Five a day

     With the book pile on the bedside table (and the one on the table beside the bedside table) reaching teetering proportions, I feel the need to have even more books than usual on the go. So I've been flitting from one to another, enjoying a chapter or so at a time, which must be the literary equivalent of having one's cake and eating it.

     From the bottom up: The Shuttle, Frances Hodgson Burnett's warp and weft of turn of the century Anglo-American marriages, has got going after a lengthy scene-setting. A strong female lead and - potentially - a choice of equally attractive male characters, plus villain, keeps me firmly woven into this excellent material [groan, if you will].

     Mary Lawson's Crow Lake, most kindly sent all the way from Canada by Peg, is shaping up well. "The Pye nightmare was destined to become entangled with the Morrison dream" - who wouldn't wish to read on?  

     Adele Geras's novel centred on a grand wedding has me gripped already. Made In Heaven looks beyond the confetti and the favours, and the protagonists' resolution of their various compelling dilemmas will be more than just a piece of cake.   

     Having enjoyed The Summer Book, I'm reading A Winter Book: Selected Stories by Tove Jansson in tandem with Simon; that's if he can squeeze it in beside his Cornish pasties and cream teas (lucky fellow!).    

     And lastly, a biography of a great food writer: Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves of M.F.K. Fisher. Her omnibus, The Art of Eating, is one of the best books about food I've ever read. "She wrote", says Joan Reardon in her biography, "with every intention to seduce" and "made domestic life so sensual and intimate". She was "the Dorothy Parker of the kitchen and the Katherine Hepburn of culinary arts and letters".

     Much as I'd love to settle down with all the above and indulge myself this morning, I have to go to a meeting instead, and no I can't sneak a book or two into my briefcase and read under the desk!

    

Comments

[Peg]

So many good books, so little time! Crow Lake seems to be in good company. Meetings - darn them!

[Bluestalking Reader]

I feel your pain!! I have tottering piles of TBRs throughout the house, though my current pile of "actively reading" isn't as tall as it was once upon a time. Life's so hectic right now I'm having a hard time fitting in reading, but I try to get at least a little in every day. It's frustrating not having as much uninterrupted time as I used to, but I'm hoping summer vacation will allow me at least a few quiet hours... Crossing fingers.

[tara]

What a wonderful pile of books to be dipping in and out of. I just cannot have any more than 2, maybe 3, going at a time. I am intrigued by the Fisher biography as I have also enjoyed her writing.

[Nancy]

Love MFKF and read a different bio. of her recently. It's very unusual but I have never had so many books going at one time. Several lend themselves to dipping into and out of, three that cover Virginia Woolf's landscape and London walks, plus one about editing her (diaries, etc.) Just finished in time to return to the library: Cruciverbalism: A Crossword Fanatic's Guide to Life in the Grid. I can't believe that I actually bought four new books last week(!) - have finished one and dipped into two others. Our house is already sagging from the weight of all the books already here (most are TBR).

[Danielle]

I always have a pile of books on my nightstand as well! It's hard to resist when there are so many good stories. I am also reading The Shuttle, but I have an old copy from the library (I just ordered from Persephone, but three different books). I am enjoying it immensely!

[Simon]

Well, Karen, I managed A Winter Book - how about you?!