The Content Reader

This is the first book I finished in 2016. It is a classic and I read it for the Brontë Reading Group. This is a wonderful group of people, totally dedicated to the Brontës and 19th century English literature. The discussions are always lively, but never so lively as when we disagree on a book. Some people loved it and some did not. I belong to the latter category. I love Thomas Hardy and I visited Dorchester last year. He  grew up there and stay there most of his life, except for some years in London. It is a lovely place and he has managed to introduce it, as a fictional area, in almost all of his books. Jude the Obscure is the last book he wrote. Actually, the critics were so harsh that he decided to write no more books. Instead he continued with his poetry and for this we have to be greatful. He managed to write himself into being one of the best English poets of all times. My favourite books by him are The Mayor of Casterbridge and Far From the Madding Crowd.  I did not ...

If you have looked at my reading for January you will discover that there are no books on the list so far! Having read 16 books in December it does stress me a little bit. In moments like this I go for ’ketchup reading’. You know the ketchup glass bottles. You can’t squees them so you have to hit the bottom to get the ketchup out. You hit and hit and nothing comes. And…oops! There it comes all at once! That is why I call my present state for ketchup reading. I am reading, not only one book at the time (as usual), both several. I guess that mean that all of a sudden I will have finished not one book but several. Let’s see what I am reading for the moment. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (for Brontë Reading Group and we meet on Monday so have to finish soon) Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut (for another reading group who meet on Wednesday, but I will probably not be able to finish it so might not go) The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco (Eco is not an easy read and I can only read sm...