- The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White. I had it in the back of my mind that I'd someday like to read The Once and Future King, but when I started reading this little book (and reading about it) I realized that it is more or less the first chapter of that book, about the childhood of King Arthur. It's a children's book, essentially, and while of course it was charming, it was also a little boring (to me). I'm glad I read it -- it's a classic, and I loved the Wart -- but it wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be. I didn't like that it was set in medieval times, for instance, while the real King Arthur, if he existed at all, lived during pre-Anglo-Saxon Britain. Now I don't know if I want to read The Once and Future King. Not right away, anyway. If I read something else by White, it might be The Goshawk.
1a. Christmas book: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. I've read this many times before, and while it isn't exactly a Christmas book, it starts at New Year's and ends a little after Christmas a year later. Plus, it's about BELLS, and bells to me mean Christmas, so to me it's a Christmas book. Such a wonderful book, though perhaps not much of a mystery. Reading it makes me feel all snuggly and warm. - The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien. That's right, I'd never read The Hobbit, nor any other book in The Lord of the Rings universe. I'd tried The Hobbit a few times before, but couldn't get into it. Too twee, all the dwarfs and whatnot. Not my thing. This time, I persisted and read the whole story. And my conclusion: it's not my thing and I have no interest in going further with these books. I plan to die without having read any other part of The Lord of the Rings. I just have no interest in elves and dwarfs and dragons and goblins and trolls. Maybe when I was younger I would have enjoyed this, but I don't know. The book is well-written and entertaining. Just not my thing.
2a. Christmas book: Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt. Again, not most people's idea of a Christmas book, but it takes place almost entirely during winter (a very cold, snowy Maine winter) and partly during Christmas. This is a YA novel about a middle-school-aged foster kid who is already a father and wants to find his baby daughter, Jupiter. I got it from the library with the idea of reading it to the twins. I'm glad I didn't. I would have been sobbing and they would have been confused. It's a really good book, but so desperately sad. - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Yet another book that I've put off reading for a long time. I tried once or twice and gave up, but it's actually a pretty easy read. I can see how this would be popular with boys, but it wasn't my thing. Ender is a young boy (six when the book begins) who's chosen to train to be a commander in the war against aliens. So much of the book is all about how he learns to do war, and that is just not interesting to me. But the ending (which I won't give away) was interesting. The last chapter and a half or so woke me up and made me go wow. It reminded me of a (completely different) book I read this fall called North Woods by Daniel Mason -- which annoyed me and bored me right up until the last chapter, which COMPLETELY blew me away. Didn't quite save the book, but almost. The last chapter and a half or so of Ender's Game was like that. Very interesting how a good ending can save (or almost save) a book.
3a. Christmas book: Cold Earth by Sarah Moss. Maybe I should call these winter books rather than Christmas books, because this one has NOTHING to do with Christmas. But it's set almost entirely in Greenland, so it's cold and dark and wow, what a great book. Really enjoyed this one. Spooky, evocative, and all the characters are academics, mostly working on their dissertations. I think I've just read one book by Sarah Moss before this one, but now I want to read more of her stuff. Maybe she'll be one of my authors next year. - Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany. Tried, but failed utterly. It's a long book, 800 pages, and maybe that wasn't a good choice for Christmas. No, scratch that, it was a TERRIBLE choice for Christmas. I read about 10 pages and gave up. It looks interesting, and I think I might have liked it more than the three other books I read from this location, but not this year.
And that's it! Not a great reading month, but it's fine. I should note that I'm keeping all these books, even though I didn't love them, because they're all classics and you never know when a classic will come in handy.
No picture of where next month's books are coming from because next month is January, a new year, and a new challenge. I checked Books and Chocolate, but there doesn't seem to be a new Classics Challenge coming in 2024 (maybe 2025?), so I had to come up with a new challenge for myself.
What I have decided to do in 2024 is to focus on a different author each month, preferably one who I have read little or nothing of. I want to challenge myself to read authors I've heard of or read reviews of for years but for whatever reason haven't read. I'm not going to give a list of the 12 authors here, because I want to give myself the freedom to change my mind. I already have more than 12 authors in mind, so I don't know which ones I'll actually read. One thing I might do is alternate female and male authors, month by month.
Other reading plans: I'm going to read ONE book per month from each of the locations where I found books this past year, which means that in January I will read ONE book from the piles by my bed. I'm going to continue with my Presidential biography project, so this year I'll try to read bios of Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge -- and maybe Herbert Hoover, we'll see. And of course I'll read the books for the book group.
And whatever else I decide I want to read...
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