Bookish news #1

I’m quite conscious that over the past few months I’ve primarily been writing hasty review posts (with the occasional Top Ten Tuesday) and that the gaps between them have been getting longer and longer. This blog started out as a place for me to just chat about books and what interested me generally but as time has gone on I’ve found it easier to just run off a half-baked review post every now and again than I have to put time and effort into writing something decent. Time has been rushing away from me and I’m starting to wonder whether the blue bore has really been getting the attention from me that it deserves. In an effort to address the imbalance I’m thinking about occasionally writing a quick update post like this one every now and again to make myself feel better about neglecting the blog for weeks at a time and really just to inject some much needed life back into the blue bore.

Here’s my first attempt:

1. I’m still plugging away at Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and have been for a few weeks now. I think I’m enjoying it. I seem to spend a lot of time scratching my head and feeling confused but that’s normal I think…isn’t it?

2. I bought a second hand copy of Dr Zhivago with the sneaky intention of using it for both Around The World in 80 Books and for Fiction Fan’s Russian Revolution Challenge. Now I look at it closely it doesn’t seem to be as long as I expected so I’m wondering whether I’ve unwittingly bought an abridged version. It’d be nicer to read the whole thing.

3. My Amazon wishlist expanded to six times its original size when the finalists for the Man Booker International Prize were released last month. I was really pleased to see an Ismail Kadare book on the list as I’ve been going on and on about reading another of his books for a while now but haven’t actually done anything about it. It’s my birthday in June so fingers crossed.

4. Being generally interested in anything at all to do with Sylvia Plath I was intrigued by the news that several letters she wrote to her therapist in the years leading up to her death had been put up for auction this week. The letters apparently make for grim reading but I was fascinated by this particular article on their potential influence on how we understand Plath’s life. It’s worth a read.

5. And lastly, after enjoying Vile Bodies  so much back in January I had to record the BBC’s new adaptation of Decline and Fall. I haven’t had chance to watch it yet and I’ve not seen any reviews anywhere. Has it been any good?; that’s what I would like to know. Opinions appreciated.

I think that should be enough to bring us up to speed for now and hopefully it won’t be such a long time until I have something more substantial to post. I still haven’t reviewed Monsignor Quixote which I read weeks ago so I’ll aim to get that up here soon.