Wednesday Wayside Dawdling
What I've Just Finished Reading
The Girl in Blue by P. G. Wodehouse. It's kind of an odd Wodehouse, a very late book, if the publisher's date is correct -- 1970! I didn't think to check until there was a stray reference to the moon landing; other than that and one or two other details, you'd never guess it hadn't been written in the Thirties. Maybe knowing the publication date made it feel more faded than it would have otherwise, but there's no way to tell now. It's mild and pleasant but not hilarious.
What I'm Reading Now
I haven't made much progress on Titus Groan or The Group; I've been in kind of a procrastinatory stew over the past couple of weeks and can't account very well for my whereabouts or activities. But I'm still enjoying them both a lot.
Also reading: Some Words of Jane Austen, which is exactly the sort of "literary criticism" I like to read. It's just this guy who's really into Jane Austen, going on a tear about the importance of various words like "sensibility" and "amiable," plus lots of quotes from the juvenilia, which invariably make me laugh.
What I Plan to Read Next
Probably How Far Can You Go? by David Lodge, whenever I finish Titus Groan. It's not next on the 99 Novels chronology, but it is in my house. It's also getting to be about time to read the next C. P. Snow book, The Light and the Dark, but I will have to get that one from the library.
The Girl in Blue by P. G. Wodehouse. It's kind of an odd Wodehouse, a very late book, if the publisher's date is correct -- 1970! I didn't think to check until there was a stray reference to the moon landing; other than that and one or two other details, you'd never guess it hadn't been written in the Thirties. Maybe knowing the publication date made it feel more faded than it would have otherwise, but there's no way to tell now. It's mild and pleasant but not hilarious.
What I'm Reading Now
I haven't made much progress on Titus Groan or The Group; I've been in kind of a procrastinatory stew over the past couple of weeks and can't account very well for my whereabouts or activities. But I'm still enjoying them both a lot.
Also reading: Some Words of Jane Austen, which is exactly the sort of "literary criticism" I like to read. It's just this guy who's really into Jane Austen, going on a tear about the importance of various words like "sensibility" and "amiable," plus lots of quotes from the juvenilia, which invariably make me laugh.
What I Plan to Read Next
Probably How Far Can You Go? by David Lodge, whenever I finish Titus Groan. It's not next on the 99 Novels chronology, but it is in my house. It's also getting to be about time to read the next C. P. Snow book, The Light and the Dark, but I will have to get that one from the library.