Seconds by John Sergeant
I bought this in Oxfam in Henley - fine purveyors of posh tat and highbrow jumble. Review: Witty and urbane stuff from the BBC’s chief political correspondent during the Thather years. The Beeb stuff and the politics is fairly boring. Dent: 10 per cent complete. Likely finish rating: 1/10
Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hahn
Christmas present. Review: Wonderfully expressed ideas from a prolific Vietnamese author and monk. Simple and touching, without the scriptures. Dent: 90 per cent complete. LFR: 10/10
History of Britain by Simon Schama
Leaving present from a job I quat four years ago. Review: The first serious British history book I have read without needing to be hooked up to a will-to-live machine. It is written in plain English doesn’t call countries “she” (Germany invaded Poland because she wanted her winter ports, but oh no, she wasn’t having any of it), and it compares the politics to present day analogies. Dent: 15 per cent complete. LFR: 8/10
Dans Les Forets De La Nuit by Nadejda Garret
French book picked up on booze run. I read books aimed at teenagers because that’s my level of fluency, but hopefully it will improve. Review: Moliere it ain’t (Emile? No, la), but it’s a good story. A boy and his pet tiger run away from home (Life of Pi?) and walk through a forest, getting ideas. Dent: 45 per cent complete. LFR: 7/10
The Crisis Of Islam by Bernard Lewis
Lent by colleague. Review: A study of (and I need to be careful here) why some Muslims can be persuaded into justifying terrorist acts. It’s a fascinating history and I can see how Islam regards itself as a nation rather than countries with borders. Dent: 60 per cent complete. LFR: 2/10
John Peel - Margrave Of The Marshes by John Peel and Sheila Ravenscoft
Birthday present. Review: Life story of the DJ. Dent: 1 per cent complete. LFR: 10/10
Where most people have a bedside book table, I seem to have a booktableside bed.
I like going round to people’s houses and looking at their CD collections and book cases. It can tell you a lot about them.
These tell you I am not a great lover of fiction. I read maybe one story every two years, the last ones being Life of Pi and Vernon God Little. Both great books, but I like to learn and understand.
I once pointed this out to my friend Chris, saying I was more interested in finding stuff out.
Chris: “Finding out’s overrated. You have to feel.”
Me (well-rounded literary reply): “Feel this.”
What is most revealing about my choice of books is that they are all unfinished, because very often I will start something and then I’ll
January 27th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Now there’s a coincidence.
Extract from my recent (winning) entry in an essay competition:
I��d always been a lover and collector of books, and with retirement looming ahead, I began to see ahead of me the opportunity to enjoy all those books that I had collected during my working lifetime, plus those that I intended to acquire. It was about then that I realised that I really did not know how to read. Oh yes, I was literate, but I used to leap from book to book according to whichever one happened to catch my eye, like some literary mountain goat. I would start a book, switch to a magazine, start another book, then a technical journal, until I would find I had as many as a dozen books in progress ? typically five in the bedroom, five in the lounge, and a couple more in the loo. I would have so many books competing for my attention that I could never remember where I was with each one. And there was always another book that looked more exciting than the one I was reading.
January 27th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
one book at a time
recycle the maybes at the charity shop
you can always buy another
January 27th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
” posh tat and highbrow jumble” is perhaps one of the most descriptive phrases I have heard in some time. Two points for that.
I read. I read a LOT. I read ANYTHING. I read EVERYTHING. And I read quickly, so quickly that it rarely takes more than an evening or two to finish something. Consequentally, I have never had more than one book open at a time, for pleasure reading. For research or resource or technical stuff, sure. Then it;s all spread out over the house, the office, the living room, the kitchen, the car…
But for pleasure reading, nah. I read too fast to worry about it.
And honest, for pleasure, fiction’s the thing. Biography is a very close second, with historical stuff right up there as well. I tend toward the sociological rather than political- ‘The Great Brdige’, or ‘Modern Times’ as opposed to ‘Boss Tweed’s machine’ or ‘’The Billy Mitchell Affair’, though both were good reads too.
ah hell, I’m rambling.
January 28th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
No, it’s good to hear other people’s habits.
If I can quote Doctor Leodard Zepplin: “Ramble on.”
January 29th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
Which one was Leodard? I didn’t know he was a doctor!
January 29th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Ah heck, I’ll just let Chewy say it:
http://huuuuuurrnnnnnnnnnnn.blogspot.com/
January 30th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Well put.
December 12th, 2006 at 10:42 am
[…] At any given moment, I am probably reading about seven books at a time. This isn’t a boast, either; some I intend to finish, some I am struggling through, some I am racing through, others I have stopped reading but think I am still reading but will not shelve because that would admit defeat. […]