I always hope to get a lot of reading done over the Christmas period, but what with family visits and the like it never seems to happen… I decided not to aim for too much this year, but I’ve ended up spending time with an oddly disparate range of reading material!
To be honest, I mostly try not to buy magazines nowadays, because I find it hard enough to manage the distractions from reading at the best of times. However, a couple did slip into the house recently:
I picked up the London Review of Books whilst collecting one of the Offspring from the railway station for their Christmas visit; I was early and had rather foolishly forgotten to bring a book!! And needing something to keep me company with my coffee, this was the obvious choice. The review of the Gorbachev book alone is excellent reading – I obviously need to buy this more often.
As for The Happy Reader, I’ve been contemplating subscribing for ages, and the fact that this issue had much content on Zamyatin’s “We” tipped the scales. Fascinating stuff.
In complete contrast to magazines, I also had a wrestle with this beast of a book, Richard Clay’s “Iconoclasm in revolutionary Paris: the transformation of signs”:
This book, I have to confess, has been vexing me much of late. I wanted to read it VERY very badly, and it’s quite impossible to get hold of – out of print, the cheapest copies online run to some £800 (!!!) and I can’t justify that… I was getting frustrated searching for a copy (and no, the local library hasn’t got one) until I stumbled on a site which told me which university libraries held it. Fortunately, one of the universities on that list happened to be one where an Offspring works who is able to borrow books from the library…. (I knew I sent my children to university for a good reason). Said offspring borrowed the book and brought it home, and so I have had to cram reading it into a week – which is not easy for a non-academic like me, as it’s a very academic book (one of those where the notes often take up more space on the page than the actual main text). Nevertheless, I get what he’s saying – and the arguments are VERY interesting – and so I’m glad that the Offspring has managed to get it back safely. I admit I was terrified of it going missing and the Offspring concerned receiving a very big bill. Yes, I *will* go to any lengths possible if I want to read a particular book (and I would like to *own* a copy of this one, but that ain’t happening any time soon by the look of things…)
So what’s up next after all that brain-frazzling activity? Well, there are the Christmas books, which I will post on in a couple of days , and I also still have some recently arrived review books – here they are:
The top book is a lovely volume from Notting Hill Editions which I’ll be covering for Shiny New Books in the new year, so look out for that.
Their books are just so pretty…
The other two are from the lovely Alma Books:
I’ve been waiting for the new edition of “The Devils” to come out, as it’s a Dosty I haven’t read – and it’s a chunkster, so I may start 2018 going down the rabbit hole of another big book! The Turgenev was an unexpected bonus, and I’m keen to read this too after looking at the description.
I’ll post about my reading year soon too, when I’ve finished pulling my thoughts together. In the meantime, what Christmas reading have you been up to? 🙂
Dec 28, 2017 @ 07:37:04
I’ve such an on-off relationship with the LRB and TLS (currently on with both). That Gorbachev piece was first-rate. Thanks to this holiday I’m now up to date on my LRB/TLS reading, and have been very absorbed with George Steiner’s Grammars of Creation, a rich, allusive book. It’s good to have the time to follow where Steiner leads.
Dec 28, 2017 @ 10:31:11
I haven’t read the TLS for years but I do think I need to dip into these publications occasionally – and yes, I thought the Gorbachev piece was excellent. It’s nice to be able to read without time and work pressures…
Dec 28, 2017 @ 08:40:12
I am impressed with the lengths you went to, in order to read that book.
I have had a reasonable amount of reading time, I finished Winter by Ali Smith on Christmas Eve, now reading a biggish Persephone book the autobiography of Tirzah Garwood. It’s very good.
Dec 28, 2017 @ 10:30:25
If I want to read a book, I must admit I *will* go to extraordinary lengths…. And sounds like you’ve had some lovely reading time. I’m quite keen on the Garwood book myself!
Dec 28, 2017 @ 11:43:17
I had a year of LRB and it got to me in the end – too hard, the articles too long! I am currently reading a great big history of the Olympics, a book about talent vs practice and two Debbie Macombers today as it’s a bit of a difficult day for me.
Dec 28, 2017 @ 15:21:52
I can understand that – I think reading this regularly would be too much of an undertaking and I tend rather to be drawn towards publications which write about books I think would interest me. Perhaps narrow-minded on my part… Sorry you’re having a difficult day – definitely time for comfort reading then.
