Thursday 19 November 2009

5 {unread books} on Friday



{the unread pile}

Having a new baby saps away your time and energy. I knew this from the last new baby that I had, although the first didn't seem to take away too much time... maybe that's the difference between the first and the fourth?! But it means that I don't get to read many books. And sometimes it can take almost a month before I finish a magazine (just finishing in time for the new month's edition to arrive in my mailbox)

But these books have been unread on my shelf for up to three years. I know, that's terrible! And slack! And I have no excuse for it, or maybe I do, let's see what I can waffle when I tell you the story of each book. Starting at the top...

Wicked by Gregory Maguire - unless we win lottery and travel to the States, I'm not going to get to see the stage musical. A friend told me on Saturday that we don't have the staging capabilities here, so we get bypassed... I bought this book when I was about 36wks pregnant, so about 2wks before the little boy joined our menagerie, oops, family (you know that cool cross out the word thing you guys on typepad can do, do you know if you can do it on blogger?). I bought it because of the green pages. And in 11wks I'm proud to say I have read 160 pages... of a 519 page book... it's also sitting on my bedside table, not on the bookshelf, so I don't think it counts as an unread book, do you?!

Zorro by Isabel Allende - I've read a couple of her books, most notably "The House of Spirits", which we read for bookclub back in 2003. Speaking of bookclub, that's where I got this book - we meet once a month in a coffee shop at the local shopping centre, but Christmas time is insane, so we meet at a restaurant for lunch in December, and we have a Secret Santa book swap. We don't ever let on who gave which book (although last year I was so excited about making my gingerbread men tags that I let it slip). I think this was my book 2 years ago, or maybe it was last year... I'm still claiming pregnant brain, although it grows into baby brain, and my mother tells me it never really goes away!

The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak - this looks like such a great book! And like "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruis Zafon, I liked the idea of someone's life being affected by a book they read... this is the book that has been on the shelf, unread, the longest. I bought it when Steve and I first got together, all my books were packed away from moving, and I desperately needed to read something, so we went out and bought about six books... this isn't the only unread one, there's another packed in a box...

The Persimmon Tree by Bryce Courtinay - Who HASN'T read "The Power of One"? In fact, hands up if you haven't read it at least TWICE? Have you read "April Fool's Day"? That is my most favouritest Bryce Courtinay book EVER, I think I've read it six or seven times. The Persimmon Tree is not the only Courtinay book I haven't read, I also haven't read "The Potato Factory"... We're co-sleepers, or rather, I am, and Steve is dragged along cause he wants to share a bed with me... that means the little boy, and some nights the little girl, are in bed with us. This book is not conducive to bed time reading. I would feel terrible if I dropped this book on either head. I think I'll have to explain that to Steve when I give him this Christmas' list of books to buy.

A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffery Archer - until about a year ago I had never read any of Jeffery Archer's books (is he a lord still, even after his stint in jail?), when I picked up "Cat O'Nine Tails", a book of short stories. I like short stories for a change of pace, and have read some really good collections over the years (did you know Kim Edwards, who wrote "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" wrote a book of short stories called "The Secrets of a Fire King" - I think it was the last book that I actually finished!) Back to the book... I started reading it (careful of the dropping-on-the-head dilemma) and skipped to the last few pages at the end... because I didn't like the main character... can't remember what it was about him, but I didn't like him, and that's enough reason to not read a book sometimes.

So, have you read any of these books? Can you convince me to read them?

{Okay, I know it's not Friday - I wanted this post to auto-publish on Friday morning, so I didn't have to sit here (I spent an hour writing this post), but it seems the "post options" didn't like me, and it posted... anyone got any clue how to fix that, I've got a couple of blog hops coming up, and don't relish sitting up until all hours to post!}
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6 comments

  1. I loved Wicked! But I know several people who didn't. I don't usually read long books, but this one really hooked me.
    I found The Book Thief too sad to finish, but everyone else in my book group loved it.
    I started Zorro, but couldn't really get into it enough to finish it. Rent the Antonio Banderas/Catherine Zeta Jones movies instead - what could be wrong with a movie with two of the most beautiful people in the world?
    Rinda

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  2. HI cate
    just wanted to pop in and say hi... im sheree from sydney and have come over here from shimelle's forum... seems we are doing the blog hop together this weekend and im going to be linking to your blog....
    love your blog and love your blog name...
    chat soon
    sheree

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  3. Wicked is great! And after you're done reading it, you should go see the play. =)

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  4. Sorry, can't offer any help on the autopost thing. I think it's great you're even thinking of reading those..I could only manage magazines when my kids were really little.

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  5. I've read Wicked and a couple others by the author. They are good reads but they did take me awhile to get through.

    I haven't read the others though

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  6. First time visitor from Shimelle's class...love your blog! I've attempted to read "Wicked" about 8 times, but never seem to get past about page 12. I finally gave up. Maybe I should try one more time? :)

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