time for reading

In less than eight hours I will be leaving for vacation–at the beach–and I am very excited. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a real vacation; I am very happy to leave the stresses of work behind for a week. Of course vacation introduces new stresses of its own. The travel. The logistics. Deciding which books to take.

It’s been a real challenge to winnow down my book list. I knew that Pride and Prejudice was a given. But after that, well there’s really just so many choices and so little time. I did stop at the library this week to return some books, and walked away with four new ones, so those are all going. For the Cozy Mystery Challenge I picked up Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea (hmm–appropriate) and The Curse of the Pharaohs. While searching the mystery aisle for The Curse…, I happened across a mystery titled Special Topics in Calamity Physics, about which I know nothing, but which sounds peculiar enough that I had to grab it. I don’t yet know if it will qualify for the Cozy Mystery Challenge, but I’m hoping it’s as quirky and enjoyable as the title suggests. Finally, I picked up an early Brad Meltzer, Dead Even. I’ve been hankering to read one of his books lately, and this is one I haven’t yet read.

Of course, then there were the books on the home shelves. Should I pick up a book from the “great books” lists? Something more modern? Maybe I should just leave off at five. But I really want to read Ficciones. And Reading Lolita in Tehran. Or The Shadow of the Wind. I finally settled on The Italian, which I’ve been “reading” for months, by which I mean I’ve placed a bookmark inside it, and Atonement, which has been on my shelf longer than any of the above, except Reading Lolita in Tehran.

Will I actually have time to read all of these? Probably not. But I wouldn’t want to run out. That would be tragic.

Cozy Mystery Challenge, Book 1

I only just started the book Sunday and I finished Tuesday evening—without even touching it Monday. I think this is actually one of the primary attractions of Cozy Mysteries for me—I don’t think I’ve read one yet that hasn’t been a quick read.

Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged (Carrie Bebris) proved not only quick, but enjoyable, with not a few occurrences of wit in the banter between the two leading characters, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. The story begins with the wedding celebrations of two of Jane Austen’s best known pairs: Miss Jane Bennett and Mr. Bingley and Miss Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. Their celebratory day is somewhat marred by the announcement of Miss Caroline Bingley’s recent engagement to a Mr. Frederick Parrish. One event leads to another, and soon the Darcys find themselves caught up in a mystery straight from a Gothic Romance, threatening the welfare of Miss Bingley, her brother and sister-in-law, and perhaps the Darcys themselves.

Although I appreciated the wit of much of the story, and Bebris’ ability to maintain Austen’s characterizations of the Darcys and Bingleys, I find in the end that I am unable to reconcile myself to the combination of the genteel world of Jane Austen and the genre of Gothic Romance—Northanger Abbey excepted, of course. It was however, an entirely suitable cozy; perhaps I only lacked a suitably gloomy and chilly evening to place myself in the proper state of mind for a gothic tale. (A point to remember should I choose to read any more of Ms. Bebris’ mysteries.)

Up next: TBD.

(Book 1 of 6 for the 2010 Cozy Mystery Challenge.)