Dec 28, 2017 @ 17:31:26
Happy reading for the year ahead! I admire your tenacity in tracking the book down – I don’t think I could go to those lengths.
Dec 29, 2017 @ 16:44:39
Thank you! I have to admit that when I get a bookish obsession, I really DO get a bookish obsession. And I feel no shame in admitting that! :))
Dec 28, 2017 @ 18:10:58
“The Mighty Waltzer” by Howard Jacobson and the absolutely excellent (but not exactly what most people will have by their bedside) “Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++” by Bjarne Stroustrup have been my reading over the last couple of weeks 🙂
Dec 29, 2017 @ 16:44:04
Jacobson I could possibly go with, but the programming would lose me completely….. 😉
Dec 28, 2017 @ 19:32:25
Wow, what a dense and demanding read to wade through; I’m glad you were successful in your quest (with an ally) but sheesh, what a responsibility to have had to work through it after all that!
Although I was happily meandering through Bleak House through the later bit of November and early December and seemingly avoiding all the rushing to finish things in this reading year, then something snapped, and I suddenly slapped a small pile of books together and I’m now fiercely reading through them in order to begin with a fresh stack for 2018. Last year I started my readolutions very late (well into January before I even finished the lingering volumes) and that was not as much fun as beginning with a fresh stack. I should have started baking cookies when I finished Bleak House apparently!
Dec 29, 2017 @ 16:41:32
I don’t usually read to a deadline like this, so it was a bit of a shock to the system…. I haven’t read Bleak House since my 20s but I really do want to revisit it one day. I’m not making plans or piles at the moment really – just getting through what I can then moving on to the next book that appeals or needs to be reviewed!
Dec 28, 2017 @ 21:00:05
Everything looks wonderful Karen! The Happy Reader is an excellent choice, their issues are always full of interesting pieces. ‘The Russian Soul’ sounds so very intriguing – looking forward to your review 🙂 Good luck with ‘The Devils’! I read it this time last year for a Russian Novel class I took for my Master’s – it’s as heavy as it can get, but so interesting and so full of ideas I had never encountered in the Russian fiction I had read until then.
Dec 29, 2017 @ 16:39:43
Dostoevsky is definitely a one-off – such a wonderful author. I’m enjoying The Russian Soul very much; it’s revealing a chatty side of him I haven’t seen before!
Dec 28, 2017 @ 21:55:04
I never seem to get any reading done over Christmas – I’m glad you’re having a wonderfully bookish time though!
Dec 29, 2017 @ 16:38:45
I haven’t got as much reading done as I would have liked – but I *did* have a deadline imposed on me here…. 😉
Dec 28, 2017 @ 22:10:47
It seems these days you have a crush with Ruusian novels good lucck Karen.
I discovared many great novels through your blog and i should thank you alot .
Well am reading a great novel which gives you a lot to think about
Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi published by peirene press
Dec 29, 2017 @ 16:38:17
If I’m honest, I’ve been fairly obsessed with all things Russian and Russian novels since my teens! And thank you for your very kind works. Peirene publish some wonderful books so I’m glad you’re enjoying your current read!
Dec 31, 2017 @ 11:16:38
I tried the LRB and gave up – now on the TLS, plus I’ve subscribed to The Literary Review for years. I’ve subscribed to The Happy Reader since it debuted, it’s a fab publication.
Dec 31, 2017 @ 15:00:35
I enjoyed The Happy Reader very much – read it from cover to cover. I definitely should have subbed before!
Jan 24, 2018 @ 17:38:01
Best of luck with ‘Devils’; as the translator, I really hope you enjoy it. It has rather a slow, discursive opening section, unlike ‘Crime and Punishment’ for example, but it’s such a powerful work. My translation is decidedly different from the Pevear and Volokhonsky ‘Demons’ — also a bit of a change from Bulgakov! Anyway, many thanks for all your wonderful ‘ramblings’ over the years. Roger
Jan 24, 2018 @ 20:46:02
Thanks Roger! And I’m pleased to hear that your translation is different from the P/V… 😉 Very much looking forward to getting stuck into “Devils”!
Apr 01, 2018 @ 14:44:05