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Monday, October 20, 2008

The reading week

I can't do it. I cannot read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall because Gilbert Markham is a tosspot. He's spoiled and self-centred and just the thought of picking up the book makes me angry.

I've just got to the bit where he's about to misunderstand an encounter Mrs Graham has with her landlord and I swear ... he's thisclose to throwing his toys out of his cot and kicking his heels on the floor.

It's possibly not the best choice of book at the moment, with a lot of the work stuff I have going on (a lot of which seems to be dealing with sulky men for some reason), so it's just making me angry all over again. My dilemma is that it's one of my classic reads for 2008 _ October's classic, and I've already bailed out on The Old Curiosity Shoppe, The Once and Future King and The Picture of Dorian Grey. If I manage to read Love in the Time of Cholera and Stranger in a Strange Land, I"ll have read eight out of the twelve.

I skipped Dorian Grey at the time, because I was falling behind, so it's possible I'll pick that one up before the end of the year.

But Tenant ... it's just not happening. I"m avoiding it, and feeling guilty and miserable about it and for crying out loud, that's not why I read!!! I certainly don't read in my spare time only to be reminded of work!!!! So. No more Tenant, for now. At least until the work thing settles down, or I get over my very strong aversion to Gilbert Markham.

Unfortunately, this has left me in a quandary, with little else on the go except for The World of Jeeves Omnibus. Which I'm enjoying, but I need a novel. A novel!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, I'm going to do my classics challenge again next year (I'm an optimist); read one classic novel (any genre, doesn't matter) a month. If any of you lovely people who either read my blog on purpose (and I love you, I truly do), or stumble across it by accident (I'm mildly fond of you, but I'll love you if you comment) have any suggestions, let's hear them!

Right. Time for bed.

5 comments:

Joanne ♦ The Book Zombie said...

LMAO! I have no idea about The Tenant Of Wildfell, but I just had to tell you how funny it was to here you call the character a "tosspot" I've never heard that term before, but I couldn't stop laughing :)

You have got to read Stranger in a Strange Land, really it's a slow start but it's a fantastic book.

Maree said...

Heh ... it's fairly common here _ feel free to steal it ;)
I've started Stranger in a Strange Land before, but I"ve never finished it, so that's my goal this time. :)

Bybee said...

There, there now, Maree!

Those Bronte sisters sure knew how to inspire the visceral reaction!

Anonymous said...

Lol, yeah, Iife's too short for books you feel that way about.

How about The Woman in White? It's long but kind of a page-turner. =)

(Also, thank-you for the blog award you gave me a few weeks back! I thought I'd left a comment then but for some reason it didn't show up. Anyway, it made my day back then =) and I will get around to paying it forward, sometime...)

Maree said...

I think I"ll avoid all Brontes next year.
Jennifer _ no worries about the blog award :)
ooh, and thanks for the suggestion! I haven't read it but it's been on to my "mean-to" list for a while. :)