‘Planning’ is not a word I often use in conjunction with my reading, as up till now I’ve tended to read whatever my mood indicated or my fancy dictated. Obviously if I was reading through a series in order (complete works of Virginia Woolf/Martin Beck crime novels series etc) then my reading would be a little more defined. However, since I started dropping in on the blogging world, joining up with a variety of reading challenges, I have had to structure things a little more!
So this is the plan so far for July!
Firstly, Ali at HeavenAli and Liz at Adventures in full-time self-employment have come up with A Month of Re-reading in July, a wonderful idea to allow us to re-read much loved volumes without feeling guilty about the tottering tbr pile! There are lots of books I would love to go back to but am also a little scared about revisiting – especially if I felt strongly about them in the past but am unsure about how I’ll feel about them all these years on. However, these are the books I have chosen:
To give a little run-down:
Josephine Tey – The Franchise Affair
I have a great love of classic, Golden Age crime novels (Christie, Sayers, Allingham, Crispin etc) and read all the Josephine Teys many years ago. They got lost in various moves so I was delighted to pick up a lovely set via The Book People. The Franchise Affair is, I think, considered by many her best and I figured you can’t go wrong with a good mystery!
Albert Camus – The Outsider
Camus is another writer I first read in my twenties and needs very little introduction. I’ve read The Outsider a couple of times and each time have gained different impressions from it – so it will be interesting to find out what this reading brings.
Colette – Ripening Seed
I had a major re-read of Colette’s non-fiction earlier this year, plus read new biographies and non-fiction volumes which I hadn’t been able to get hold of in the past – but I didn’t get round to any of her fictions. This is a lovely little Penguin which has been calling to me for a while and so I think it’s time for a re-visit. I might be able to get away with fitting in with Bookbath’s Paris in July read-along too – although it’s not set in that fair city, Colette was a very Parisian writer!
Rosamond Lehmann – Dusty Answer
The lovely Miss Darcy is hosting a Rosamond Lehmann Reading Week during 23rd-29th July which I’m looking forward to joining in with – particularly as several RL books have been sitting in my tbr for 20 years (yes, really!) The only one of her volumes I have actually read is Dusty Answer so I shall re-read as part of the challenge.
Italo Calvino – If On a winter’s night a traveller
Where to start with Calvino? The late, great Italian writer, feted in his own country and the rest of Europe and who was one of my major reading obsessions in the eighties. It’s a long long time since I’ve read any of his work and I’m a little scared to approach this novel, because it was the first of his I read. It’s regarded as his masterpiece and I loved it at the time, and I’m just a little worried that it won’t have the same effect on me now. But I think I will take my courage in my hands and re-read!
I think I am going to be balancing my re-reading with some new volumes as well, which will allow for the fact that I often read according to whim or mood. The planned new reads for July are:
Elizabeth Taylor – Angel
Goes without saying, really, as part of the Cententary read-along. I’m rather looking forward to this one as it’s supposed to be unlike her others.
Elizabeth Taylor – In a Summer Season
This is the August ET book but as I am guest hosting I think I need to get a handle on it in advance so that I can say something sensible in my posts!
Virginia Woolf – The Platform of Time
I started this a little while ago but have had several literary distractions so I’m determined to finish this during July. It’s a lovely Hesperus volume of memoirs by VW which should be good reading.
I’m not quite sure which of these I shall tackle first – it will rather depend on where the mood takes me!
Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings 
Jul 01, 2012 @ 10:44:05
I must say I am intrigued by your re-reads – I have never read Josephine Tey – but now want to! I have read Albert Camus or Collette – I am obviously missing something – so are these things I should at least be adding to my wishlists?
Jul 01, 2012 @ 11:22:15
I’d highly recommend Josephine Tey – she’s considered Golden Age crime novel I think, but I just love her books. The Franchise Affair and Brat Farrar are probably her best known books as they’ve both been dramatised but I actually love The Daughter of Time very much – it features Insp Grant, her semi-regular detective, laid up in hospital doing some historical detecting. I won’t say any more for fear of giving away the plot, but if you are interested there’s a bargain set of her books at the Book People!
As for Camus and Colette, I read them both in my twenties and have revisited them both periodically since. Colette is probably best known for Gigi and Cheri which are good places to start, although her collected short stories are rather wonderful too. I actually have probably read her non-fiction more than her fiction over the years – her pieces written when she was living in Paris during the occupation are excellent. As for Camus, probably The Plague is my favourite so I can see myself ending up re-reading that too!
Jul 01, 2012 @ 10:46:09
What a lovely selection – I look forward to hearing what you think when revisiting all of those. I read The Outsider years ago, in French and English (for my studies, I hasten to add!) but haven’t visited it since. Have fun and glad we’ve inspired to you to do some re-reading!
Jul 01, 2012 @ 11:24:56
Thanks – I’m hoping to post something about each of my re-reads. I’m actually quite excited – it’s nice to have an excuse to go back to some old favourites! I have re-read the Outsider but not a while – and I may end up with The Plague too!