This and That...

This is a blog post about this and that, bits and bobs; more of an update really.

Firstly, The Little Stranger is on its way in the post to me and I am unbelievably excited (I don't think I've anticipated a book this much since the last three Harry Potter books). I pre-ordered it over a month ago online but had to cancel that order since it hadn't been dispatched yet and order through Waterstone's instead, who were offering it at a far cheaper price anyway and where I could also redeem my loyalty points. I am hoping it will arrive my Saturday's post...

Secondly, I managed to finish my book for book group before tonight's meeting. I'll review that over the next few days. I'm looking forward to finding out what we're reading next (we take it in turns to decide).

Thirdly, my library pile is decreasing although I have five books waiting collection (and four to return). One of the books I'll collect over the next few days is The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey, which I am hoping to read before the Orange Prize is announced on June 3rd. The other books I'm picking up are The Group by Mary McCarthy (this one has been on my radar for a while but I watched a Hay Festival interview with Sarah Waters and she said that she's currently re-reading it so I took the recommendation and requested it); The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa; People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks; and The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver (this one I am most excited about). I also renewed The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb so that I have more time to tackle it as its sheer size is somewhat daunting.

Also, my friend and I are tackling some classics that we have always meant to read but never have and next up is Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh for July 1st (even though, ahem, my friend still hasn't finished the previous book, Brighton Rock).

I still have three books (and another still to review) to read for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge : one fairy tale book, which is currently in progress, and two non-fiction books before Midsummer's Night (June 23rd).

I have also began to participate in the Shelfari discussion group Booktivity's monthly challenge to read a book with a specific category -and its derivatives- in the title. This coming month's category is "weather" and I was thinking of reading Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Leaf Storm.

So that will be one new book, ten library books, one book group book (decided tonight); one unread classic; three challenge books; one weather book ... to be read within the next 4-6 weeks, not to mention the books I already have waiting (and wanting) to be read. Seventeen books is manageable in that time limit, isn't it? Deviating from the list and not adding new books, however, is less achievable...

(Image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk)