Time for a little Summer Reading Challenge retrospective since, technically, yesterday was the last day of reading. Did I accomplish my goal of 25 books from my TBR pile? I did not. In fact I only managed a paltry 6 books from my list (although on my count I did manage 24 in total across the three months, which isn’t bad). As per usual I got distracted with review books and library books and books-that-were-on-my-shelf-and-looked-tempting. What can I say in my defence? I suppose that those were 6 particular books that I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise, plus they were gems all. Still. Am hopeless.
But I do love a challenge and this time it’s Carl.V of the delightfully named Stainless Steel Droppings who has sounded the charge. A few days ago he suggested that we “pick out any 5 books that you want to read that you think meet the very open, broad criteria of being scary, eerie, moody, dripping with atmosphere, gothic, unsettling, etc. and vow to read them before October 31st.” He’s called this the R.I.P (Readers Imbibing Peril) Autumn Challenge. Good name. Good idea. The Edward Gorey sidebar button alone is worth my effort. And I need to read more spooky things...
So without further ado the Summer Reading Challenge comes down and a new list is born. And, huzzah!, I actually think it’s possible I might complete this one: five books in two months can’t be that hard. Right?
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill – Because I’ve just started reading Susan Hill’s great blog and because this slim book has been “haunting” me for years. I see it all the time in bookshops and ponder it and then put it down. Time to make it mine methinks.
Dracula by Bram Stoker – No, I haven’t read Dracula. Yes, it is a travesty. I’ve seen lots of poor film adaptations though (I have vague memories of one with Keanu Reeves…could that be?), as well as the pretty lame Buffy episode (Season 5, Ep 1 I believe) in which Dracula is a Renaissance Man with Byronic tresses. Anyway, it’s about time.
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson – It’s the apocalypse, with vampires. What’s not to 
love? Also it’s a title from the SF Masterworks catalogue, a series of genre classics that I am trying to read bit by bit. Every little helps.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley – Haven’t read this one either, although, again, I’ve seen the film adaptations. Kenneth Brannagh and Helena Bonham Carter was probably the best, while the “monster” from Van Helsing was enough to make me cry with shame (in fact everything about that film made me wince…).
Affinity by Sarah Waters – The only Sarah Water’s novel I haven’t read. I’ve been saving it up for something special and it may as well be the R.I.P Challenge. ;-)
Let the spookiness begin…
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In other reading news: I absolutely knew it was a Bad Idea to pick up Ellen Kushner’s new novel The Privilege of the Sword during the final weeks of thesis writing. (You may already know how I love her Swordspoint.) But I couldn’t help myself. I started it this morning over breakfast and now I’m up to page 276. I read through all of my spare minutes today as well as my working ones, only fitting in a paltry 3 hours with my dreaded final draft. The good news is that it is the best kind of procrastination: intelligent fantasy at it’s most fluent, funny, moving and thematically invigorating. My medieval Anglo-Jewish women and their strategies of economic agency will just have to wait until I’m done with the swashbuckling.
~~Victoria~~