Tuesday, February 28, 2017

What's On Your Nightstand (February)


The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read.
Holy Bible. 21st Century King James Version (KJ21) Edited by William D. Prindle. 1888 pages. [Source: Bought]

This is my second Bible to tackle in 2017. I finished the New English Bible in January. I've read most of the Old Testament in this one. (I lack 2 Kings, Psalms, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Hosea, I believe). I've got most of the New Testament still ahead of me. I hope to finish this Bible this month.


The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. 1990. 787 pages. [Source: Library]

This chunkster is set in Victorian England. I took a break most of February. But I'm back in this one now. I hope to finish it this month. It really is quite good, if one can forgive the monstrously long chapters.

The Idiot. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 1868. 667 pages. [Source: Library]

I read two Dostoyevsky books in February. The Adolescent and Best Short Stories. In March, I hope to finish another. I'm over fifty pages into it. So I've got a bit of a head start.

Caught in the Revolution. Helen Rappaport. 2017. 464 pages. [Source: Review copy]

This one is good--intense. I'm about halfway through this one.

City of God. Augustine. 1097 pages. [Source: Bought]

I started this one. I'm not sure how many months I'll be reading it. I've read the first five books of it, I think. But there are so many "books" still to go. Perhaps for readers at the time, Augustine stayed on task and was relevant. But I'm finding the "foundation" for his book to be on the boring side.

Two books that I haven't started yet...but plan on starting in March...


Confidence. Henry James. 1879. 224 pages. [Source: Bought]

I'm reading Henry James--for the first time--in chronological order. I started this project in January. This is the fifth book he wrote.

Three Clerks. Anthony Trollope. 1858. 648 pages. [Source: Bought]

I'm also reading Anthony Trollope in chronological order. Trollope has been a favorite of mine for a few years now. I haven't read all of his books. But this project of mine will include a few rereads. The Three Clerks will be new to me. And it sounds delightful. 
It is impossible that for the reader any character in fiction should live which has not been alive to its creator; so is it with Trollope, who, speaking of his characters, says, ‘I have wandered alone among the rooks and woods, crying at their grief, laughing at their absurdities, and thoroughly enjoying their joy. I have been impregnated with my own creations till it has been my only excitement to sit with the pen in my hand, and drive my team before me at as quick a pace as I could make them travel.’

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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