Long Books: Lost It!

A pile of five books.   All of them long.  Bleak House, Kristin Lavransdatter, The Folks, Theirs Was the Kingdom, and A Moment in the Sun. 

I wonder why I never finish anything. Well, I have finished nine books this month.  Shorter books.  Wandering around the house in pajamas, I start to clean the dining room.  Then I sit down and plan to finish these five books instead.  

THESE BOOKS MUST BE FINISHED IN THE NEXT MONTH, EVEN IF I DON'T FINISH ULYSSES BY BLOOMSDAY.

Ulysses is that other long book I'm reading.


The five books in the pic comprise 1,037 pages + 1,131 + 717 + 798 + 955 pages = 3,921 pages.  I've finished 739 + 492 + 55 + 387 + 143 pages = 1,816 pages.

I can't imagine why I picked so many long books. Usually I alternate a long book with a couple of short books, but I'm carried away by my love of classics and sagas. I mentioned D. H. Lawrence the other day and immediately got out my copy of Women in Love.  

No, no, no!

I'm not the only person with the multiple book bug.  Many bloggers have so many books going that they sound--well--non compos mentis.  


"I read about a third of a lot of books," a librarian admitted to me.


I like to finish books.

Here is the prognosis of my finishing the Five Above in June:

1.  Bleak House is a masterpiece, and I am in the home stretch.  Prognosis:  *****


2.  Kristin Lavransdatter is another favorite.  I finished rereading the first in the stunning trilogy last winter and then stopped halfway through the second. It's just a matter of getting back on the horse.  Prognosis:  *****

3.  The Folks.  I won't attend the Ruth Suckow Society meeting this year, but I might as well read The Folks in case I feel like hitching 300 miles with a strange member to attend the book discussion. (Strange to me, that is.  Last year I sold my spare copy of The Kramer Girls for $45 to a member.  Pretty strange!) Prognosis:  ****


4.  Theirs Was the Kingdom.  Last year I read Delderfield's engrossing novel, God Is an Englishman, the saga of Adam Swann's founding of a wagon-transport business in the 19th century.  This is the sequel.  It's about his family, children growing up, and not quite as good as the first but a good bedtime story.  Prognosis:  **


5.  A Moment in the Sun.  I started reading John Sayles's new historical novel.  It is a swift, easy read, because the filmmaker knows how to shape a story, so don't be intimidated.  It might easily take me through July, though. Prognosis: ****