Watcha Reading?

I love a good book me, so I thought I'd do a little post on what I'm reading now, and whats on my ever-expanding to-read list.



From top to bottom...

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
I literally just started reading this last night, but it sounds like a really interesting story. It's about the intertwining lives of Mrs Dalloway and other characters on one day, which apparently draws towards an inevitable suicide. See? Interesting. It's taken a little getting used to and a little re-reading passages to get into Woolf's writing style. It's writen, so far anyway, as one constant stream of thought. So sentences are interrupted mid way through points etc, but it's actually a nice way of writing.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
I read this book in it's entirety yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's about an island of people, from where the author (Nollop) of the sentence "the quick fox jumps over the lazy dog" was from. And so, they errected a statue of him, along with his sentence, in his honour. Then one day, the letters start falling off, and the islanders interpret this as Nollop's way of telling them to cease using these letters, from beyond his grave. It's written as letters the islanders write to one another and shows a lot of ingenuity in the latter chapters when only a few letters remain! A good read :)

Ulysses by James Joyce
This was a birthday present, but I'm holding off reading it til perhaps the Christmas holidays. I think it's the kind of book one has to devote a lot of time to to get through it.

The Collected Dorothy Parker
Another birthday present, this is pretty much absolutely everything Parker ever wrote including articles, short stories, poems, reviews. I adore it. It's a wonderful book that you just pick up every so often and have a little read of.

The Inheritors by William Golding
I love love love this book. Having studied it in English at school I recently purchased it because I'd love to read it again without having to stop and analyse everything.

The Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies
I've read the first book "The Rebel Angels" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait to get stuck into the other two!




Again, top to bottom:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I originally read this as I thought it was one of those books that you really ought to read at some point in your life. But I adored it. And will most definitely read it again, and probably again and again and again. I would even go as far to say that this is my favourite book. And it's encouraged me to read more Dostoevsky, as well as other Russian authors.

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Another birhday book, I read this on holiday. Ironically reading beautiful, long passages about fire and burning, while sitting in the sun burning myself. It's set in a future where books are banned and firemen are employed to burn them. A fantastic book, I'd say on par with Orwell's 1984.

And all the rest are on my to-read list!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte



If any of you out there are avid readers like myself, you might like to consider joining me over at goodreads, a lovely little website where you can update and keep track of what you've been reading as well as have a look and see what you're friends are reading and what they think.


Peace H xx

4 comments:

  1. Ulysses is...tough. Have you read any Joyce before? I couldn't get through it but I was slightly put off him by IB English so maybe I should try again!

    I'm working my way through the Bronte sisters since I've already done Austen :)

    xx

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  2. Adore Austen! I have the complete works of Jane Austen book and literally read it cover to cover!

    x

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  3. I've got a pile of books from my "In conclusion:September" post and I still haven't got around to reading them, any of them, not one! Shameful I know but I've been so busy and when I start a book I usually can't put it down and get nothing else done :D xx

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  4. I'm exactly the same! That's why I saving a few of the longer and more "difficult" reads until I have some time off - otherwise I'll get nothing done! xx

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