In the Meantime
I actually haven't been reading too much in the last couple of months. I did listen to the audio of my favorite books of all times; The His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. The third book, The Amber Spyglass is among the top five books I have ever read. The audio version was very well done. It was narrated by Philip Pullman and read by a full cast.
I also just finished the unabridged audio of How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. It was very interesting, if perhaps a bit overstated.
Other than that, the reading department has been very disappointing. For a while, I was trying to read Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. We saw the musical a few months ago, and it was fantastic. I wanted to read the book to get a fuller picture of the story, but I just can't get into it. So, I have put it aside.
Now, I am trying very hard to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It is good, but I haven't had any concentrated time in which to really sit down with it. John Paul loved the book, and doesn't want me to listen to the unabridged audio but to read the story myself so as to have a pure experience with the story. That's all well and good, but I have basically two hours a day in which to listen to books but only about 15 minutes a day, during lunch, in which to read a book. So, out of loyalty to my husband, I am reading Jonathan Strange 15 minutes and 5 pages a day. If you are unfamiliar, the book is 800!! pages long, so this is probably the only book I will be reading for the next eight months or so.
However, I have checked out a slew of audio books. I put a bunch on reserve as they came to my attention, and they all became available at the same time. I haven't quite decided what to do about that. Included among these are Villette by Charlotte Bronte, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C Davis, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. They are all unabridged, so it makes a might mountain of minutes.
I also just finished the unabridged audio of How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill. It was very interesting, if perhaps a bit overstated.
Other than that, the reading department has been very disappointing. For a while, I was trying to read Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. We saw the musical a few months ago, and it was fantastic. I wanted to read the book to get a fuller picture of the story, but I just can't get into it. So, I have put it aside.
Now, I am trying very hard to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It is good, but I haven't had any concentrated time in which to really sit down with it. John Paul loved the book, and doesn't want me to listen to the unabridged audio but to read the story myself so as to have a pure experience with the story. That's all well and good, but I have basically two hours a day in which to listen to books but only about 15 minutes a day, during lunch, in which to read a book. So, out of loyalty to my husband, I am reading Jonathan Strange 15 minutes and 5 pages a day. If you are unfamiliar, the book is 800!! pages long, so this is probably the only book I will be reading for the next eight months or so.
However, I have checked out a slew of audio books. I put a bunch on reserve as they came to my attention, and they all became available at the same time. I haven't quite decided what to do about that. Included among these are Villette by Charlotte Bronte, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C Davis, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. They are all unabridged, so it makes a might mountain of minutes.
posted by claire at 2/07/2006 11:34:00 AM
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