Several weeks have raced past since my last post, and it’s not for lack of fantastic reading that I haven’t been posting.
Just life stuff. Busy, busy, busy.
What an off-kilter year this has been; I lost my balance somewhere in there, and haven’t quite centered myself yet. Me and how many others? A lot of us seem to be struggling emotionally and physically this year, sometimes with quietly resigned fortitude, sometimes with various degrees of desperation. It swings back and forth!
No picture of a Christmas tree, because it’s still very much out there somewhere on our hillside, but this post needs something, so here instead is a random snapshot of one of our ever-amusing, much beloved, barn/greenhouse cats, adorned with just a dash of seasonable snow.
I do believe I shall just reboot this whole blog year and start all afresh in January, with <drumroll> another wonderful, challenging, Century of Books project. I did this a few years ago – can it have been in 2014? – doesn’t seem like that long ago – and it was great fun.
I decided to do this in 2017 some months ago, and have been collecting likely prospects and stacking them up in neat piles on a “do not touch” bookshelf, which of course means that my housemates have been wildly pillaging my literary dragon’s trove. Mostly they put things back, though sometimes sans spine sticker with the pertinent year marked on it. It’s all good, because I have a master list. As long as the computer doesn’t crash, I’m smiling. (Okay, I’ll be backing things up tonight, now that I’ve tempted the cyber gods with that teaser.)
In any event, I have a glorious pile of things to read for January and beyond, and as a crucial part of the Century project involves writing a bit about everything one reads, posting should pick up a bit.
I fully intend to get back on here with a post or two before year’s end, but just in case I don’t, here is my heartfelt wish to all of you, friends and fellow readers near and far, for a peaceful and joyous holiday season, and an optimistic start to our coming new year.
Leaves & Pages 
Merry Christmas to you too & good luck with the Century of Books project. I’ve been tempted but I read too randomly to be locked in to a structure. I’d be sure to only want to read books from years I’d already crossed off or years outside the century. Lovely cat photo!
I know what you mean, Lyn, about not wanting to be “locked in” to a reading structure. I rather worried about that with the first Century, but it turned out not to be an issue. Except for a bit right near the end, where I had blank spots in the 1980s and 1990s, and loads of “extras” for the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Finding something I wanted to read for those years was the tough thing – I would think I was all set and then realize I had three titles for, say, 1977, and nothing appealing for 1975 or 1976.
A surprising amount of both random luck and dedicated research went into the completion of the Century. I have a head start on this one, as my “prospects” list was already well started, and I am looking forward to reading things I missed out on the first time round, for lack of access to the book itself, or merely lack of time.
One thing I am not doing (though it would be quite interesting to do) is to read rigidly in order of publication year. I did rather group things last time round, starting off with the earlier years, and I suspect I will do so this year, just because it feels somehow right and comfortable, but there was a lot of skipping around, to keep things a little more about readerly enjoyment versus being too tied in to “the list”. So often the right book just happened to me at random; that part was great fun, picking something up I wanted to read, checking the publication date, and happily finding it fitted in a still-open spot. Double treat!
At the end of the project I had a very good overview of the 20th century history of the English-speaking countries – for most of my books were by British, North American and Australian writers – viewed through the lens of the popular fiction of the time. Utterly fascinating. I would recommend this project whole-heartedly to anyone wavering about it; it was a definite challenge to complete but it felt so rewarding all the way through. (And some people spread it out through 2 years – which might be very sensible if one doesn’t already read well over 100 books per year, which a lot of dedicated readers actually don’t get to.)
And thank you for the mention of the cat photo! This is one of the feline sisters who reside in the working bit of the farm, keeping the rodents under control. They are both sweeties, and are always involved in whatever is going on outside, overseeing the action. They have a heated sleeping box, and free choice cat food to supplement whatever they catch on their own, and they live a rather decent life of total cat freedom, doing whatever they wish – I often rather think they have a more fulfilling life than that of the house cats!
Have you ever read Winifred Peck? She was Penelope Fitzgerald’s aunt and a prolific author. I just read Fitzgerald’s The Knox Brothers about her four brilliant uncles, and my curiosity was piqued about her aunt, whom I think she completely marginalizes for no good reason. Meanwhile, to keep this in the spirit of the thread, happy holidays and new year!
Do you know, I am rather ashamed to say that I haven’t yet read Winifred Peck. Though House-Bound is on my radar, because I was going through the Persephone list very recently with a view to perhaps indulging in a 12-month subscription, and this one one of the titles I starred. Perhaps 2017 will be the year? Thank you ever so much for the nudge!
I’m very tempted to join in with this challenge as presumably I could do some of it at the same time as my personal James Tait Black Memorial Prize challenge.
Merry Christmas to you and best wishes for a good 2017 – when it comes!
How exciting! I can’t wait to see what you’ll be reading! And in the meantime, the happiest of holidays to you! ❤
Beautiful cat!
It’s been a tough year, hasn’t it? It’ll soon be over, and I like the idea of greeting 2017 with A Century of Books. I really loved doing it the first time, and never managed to complete the second one. I’m still toying with another one, but might save it for 2018… though I’ll watch your progression through the century with glee.
Toward world’s end, through the bare
beginnings of winter, they are traveling again.
How many winters have we seen it happen,
watched the same sign come forward as they pass
cities sprung around this route their gold
engraved on the desert, and yet
held our peace, these
being the Wise, come to see at the accustomed hour
nothing changed: roofs, the barn
blazing in darkness, all they wish to see.
From:
Louise Glück, The First Four Books of Poems (1995)
May many a Christmas be white for you
Marijke Stapert-Eggen
Holland
Marijke, I don’t think I replied to this message yet, though I read the poem with great pleasure. Thank you so much for sharing this; you do find the most wonderful things!
I hope you had a lovely Christmas, and I send you warm wishes for a Happy 2017.