What's open on the table right now, what's waiting, and what I gave up on. Updated whenever it changes, which is more often than the front page.
Open now
- Mornings
- Hocus Pocus, by Kurt Vonnegut — a prison break narrated by a man who can't stop telling you how he got there. Dry, sideways, very Vonnegut.
- Evenings
- The Lurking Fear, by H.P. Lovecraft — short enough for one sitting, which is exactly how much dread I can take before bed.
- Slowly
- Ulysses, by James Joyce — second attempt. Eighteen hours of one Dublin day, taken about a paragraph at a time.
Next up
In rough order, subject to entirely arbitrary revision: Hyperion, because everyone insists the frame story is worth the setup; Cloud Atlas, for the structure as much as the content; and The Little Country, a Charles de Lint I somehow missed the first time round.
The abandoned pile
This paper does not rate what it hasn't finished. It does keep the list, with the page and the reason, because knowing why someone stopped is usually more useful than a low score.
Book Title
Three viewpoint characters and I could not tell two of them apart by page ninety. Possibly my fault. Not going back.
Book Title
Good prose, and the plot arrived too late for me. I'd try this author again with something shorter.
Book Title
Wrong book, wrong month. Shelved rather than abandoned — I expect to come back to this one in winter.
Notices & wants
Wanted: a hardback of the first volume that matches the rest of the set. The book club edition is a different height and it bothers me more than it should.
Offered: recommendations, freely and at length, whether or not you asked. Write to Prakhar Gautam.