The 2017 reading project has so far proved to be very interesting. Four novels of various sorts, a double autobiography and a travel book, with the current one being a volume on etymology.
There hasn’t been any particular reason any one of these was chosen, apart from perhaps the first week where I was constrained to what was on the Kindle. For the rest, I’ve looked at what is both close at hand and appeals to me and have gone from there. As a working model this approach is not really going to change and there’s no grand scheme of what is going be read. But there are a few general ideas, so I decided to jot down a some notes about books I intend to read in the next few months.
For a start, there’s going to be at least one Pratchett, probably Night Watch which I regard as amongst the very best of the Discworld books. There will very possibly be another Wodehouse book, but if there is then it will be one I’ve never read before. And I think that it’s well nigh time to reread Lord of the Rings, a book I used to read every year.
My family has been enthusiastic about suggesting books to read – well they do have four English degrees between them! Thomas Hardy, Haldor Laxness and Maurice Herzog will all make an appearance.
Then there are books around the house that I’ve bought but have not yet read. So expect Owen Jones, Robert MacFarlane, Saint-Exupery and Stephen Hawking to appear. On top of that there are books that I’ve always intended to reread: Mary Beard, Charles Dickens, Jasper Fforde are being lined up, at a minimum.
What else though? If anyone has suggestions as to what could appear in the next 10 months then I’ll be happy to consider them, though I make no promises! But give me your best shot.
I could suggest many things…. And in fact, I will. But feel free to ignore the whole bally lot.
– The three books I used to read every year, back in my romantic youth, were Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Jane Austen’s Persuasion, and a collection called ‘Plays Pleasant’ by George Bernard Shaw. I recommend them all.
– I’ve recently ‘discovered’ Tom Holt, whose stuff you might enjoy. I am finding it a bit hit and miss, but mostly hit.
– Anything by Bill Bryson is worth reading, and in most cases re-reading.
– The book ‘Fame in the 20th Century’ by Clive James, if you can find a copy, is terrific. Or try his translation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy if you want to impress your literary pals.
– My ‘guilty pleasures’ apart from Wodehouse are Margery Allinghham, John Buchan, and early Le Carre. I say guilty pleasures, because they’re unlikely to appear on a serious literary syllabus.
– If you can get hold of a book of short stories by Henry Lawson (if you’re counting short stories), he’s probably my favourite Australian writer. He is best known as one of the ‘bush poets’ but his short stories are outstanding (much better than the poetry in my view) and sadly neglected.
– Carpe Jugulum and I Shall Wear Midnight are my favourite Pratchetts. I am consider Nanny Ogg to be my fictional role model.
– The Flashman series by G.M Fraser
– Our Man in Havana and Travels with my Aunt — both Graham Greene
– John O’Farrell’s Utterly Impartial History of Britain is good fun.
– And you can never read Three Men in a Boat too many times.
But life is too short to read anything by Thomas Hardy.
Hmmm…. I don’t know if that helped you, John, but I had fun writing it and it has given me an thirst for re-reading a few favourites myself this year.
Happy reading xx