TBR pile « Tales From the Landing Book Shelves

Today is Ireland Reads Day, hence the almost unprecedented phenomenon of three blog posts in one month. I have not marked this date in the reading calendar on The Landing blog in recent years, so I thought I would chip in with a bookish update this year to make up for that lack.

In the interests of sharing reading inspiration, I will give a quick rundown of what is currently awaiting/occupying my attention. Or should I say, what is immediately holding my attention, as to do any more would require extensive auditing of the Landing Book Shelves. The extensive TBR Pile is very extensive indeed. So much for the blog’s core aim of reading my way around the shelves. I am not sure that I have come very far in the twelve years that I have been book blogging! But, on with some book notes …

Having curtailed my book buying in favour of trying to read what I actually have on the shelves is good, but those library loans will tend to keep on creeping in. My library audio book of the moment is The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck (narrated by Jeff Harding). Attentive readers of this blog will know that I usually listen to crime on my bus rides, so this is something of a departure (no pun intended) for me. So far so good, though I have tended to doze off once or twice on the way home while listening. This is I am sure, no reflection on either Steinbeck or Harding, merely that after a day’s work a little bit of tension goes a long way towards keeping me awake. Though it is fair to point out that tension in the narrative is now growing as Ethan Hawley puts aside his previous scruples to improve his financial and social position.

I have several TBR library books at the moment, two of which are advance reading for a short Irish literature course that I am planning to take in April. In addition, and in no particular order are: The Death of Nature by Bill McKibben, The Millstone by Margaret Drabble, At Dusk by Hwang Sok-Yong and The Longest Afternoon: the 400 Men who Decided the Battle of Waterloo by Brendan Simms. As is often the case a moment of serendipity played a large part in the borrowing of these titles. I am a sucker for the trollies of the ‘Just Returned’ items. On the future ‘commute pile’ (I just invented that term) is One Big Damn Puzzler by John Harding (read by Peter Brooke), which is allegedly ‘painfully funny’, so that should surely keep me awake on the trip home. I will let you know.

At this stage of the year, I am still working my way through books I had for Christmas. One of these was Art History without Men by Katy Hessel, which I am dipping into in between novels. I have met some familiar artists, but also some new names to follow up on at my leisure. I may return to this one for a future blog post. Also on the Christmas pile is The Hidden Life of Trees: The Illustrated Edition by Peter Wohlleben. This I have yet to read, although I have browsed the photographs, which are absolutely fabulous.

Well, that is a quick snapshot of reading-in-progress chez The Landing, so I will go off into a quiet corner and carry on reading. I hope you have a pleasant Ireland Reads Day! Do let me know what you have been reading in the comment box below.

It is time to return to my self-imposed Reading Challenge task of tackling the ‘Landing Eight’ selection. After several literary distractions (of which more below) I have decided to tackle The Periodic Table by Primo Levi which I have long intended to read. I have been racking my brains trying to recall where and when I acquired my copy. It is an Everyman Classics hardback edition with an introduction by Neal Ascherson. I am almost sure that I bought this one new (I often put my name and date of purchase or gift on the title page, but not this time) when I was a student in Preston. If I remember correctly, I bought it with the proceeds from winning a student prize. Of course, next week I might have a blinding flash of memory and recall the real circumstances. Anyway, as The Periodic Table has languished patiently on my TBR Pile ever since then, the moment to read it has finally arrived.

It’s the fifth one down

I mentioned the literary distractions that have lured me away from my blogging mission. One such diversion was Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which I found recently on a bedroom shelf. I had completely forgotten that I had ever bought it. It just goes to show how beneficial it can be to clean ones shelves on occasion. The results often amaze me: gems from a foray to a charity shop tucked away for safe keeping. I should make a memo to self about cleaning book cases more often.

There was a Guardian interview with Mantel this week in which the author talks about the ending of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy. I can see that I might need the tissues handy at the end just as I did in the closing pages of A Place of Greater Safety when I was crying over the execution of Camille Desmoulins. You know how the story is going to end, but it is just the way she tells it. Mantel manages to bring historical figures that you may never have thought too much about before, alive and kicking. I have a feeling that I may resort to the tissue box once more when Cromwell’s story draws to a close.

Other digressions have involved reading books (with my bookseller’s hat on) for reviewing on the brilliant writers’ website www.writing.ie . Recent reviews have been on Tana French’s Broken Harbour and Chris Ewan’s Safe House. I have also been trying to keep up with my commitments to Irish News Review with this piece on the sand sculptures on at Dublin castle this month. I have a notebook with ideas jotted down for articles from various activities, so I have no excuse not to keep writing.

At the same time I must push on with Primo Levi; more next time!