Wow, tricky title.
So, how does one go about choosing what to read next? Sometimes it’s an impulsive grab from the shelf, others its a long, drawn out consideration.
This year I made a list of the books I wanted to read in 2013, which I posted several weeks ago. This list was always allowed for deviation, the books were always just guidance, mostly things I have been putting off (such as the last book in the Young Bond series), or books I have owned for a long time, or things I have started and put to one side (mostly non-fiction).
I have made some progress and ticked Isherwood’s The Memorial and Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader off the list. I also made progress on the Narnia series by reading Prince Caspian. I have started Scott’s Journals, but only made it 13 pages in. Something tells me that trying to read this book, which requires a lot of concentration, in bed was not my smartest idea.
When going to choose the book I was going to read next, I picked up a couple and weighed them up, did I want to read a book I’d bought recently, or something I’d been sitting on for some time, did I want to read something off ‘the list’.
No, apparently not. While browsing the disappointingly small Christopher Isherwood section of my bookshelf, I noticed the even considerably smaller E.M Forster section next to it (it consist of two books, one I have read, one I have not.) and decided to look at The Longest Journey. I skimmed the first page and then took it to read in the bath and so, the book was chosen!
Yesterday, I bought a book based mainly on the cover (it reminded me of the design of The Strangers Child by Alan Hollinghurst) and by the top blurb on the book (the synopsis I later realised was inside the front cover) which mentioned ‘privileged Cambridge students’ and ‘echoes of Brideshead’. I fear I am becoming a little predictable. The book in question is The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood. I hope I actually get round to reading it this year. I am actually quite glad that I don’t really record what I bought and when otherwise I would feel terribly guilty about not reading something until years after I bought it.
Better get reading,
Lil
Do you have a goodreads.com account?
Also this site: http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/
I do have a goodreads but use it more as a books I want to buy/books I own catalogue than a book choosing tool. I’ll probably link my goodreads in the next blog post or so.
That website looks pretty good, though may lead to more book buying (which I don’t need to do!)