Progress report for October and tentative reading plan for November

Of the named books I planned to read in October, I finished We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett. Additionally, I read the planned-for 5 TBR books, plus one more, and one of the new books I mentioned last month: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie.

I made a bit of headway with Simon Winchester‘s Calcutta , but didn‘t open a single Harry Potter book, which may be blamed on my brother who moved out of my spare bedroom and into his own space at the beginning of the month, taking the books with him. I‘ll need to visit him soon and see if he has unpacked them yet so I can borrow the next book and continue with Project Potter.

I decided to add a new reading challenge: to review one Icelandic book that has been translated into English and German, per month until the 2011 book fair in Frankfurt, starting in November. For this challenge, I may finally tackle Halldór Laxness‘ masterpiece, Independent People, either in November or later in the challenge, or I may start with something a little more contemporary.

In November I again plan to read at least 5 TBR books, of which one will be my next Chunkster challenge read: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I also plan to read at least two Top Mysteries Challenge books, of which A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin may be one and Innocent Blood by P.D. James another. I borrowed both from the library, and also a one-volume copy of Flora Thompson‘s Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy, which was highly recommended to me by a number of people after I told them I liked Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I would like to finish at least the first book in November, possibly all of them.

I also borrowed Twilight from the library. I try to keep an open mind when I comes to choosing books to read and this novel has received so much praise and been the target of so much abuse that I decided I had to see for myself.

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Reading in Reykjavík

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