Last weekend I made the decision to give up on The Hourglass Factory. I'd been reading it for two weeks and still not made it to the half way point. It's hard to say what I disliked about it, in fact I'm not even sure if I did dislike it or if it was more a failure to connect with the characters or story. I wonder if part of it is because I have studied the suffrage movement in such detail that reading it in a novel and plowing through a couple of chapters which give a really dumbed down history is actually quite irritating. I'd love to know if anyone else has the same reaction when reading about subjects in fiction that you know a lot about it?
This week I've been focusing on War and Peace as I can't seem to keep up with the schedule for the readalong. I think it needs more than a couple of chapters before I fall asleep so I've been toying with the idea of downloading it on my kindle and going for a two-pronged approach.
Whilst I've been considering the pros and cons of reading War and Peace in psychical and ebook format (who knew it could be such a tricky decision?!), I've also been reading A Brief History of Diaries by Alexandra Johnson that I picked up in Oxford. It's a really fascinating read and one I'd recommend for anyone who has ever kept a diary.
I've been reading quite widely around the internet this week (thank you, sneaky downtime at work) and this article from The Millions on cover art reimagined certainly perked up a rubbish afternoon. This infographic detailing the opposing habits of famous writers made that same afternoon even better again.
An article and an interview on the Guardian caught my eye this week, both about Nazism/WW2. Judith Kerr was interviewed and her novel When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit was probably one of the first introductions I had as a kid to the war. Following on from that, Richard J Evans asks why we are obsessed with the Nazis.
Although I didn't like Alys, Always and I don't feel any urge to read Her, this article by Harriet Lane is fascinating and thought-provoking.
Finally, as Lent is upon us again I could hardly resist this reading list for lent from The Millions. I'm not planning on making my way through the list, but I'm looking forward to popping by every few days and seeing what's in store.
What are you currently reading?
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I've had a hard time committing to a book lately. I ditched All the Light We Cannot See because it was taking forever, and that's typically a sign that I need to move on to something else. You're a champ for digging into War and Peace. I tried a while back with no luck.
ReplyDeleteAt least if you try the Kindle version, you can just shove it in your handbag? I tried doing that with my paperback copy and it literally took up the ENTIRE BAG, so I've been restricted to reading it at home. I do like being able to flick forward and see how much of each chapter is left though (which usually isn't a lot - yay for short chapters!).
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